“Closing Time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end…”
I’m reminded a lot of this song lately, it’s playing in my song almost daily for the first time since my teenage years. It seems like a whole lot is changing and there are a lot of new beginnings going on. This time though, the boy child has graduated his preschool and is moving onto a Montessori in a whole other place, with new people, and is leaving creche, and his baby days, behind. Read More
Choosing childcare is difficult and time-consuming. There is a lot to be thought about; flexibility of employers and of the childcare options, cost, how your child is with strangers, proximity to childcare options and workability of it into your commute to work in the morning… the list goes on and on. There are lots of different options that may be available; childminder (in or out of your home), au pair, Montessori, creche, family friend/family member. There are pros and cons to all of them (particularly when it comes to cost and flexibility; some work out better than others!), but it will be down to your circumstances and wants as to what option you will end up going for. If that option happens to be creche, then welcome to the gang.
If you missed it on Wednesday night, a rather incendiary debate kicked off on Brendan O Connor’s new current affairs show “Cutting Edge”. In response to a rather thought provoking piece from writer Louise O Neill, which spoke about how being a woman did not necessarily mean you wanted kids, Niamh Horan added her two cents. The piece from O Neill had put forward the idea that women who choose not to exercise their womb are thought of as selfish. In response to this, Horan, who is of the same age bracket, commented that in her opinion it is the parents who have their children but leave them in childcare, creches, while they head out to work, who are the selfish ones. It is, she said, the children who are suffering for their mother’s need to “have it all”.
We started creche two weeks ago, properly. For two glorious mornings a week, I drop E off at the creche around the corner from our house for four and a half hours, where he tires himself out and I get some time to collapse, do the dishes, maybe potentially get some writing done and clear a path in our apartment around the eternal mess of toys ( a pointless exercise but it makes me feel better). There’s even been thoughts of having time to do driving lessons or hair cuts in this time – oh, the glamour. Read More
When I started to think about going back to work after having E, there was a large amount of thought put into childcare and how he would spend his days while I was tied to my desk, enjoying those uninterrupted cups of tea. I worried that he wouldn’t settle for someone else and that he would feel abandoned by both of his parents. While knowing I needed to work for both my sanity and to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and a lifestyle I wanted for my son, I fell prey to the inevitable Mammy guilt, made all the worse on days where he woke up not feeling great or was extra clingy. I tried to think of the best options, trying to put to the back of my mind the seemingly endless reports on the failings in our nations childcare facilities highlighted in the media over the last two years. While I wanted him to be able to mix with others, I also realised that set hours and putting my trust into complete strangers with my tiny baby was potentially not going to work at the very start. Read More
