How do you feel about putting your child in daycare?

I don't want to make you feel worse, that isn't my intention. I do think it is best that if a parent is able they stay at home with their child or children. For obvious reasons this is not always possible. Having two children of my own who are now teenagers I can talk from both sides. When I did decide to stay home and look after them it certainly cut alot of "luxury and material" items out of our budget, such as an extra car, this would mean less gas, no registration, no repairs, no warrant etc that we didnt need to fork out for all the time.

We also found very cheap or free things things to do such as going to lake park buying day old bread for $1. fed ducks or birds, went on public transport and made that a day out you could buy all day passes for families for around $5-$10.

Please, Please do not feel guilty or bad for leaving your son at daycare, it HAS to be done sometimes, and as I said earlier I have had to as well, just one of those things that can't be helped. I helped a friend out for a year and half with her todler while she went through a rough patch.

I think that creep who wrote that should be reported. He had no right to judge you.

Day cares serve a need in the community. They also promote education and social skills for young children and day care workers are university trained. I know many children who learned more from a day care than they ever would from their parents.

I think the choice is best made by the parent considering what works for her, home care, or day care.

I'm past the daycare stage as my youngest and only one at home is nearly 16 but when I did have to deal with daycares it was very difficult. I loved being home with my children and as far as I'm concerned no one in the world can care for a child like it's mother.

But, I have been a single mother for over 15 years and had only one other choice. It was work, support my family, and depend on daycars or go on welfare and let others support us. I am guessing the same person who judged you would have said I was a deadbeat or lazy if I had chosen the second option.

That is the problem with some people - they will judge no matter what and many will without knowing the whole story.

I'm afraid I didn't read your first post so don't know the details of what happened to your son but there are also times when children get hurt even when Mom is at home with them - things happen and we can't keep them in bubbles their whole lives.

Dont blame yourself at all for having your son in daycare. You are doing it so you can support your family and provide better for them. Accidents happen, whether they are at home or not. Dont let other people get to you and ruin how you feel beause of their snide comments.
You dont need to explain to anyone why you work or not, thats your business and they dont need to know it. All they need to know is your a hard working mom that is supporting her household too.
Personally, myself I wouldnt put my kids in daycare at all because I always wanted to stay home with them at least until preschool age. The reason that I fel this way is, my mother was always home with us and I really liked that...knowing she was always there. I also dont trust anyone else with my kids besdies their dad and grandparents. There arent too many good daycares here that dont cost over $200 a week...and for that..you might as well stay home because your working to pay for daycare.

I know that you feel bad and that you want to be at home with your child. However if you have to work to keep things going that is totally acceptable. You have to have health insurance now a days and you have to feed your child. Do not let the quilt overwhelm you and just remember that the person who responded and said it was your fault is not in your shoes.

I did stay home with mine and it was a struggle to begin with because we were not on very high wages but at one points before kids there were two lots of money every month not one. I learned to adapt.
If we had needed to,I would have gone to work but it would have been very hard as I felt almost compelled to be at home,it was a concience thing for me.
Given the same circumstances as yourself,I think I would still have given up work and probably done without the second transport.
I think it is entirely up to the individual family's circumstances though. No one else can judge you for having your child at day care. In a country where you must pay for all your medical care it is important to be able to have health insurances,thankfully we have the national health service here.

related resource: home health care

of course it is better if we can stay at home with our child and educate and take care of him/her by ourselves... the quality of education will be different when the parents teach their child by themselves compare to daycare... i know it is very difficult and i and my hubby both have to work hard too to make ends meet... but we will try our best and find a solution to live on one income when we have a child in the future as my hubby also doesn't like to put his child in daycare... that's what i thought...

well at first i am nervous...my son is also nervous..we are both nervous.. but as i see my son likes going to day care, the nervous in me begins to disappear..and my son really enjoys going to school..i hope that stays until he finishes school

I was very fortunate to be able to stay home with my children fir the most part until the youngest started first grade. Then my ex husband was supposed to be home with them. So I never had to deal with daycare. I do know that all the things that happen to your son could have happened even if you had him home with you. You could have been doing dishes or something else. You can’t keep an eye on them all the time. My cousin’s 3 year old jumped off a 12 inch foot stool and landed just right and broke his fore arm. Not to trvalize what happened to your son these are the normal part of growing up. Oh yes the person that made the comments Doesn't know any thing about children yet. He or she is only 18.

This is a hot topic for me. I stayed home for two years with our first child, had the second while employed, and then stayed home for another 1 1/2 years. I had to return to working last fall because my husband was laid off. He recently got a new job that is paying well BUT it has no insurance. We could really use both paychecks as we are terribly in debt; however, the strain on our family with both of us having two long commutes is not worth the "get out of debt quick" plan. I resigned last Friday and will be home full time again in a few weeks. I had a terrible time in deciding to put my girls in day care, again. After the first week, with a little help from her big sister, the baby started to have fun. It's a church child care facility which makes me feel better. There are positives to child care as it can help build your childs social skills and help them get prepared for school... what I don't like are the moms who get in the debate. I'm not trying to upset anyone with that remark but if anyone can explain this to me I would greatly appreciate it. Why is it that when I'm home all the moms who work (either because they want to or because they have to) they get on my case saying i should be out working because we're in debt and I should be working so my girls can take fancy classes and wear trendier clothes and go on vacations and such. They actually say that I do nothing! But when I do go to work to help provide for my family then all I hear are complaints about how I've abandoned my family and I should be home and guilt trips about not being able to go on field trips and bake cookies! Pick a side already!