Do you ever feel as a stay at home Mum / Dad - whether your a single Mum / Dad or in a two parent family - that you would like a regular break from your child / children but then feel guilty for the thought?  Yes I used to

When I first had my son I was a single stay at home Mum and loved being there for my son 24 hours a day.  I didn't know many people with children as most of my friends didn't have any.  Some of my friends suggested at times that maybe I should put my son in day care 1 day a week so I could have a break occasionally, especially as I was a single Mum.  I was horrified at the suggestion and often replied that I didn't have children so I could fob them off onto someone else.  If I was working then I had nothing against child care but being that I wasn't working I couldn't see that putting my son in child care 1 day a week was fair on my child and I would feel terribly guilty even if I considered the idea.

Well I found out the hard way, as we sometimes have to, that I made a mistake.

When I was 6 months pregnant with my second son, I started to worry that my oldest son wouldn't handle the new baby so well.  He really hadn't had a lot to do with children as I didn't know many people who had children, plus he had been the centre of my universe for 2 years and was soon going to have to share me.

That's when I started to think that even though I was still a stay at home Mum, it may be good to put my oldest son into day care 1 day a week to get him used to other children but also to get him used to being away from me.

What a disaster!!!!  The first six weeks that I tried the day care idea was just so hard on both myself and my son.  When I dropped him off at day care he would cry and cling to me, while I was gone he would just walk around by himself and not mix with the other children and when I picked him up he would cry as well.

I didn't know what to do and it just broke my heart dropping him off but I persevered and after 6 weeks he settled in beautifully and made a heap of new friends.  Even looked forward to going that 1 day each week.

It was the hard six weeks that made me realise my error.  Maybe I should have done this sooner.  Maybe my son needed the break and interaction with children as much as the break would have done me the world of good.

So any Mums / Dads out there that have thought about the idea of putting their child / children into daycare a day or even half a day a week, or thought of asking a family member to look after their children for a few hours a week, but then decided not to because they felt guilty - take it from me - it is worth it for both yourself and your child / children.

This certainly did help my oldest adapt better when my new son was bought home too.