So, we're having a bit of a shake-up in routine around our house again. Dave started back to school two weeks ago, and the two younger kids started day care last week. This Wed, Andrew starts to stay after school one day a week until we can go pick him up. All this so that I can work every day possible and not reject jobs because I won't be able to get back and pick someone up or because Dave has stuff to do later in the week. So now I can potentially work every day.
I'm not working every day.
But I COULD, if I happened to get called or find some subbing in the system every day.
It also leaves me free to spend a lot of time applying to jobs, sewing, keeping the house very tidy, and wonder what I'm going to do if I don't find work teaching. The thing is, I could probably get some non-teaching job, but then I would limit my teaching options, and the pay wouldn't be nearly as good. So I just have to keep accepting whatever jobs I can find (I have decided to draw the line at Primary French Immersion -- I am NOT a primary teacher, let me tell you. All the ice packs and crocadile tears and tattling drives me crazy) and leave cards everywhere in hopes that more teachers will put me on their call list.
Thus the exponential rise in sewing or late.
In any case, its been hard, my friends to send my little ones off to daycare. The lady they are with is very nice and I can tell she is good with kids. But there is nothing worse than holding down your struggling, screaming three year old as he yells "I don't want to go. Stay home with me. Please, mom!", and strapping him in the car and then getting to the lady's house and he finally calms down and then your baby starts crying when you hand her over. Then you go to work at a different, strange school every day only to be abused by class after class of 13 year olds who think the funniest thing they could possibly do is make a substitute teacher cry. Then you drive home and wonder what this is all for . . . Sigh.
There are signs of light at the end of the tunnel. Aaron thought he was done after the first week (after all, he'd now been to daycare) and was dismayed that he had to go back for another week. Hopefully this third week will be better for him. He seemed to be back to his old self on Thursday night and Friday (ie - making messes, pestering his brother, spreading paper clips all over the house, drawing on the sewing machine cover, etc, etc), so I think he must be starting to feel more comfortable. Cutest of all was on this Friday morning when I woke Emma up and got her dressed and started walking towards the door to get her winter clothes and she ran to the door calling, "Aaron! Aaron!" because she know that now is the time for her and Aaron to go together. She still cries a bit when I leave her, but obviously she is now getting into the routine, which is good.
I really hope that when I get a permanent job it is close by. There are all kinds of private schools in the neighbourhood next to mine, and a few in my neighbourhood. There is a school board with highschools close by that I'm not in with, and the school board I am subbing for is on the West Island, with schools anywhere from 15 min away to 45 min away, but then with traffic some of them can be more like an hour or more to get to. It seems to inhumane for my kids otherwise, to be in daycare from 7:30 until 4:30 or even 5:30. That is over 8 hours away from us. On days when I'm away late like that, I basically wake them up, get them dressed and fed and send them to daycare. Then I pick them up, get them fed and changed into pj's a put them to bed. Its ridiculous. So hopefully I'll get something a little closer so I can drop them off more like 8 or 8:30 and pick them up closer to 4, and be here to meet Andrew after the bus so he doesn't end up in after school care.
The good thing about Dave's schedule right now is that its pretty flexible, and he's not too deep into things yet. We're hoping that he'll be able to find some funding before he gets to the super intense part of his PhD, like the thesis writing part, so I can be home more and take care of everything else and he can focus on his studies.
So we had a rough couple of weeks with more illnesses (me and Emma and Aaron all with bad colds) and all the newness of our change in routines. But I think we're through the worst of it. We'll see when Wed. comes and everyone goes their seperate ways, won't we?
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4 comments:
Chin up Jilly. You will get through. You just have to remember that kids are really resilient and in general they actually enjoy daycare. And I'm a firm believer that it is good for them - they learn to mix with other kids, away from their parents and to take direction from other adults. I also know the feeling of looking at the time sheet and thinking "my kid has been here for 9 hours!" but you just have to shut out that part of your brain sometimes. Can guarantee also if they are crying when you leave - it will have stopped within about 5 minutes when the toys come out.
I feel for you. I can at least have the knowledge the Thomas is mostly with his Daddy or another family member. However I too find it hard on the days where I wake up go to work, come home to eat, bath and put baby to sleep. Hopefully things will get better. Here's hoping you get the closer to home job, and that Dave can eventually find funding so you can be home more.
Is having a Nanny an option for you ? They are very popular here right now as days care typically starts around $50/day per child and Nanny's charge about $8/hour less living expenses ( if you go the live in route). Might also work out with you on call as they could be "on call" as well.
Just some thoughts.
We are super blessed to have Andrew's parents watch Lochlan, but if I had more then one child and no help that is the route I would look into first.
Anna, daycare is subsidized in Quebec. So although its expensive right now, when we claim it on our tax return we will be refunded for %40 or more of our cost. Public daycare is actually $7 a day, but its hard to get into, while private centers charge you more up front, but if they are registered with the government you get a refund. Its just expensive up front. But next spring we'll be able to just save the money from one year's tax return to pay for the next year's daycare, so it is actually much cheaper than a nanny in the long run.
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