I don’t know about other moms out there, but the first day of dropping off my little girls at daycare was basically the worst. I had a pit in my stomach on my way there and then had this overwhelming feeling that leaving my children in the care of a stranger (I use this term figuratively, we of course vetted our daycare and trust her so much) was the most unnatural thing for me to do. And I’m sure this feeling will subside as the days go by but there are currently moments when it feels hard to breathe.
We are so lucky that we were able to get the girls to about 5 months old before we made this transition – I know that many many families are not so fortunate. This occasion has a sense of enormity to it regardless of age though. We have turned our children over to be cared for by another person for a significant amount of their days. Whether this is daycare, because so many families require 2 incomes to make ends meet, or going off to school for the first time, these moments are difficult. I wish I could have stayed with them for at least the first year but such is life. Maybe we’ll figure it out but for now we just have to keep on plugging.
I wrote about my return to work recently and things are going pretty well. I know I can use this time to be a great role model for our girls and that is definitely a feeling that helps me deal with the sadness of missing them.
How have other moms felt during this time? Any tips?
Adventure Them Young 