Daycare Dilemma

Just so we're clear - I am not an expert on child raising - as if there were any doubt.  I may post things here and you may feel compelled to read them, but that should, in no way, lend even the slightest bit of credibility to my premises.  They are, in short, what works for us - and by "us" I mean Mrs. Big Dubya and me - not the other dads here at DadCentric.  But, all things considered, like all the pundits on television, I do have a platform (this blog) and an audience (you) so, maybe I can pass myself off as an expert on all things parenting.  I'll just scream and talk over you if you have a differing opinion - he who is loudest is rightest.  So there.

A month or so ago, Jason posted about us doing an "Ask DadCentric" - a place where we would answer your questions about parenting, the dad lifestyle, what to do when you have pocket fours or the age old discussion on who has better pop cred: Tiffany or Debbie Gibson.  Well, someone asked about the mundane topic of daycare so I figured that since we do send Little Dub to one, maybe I could provide some perspective.

Now, maybe it's not a good idea for me to write about the petri dish that is full-time daycare what with Little Dub currently asleep, battling a fever and filled to the gills with Tylenol and Amoxocillin.  But, hey, let me give it a go.  In all honesty, we do like our daycare and Little Dub's progress while he's been attending.  That isn't to say that if we were able to do it financially we wouldn't pull him out of there in a heartbeat and have one of us stay home full-time - nope, not at all (c'mon Powerball).  So far though, aside from the game of pass the virus to the left-hand side, it has been a pretty good experience.

Little Dub, even though he is (was?) a preemie, has been developing right on track or, in some cases, a little ahead of schedule.  I think, without fear of ascribing too much credit to daycare, that his attendance there ceratinly has contributed to that development - call it positive peer pressure - "If all the other kids were walking around and then falling on their asses....."  We've also found that he works well in crowds and unfamiliar situations - there's no stranger anxiety and rarely, if ever, has anything akin to a meltdown.  All in all, pretty positive stuff.  Other than daily dips in Purel, I can't really think of anything they should differently.

Like I said, if we had our druthers, Little Dub would be home with a SAHM or SAHD, but financially, it just isn't feasible at the present time.  It's a difficult choice to make, but daycare has worked for us and we believe that it has been good for Little Dub, however your mileage may differ.