The Baby Expert: First Days of School

Caitlyn has just survived her first week of daycare and is now in her second. Starting out, she’ll be going three days out of the week for half the day with Mommy accompanying her the entire time. While I wasn’t there to see exactly what went on, the wife was able to fill me in.

Thus far, Caitlyn seems to be enjoying her time there, albeit by herself. She hasn’t started interacting with any of the kids there yet and prefers to play alone. That seems pretty normal for someone her age and hopefully as she gets more and more comfortable at the school, she’ll be more willing to play with others.

The only one who seemed to have it rough last week was the wife. Personally, I don’t see how taking care of Caitlyn at home is any different than taking care of her at daycare. You don’t get a break either way. But who am I to argue with the wife. If she says it’s more exhausting, then it’s more exhausting.

On top of that, she’s come home with a long list of complaints and concerns too. According to her, the teachers there don’t seem to be very helpful. On the first day, the wife and Caitlyn were basically ushered in and then told to find something to do. No one came to check up on them or inform them what was going to happen next. They might as well have been invisible.

Every day, the kids go to the neighboring park for an hour. The teachers said it doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold. As long as it’s not raining, they’ll be there. On Mondays, they stay at the park the entire morning. When the wife asked whether this was a good idea with the heat and also with winter soon approaching, the answer was more or less, what doesn’t kill them only makes them stronger.

During lunch time, the students are made to eat quickly and independently. If they want more, they have to speak up. However, Caitlyn takes her time and doesn’t exactly make a fuss to let the teachers know she wants more. She usually eats a whole bowl of food, but if the daycare gives her half a bowl, which is enough to satiate her hunger for a bit, she won’t ask for more even though she could still eat a lot more. This has led the wife to worry that Caitlyn won’t get enough to eat as she observed a lot of the students there were very skinny.

The daycare also has a policy of training the kids to stop wearing diapers at an early age. Which means they’ll start on Caitlyn as soon as the wife stops staying at the school with her. Personally, this one disturbs me a bit because Caitlyn’s barely 16 months old. But the wife did say that some of the kids just a bit older than Caitlyn have already learned to let the teachers know when they have to use the bathroom, so maybe it is possible.

And to cap off the week, Caitlyn got a bit sick on Friday at the daycare. But on the bright side, she was able to fight it off and was well enough to make a trip to the park on Saturday.

Even with all these concerns, the wife admits that sending Caitlyn to this Montessori might help loosen her grip on the baby. After all, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right?