Archive for May, 2008

I don’t know how I could be a single parent without my daycare fix . I am lucky that we live in Canada where the government gives us $100.00 a month for daycare for each child under 6 . It is not a lot of money but it really does help .

I have Jay in daycare three mornings a week , Mon ,Wed , and Fri. It costs me $16 each morning and that includes lunch . I take him there around eight thirty and pick him up at twelve thirty so it works out to be $4.00 per hour…a really good deal.

I believe it to be very important for him to interact with the other kids and to learn that there is different rules to live by in different places . He learns to share and take turns , something he does’t do at home because he is an only child .

He is also networking . I know this sounds silly to be saying about a four year old child but it is true . The kids he is getting to know and playing with are the same kids he will be going to school with . We live in the country so these kids will be his school-mates until he finishes school . After school these kids will also be in his life one way or the other until the end , so it is important he learn to build these bonds that will last a life-time .

I am writing this now after I took him to daycare . I got home and had a shower and shave . As all single parents know this is sometimes hard to do with a kid running around , there is just no time to lock yourself in the bathroom , that is always when they want you . After my shower I cleaned the bathtub .

Have I bored you yet ?

Ever seen a bathtub after it has been used by a small boy to not only bathe himself but also a bunch of muddy toys ? Not a pretty sight .

I can’t clean the bathtub properly when Jay is here because the cleaners have such a strong smell . When his mother and I were in the custody fight , Jay was diagnosed with asthma so harsh cleaners are a no-no . I believe his asthma was a side-effect of the custody battle-his way of coping and coming to grips with something he didn’t understand .

Separation and divorce is very hard on kids and each one deals with it differently , Jay got asthma , when the custody fight was over , so was asthma . Maybe a coincidence , but I don’t think so .

Still here ?

I’m finished anyway . I just wanted to write a short blurb on my daycare fix and why it is so important to a single parent , we need that couple of hours and our kids need the life experience .

Till next time

Ron