Stay at home vs working world

Writer's block hits. So I resort to a canned "blog idea" to get the juices flowing. First up on the list?

Is it worth it to place children in daycare or save that money and keep them home?

Wow. This one currently hits a little close to home. Most of you know our current situation. Allan and I both work full-time, Todd spends the mornings in kindergarten and then we cart him off to after-school care at the Boys and Girls Club. Weekends provide a much-welcome respite for all of us. We've settled into a daily routine, but it's clear that Todd isn't entirely happy being away from us for so long.

Last week, I stayed home one day, sick. It wasn't too severe, and by afternoon I was feeling well enough to do a little bit of work from home (hooray for working for a company that makes it easy to work remotely). I decided to let Todd stay home with me after school. He was sooooo excited at the prospect, that he practically shoved Allan out the door after lunch, when normally he's clamoring for just one more hug and kiss goodbye. Although I had to divide my time and attention between my work and the little man, it was obvious he enjoyed being home, even if had to play by himself a lot of the time.

The next few days afterward, Todd kept begging for me to stay home with him after school. He even promised that he wouldn't bother me and would let me work in peace. My heart broke, especially when he started sobbing :-( If my workload had been lighter and filled with non-time-critical things that I could easily take care of at night, I would have indulged him. Alas, I couldn't, and I felt sooo bad for my little man.

So-- to answer that question, I believe that's a no-brainer. Hands-down, it's better to stay at home and devote your time and attention to your child. It is one thing for the young ones to spend a few hours a day at preschool or kiddie gyms or whatever, to gain exposure to other kids and learn to socialize. It's all part of the learning process. But the entire day? No matter how caring and attentive a day care may be, it could never match the genuine love and attention from a parent. Kids pick up on that. And I believe it has a great effect on their well being.

Ideally, one parent would earn money and one parent would stay home full time. Unfortunately, in this day and age it isn't always feasible. Especially with the rising cost of... well, everything, from college to houses. Especially here in Santa Barbara.

We are extremely fortunate that our work, home, Todd's school and the Boys and Girls Club are all in very close proximity to each other, enabling us to at least provide a break in the middle of the day as Todd spends lunchtime with us at home. We are also very blessed to live relatively close to my parents, who are willing to take Todd on during school breaks and holidays. A bunch of little things to mitigate circumstances that, in my opinion, aren't quite ideal. And count my blessings that we ARE able to mitigate it somewhat!