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How To Get Your Little One Ready For Daycare – by Flick Frankish
There’s something to be said about those pre-baby work days. Do you remember them? It is probably a very faint memory to you now, but they were bliss. You would set your alarm, and often ignore it. Then you might even ignore it some more. Eventually you realise you have to roll out of bed or you’re going to be late to work – and that won’t look good. You hop out of the shower at your own leisure, scoff down some breakfast if you feel like it, and out the door to enjoy a commute to the office spent buried in your phone.
Now let’s fast forward a little to what life is like now. In one word: chaos. And I only have one child! An alarm is rarely needed anymore – and sleep, what is that? Basically you are up from the crack of dawn, and if you aren’t and have the good fortune to wake in a quiet household, you DON’T hit the snooze button. Instead, you jump out of bed and rush in to enjoy a shower all to yourself. No screaming kids. Absolute bliss. Breakfast is generally out of the question – who has time to sit down? And a quiet commute? Hah! If you avoid a tantrum on the way you are doing very, very well.
There’s no denying that things certainly do change the moment you add children to the mix. Getting them ready for daycare is a mission in itself, and not an easy one. You feel like your day should be over the minute you arrive at that daycare step and realise you have achieved the impossible. But there are some tips to help get you there:
The kids are in bed, you finally have the house to yourself and all you want to do is sit down on the couch and collapse in a heap. DON’T. Trust me, you will regret it. Keep going and get everything ready for the next day. Bags out on the kitchen table (yours and theirs), food all packed and ready to go (if your daycare doesn’t provide it), spare change of clothes, nappies, sleeping bag, dummies. Keep a checklist of exactly what needs to go into that bag by the fridge, so each daycare day you can cross it off and make sure nothing is forgotten. Once it is ready, zip it up and leave it by the door so it can’t be missed on the way out the next day.
Once again, this goes for both you and the kids. One good tip I got early on was to dress Cassie in her daycare clothes the night before. That way, when you wake up the next day you just have to put shoes on, do their hair and you’re ready to go. If you aren’t quite that organised, just have the clothes sitting out next to the change table. The last thing you need is to be scrummaging through the drawers for something clean the next morning. Have your own outfit ironed and ready to go as well. There won’t be time for outfit debates or changes in the morning.
Jump into the supermarket and have a look around. These are a lifesaver. My daycare provides Cassie with breakfast each day, but we can’t get out of the house unless I offer her some food first, and this can take a very long time. Now, I just grab one of the breakfast bars and actually lure her to the car with them. She loves them, it keeps her going until we arrive at daycare, and I have a happy toddler for the entire car ride.
It’s a fact of life, things don’t always go to plan and the last thing you need is to be dealing with a toddler tantrum first thing in the morning. Cassie doesn’t always wake up happy – and neither do I, so that’s ok. I try my best to get us out the door as fast as possible. This may mean she gets to pick her shoes or jumper for the day and I am willing to listen to a bit of whinging as I put her hair up. We don’t have time for negotiations, tantrums or meltdowns. Navigate your kids the best way you can and make sure they know you are listening to them. If they feel like they are being pushed around they are likely to push back.
And there you have it. Things are obviously harder the more kids you have and you may just need to employ the help of your other half to help wrangle them up, but it is possible. Find out a system that works for you and go for it. You’ve got this!
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