After all of this you might wonder why. It’s simple; she absolutely loves her child care center!  I’m not just saying this; it is the honest truth.  I am able to see how happy she is by her reaction.  She gets excited when she enters the center and she giggles like crazy when she sees the Director dance down the hallway to her.  She loves the cook who always takes a special moment to greet her.  Her teacher always makes sure she gets extra diaper cream when she develops a rash and always documents the events of her day on a daily sheet that is beautifully decorated with seasonal stickers so I can stay connected.  I am amazed that when I pick her up she is perfectly put together as I had left her and I am later amused when I put her in the bath and see that her toes are orange from an earlier art project.  I am so happy that she is having the opportunity to attend school at such a young age where she can soak up all of these experiences like a sponge.  I am relieved that I can go to work everyday and truly know that I have made the best decision for my child.  She is safe happy and healthy and that is why I wouldn’t change it for the world!

By Jennifer Murray

When I was a Child Care Director, if I had a nickel for every time a parent asked me, “Do you have kids?” I’d probably be a millionaire.  I can remember being so offended that parents did not think I could understand how they felt because I wasn’t a Mom.  There was a secret Mom’s club and though as a child care employee my life revolved around their children, I did not belong….

Before “mommyhood” I believed one of my strongest attributes was having the ability to place myself in someone else’s shoes and really understand what they were going through. 

After “mommyhood” and a pregnancy that I thought would never end and a cesarean section recovery that was less than delightful… I realized why I didn’t belong to that secret Mom’s club.  No matter how understanding I was, I couldn’t understand.

As I look back on my experience as a Child Care Director I remember many brand new Mommy’s standing in the vestibule of my center, sobbing that they had to leave their precious little baby with us.  I secretly wondered what they thought was so terrible about the situation.  We had a fabulous center and honestly, any parent who was lucky enough to be able to afford to send their child to our center shouldn’t be crying. Nonetheless, I rubbed each Mommy’s back sympathizing with her and reassuring her that her child was about to embark on a great adventure where she would begin to acquire the necessary skills needed to make her into a well rounded child. Boy, did I eat my words! The night before I had to bring my baby to child care I was distraught.  I knew, logically, that all of the things of which I had been convincing brand new Mommy’s for years were correct.  I was also grateful to have my child in a state of the art child care center which I knew surpassed any of the other child care options.  I knew everything that the center had to offer. I knew she would be getting curriculum to stimulate her mind; making friends to babble and coo with all day; she would be using her hands to bang on new toys, her ears to listen to different genre’s of music and her feet to make painted turkey’s.  She would interact with teachers that would eventually become her family away from home. I knew all of this and yet my heartstrings were tugged.