The End of an Era

I have been using some form of day care services since the middle of September in 1996, when Son #1 was 13 weeks old and I went back to work full time. Our wonderful full time day care center took us through August 2006 when Son #3 was headed to kindergarten.

Didn't end there though; although we have full day kindergarten in our school district, that term is a misnomer for people who work. How can people work a full time job if they have to put their young children on a school bus at 8:45 and get them off the bus at 3:45? We weren't able to recruit my mother to help, since she works, and the other grandparents were not local to us. Neighbors all worked too.

But our district has a before school/after school program which worked wonderfully for us -- reasonably priced, with a seven or eight week summer session too. Here's the lowdown: the before school program is at one of the four elementary schools. Kids get breakfast at Care and then are bussed to the other three schools as needed. The bus service also accommodates kids who have to show up early for activities such as music. The after school program exists at three of the four schools (not ours) but our kids were bussed back to the Care school and given snack time and homework time and play time before hubby or I would fetch them. Before Care begins at 7:30am. After Care ends at 6PM. Perfect!!!

After the first few months of the fourth grade, Son #3 was getting to that "I'm no longer a little kid" phase and wanted his own house key. Also, the high school and middle school let out way before the elementary school, plus hubby normally arrives home from work before I do, so chances were good that the youngest wouldn't be alone in the house...or wouldn't be alone for long. So we began letting Son #3 come directly home on the bus instead of going to After Care. So far, so good. In February we started letting him go to the bus on his early days (four of five) instead of Before Care.

At this point, Son #3 doesn't want to get up at 7:00 to catch a ride with Mom to Before Care on Tuesdays, when he could sleep 'til 8 and catch an 8:45 bus from home instead. So we're cutting the cord for good at the end of March. WAAAAAAAH!!!!! My baby is growing up!!!!!

I will say this: good day care is worth it weight in gold. We will be forever indebted to the caring, competent teachers at both care centers who nurtured our three priceless treasures over the past 15 years. We miss many of them already and will continue to do so. Thank you from Mom and Dad, and of course from the Three Amigos.