"Little Munchkin". That's what they call the 14-18 month old in her day care center (Your Kids 'R' Our Kids). Starting this Monday, Anshu and I bravely embraced one of the harshest truths of 21st Century parenting - The Day Care Center. A concept, which conveniently fits into your scheme of things, your job, your career and your baby is taken care of just the way you would like.
Shahana started her long and arduous journey of institutionalization - with excited little baby steps. And she fit right in, among the other kids at the center. But ofcourse on day one, it was us parents who were loaded with a lot of guilt pangs. I for one, never expected this to be such a tough thing to do. And I realized it in good measure on the first day while leaving her alone. Although they take exceptionally good care of the child, catering to all her needs, but somehow, the parent in you never comes around to *completely* entrust the childs care to them. I guess we both grew a little more as parents, that day.
But then in today's scenario of working parents and next to nil support and the disintegration of the joint family (a good thing in my case), this is the next best option available. In fact, when I saw the number of parents dropping off their kids and going off to work, It was quite re-assuring to say the least.
As for Misthi, she has reached the stage, where she had begun craving for companionship. And we believe this is the right time to put her into a situation like this, where she will rapidly develop here social and interactive skills. We were actually very relieved to see her so happily engrossed with other kids her age. And then, I believe it is a matter of time when she will completely get used to this new arrangement.
So will we.
Shahana started her long and arduous journey of institutionalization - with excited little baby steps. And she fit right in, among the other kids at the center. But ofcourse on day one, it was us parents who were loaded with a lot of guilt pangs. I for one, never expected this to be such a tough thing to do. And I realized it in good measure on the first day while leaving her alone. Although they take exceptionally good care of the child, catering to all her needs, but somehow, the parent in you never comes around to *completely* entrust the childs care to them. I guess we both grew a little more as parents, that day.
But then in today's scenario of working parents and next to nil support and the disintegration of the joint family (a good thing in my case), this is the next best option available. In fact, when I saw the number of parents dropping off their kids and going off to work, It was quite re-assuring to say the least.
As for Misthi, she has reached the stage, where she had begun craving for companionship. And we believe this is the right time to put her into a situation like this, where she will rapidly develop here social and interactive skills. We were actually very relieved to see her so happily engrossed with other kids her age. And then, I believe it is a matter of time when she will completely get used to this new arrangement.
So will we.
