Daycare

8 Life altering ways putting our kids in daycare has changed our family

kids and company

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Before finally making the decision to put our twins in childcare, I wrestled so much with how it would impact our family. Little did I know that this choice would turn our family on it’s head in the best possible way. Here are 8 ways putting our twins in daycare has altered our life…

1. It has made potty training a breeze. Potty training is a messy roller coaster ride, full of stops and starts, and ups and downs. Although I had potty trained our older kids, I wasn’t looking forward to potting training times two… our twins.

Not only did having our twins watch as their friends at Kids & Company learn to use the potty help, but I also get a lot of breaks from the exhausting and time consuming task. Knowing that there is a team of people taking over potty training most days gives me the mental break I have very much needed to tackle this milestone.

2. It is prepping my twins for school. I have had each of my kids in some form of childcare before beginning Kindergarten, and I truly believe our transition into full-time school has been easier because our kids are already used to a classroom setting.

3. It has helped my twins develop their speech. Teaching your child how to talk can be a lot harder than it seems. Although I have been able to help our twins along a bit with their speech, having siblings and better yet, going to daycare with other kids who are ahead with their speech has been the best teaching tool.

4. They have learned independence. One day I went to pick up my twins from Kids & Company before naptime and they were still finishing their lunch. I snuck around the corner so that my presence wouldn’t disrupt them, and peeked my head out just enough so that I could observe them. Not only was I shocked that my kids were gobbling up every vegetable on their plate, (which they don’t do at home), but they were drinking out of cups without a problem. Not sippy cups with lids, cups… and not spilling one drop.

Kids and Company

I watched as they finished, put their hands up and told their teacher they were done. Then my jaw hit the floor. Each my girls picked up their plates, scraped their food into a garbage can and washed their plates in a soapy tub. My twins are two-years-old! From that point on I have given them much more independence at home, including helping out more with clean up.eating at daycare

5. They are learning how to make friends. Although my twins have a social advantage by being one of four kids, it’s very different when it comes to learning how to socialize with kids who aren’t your siblings.

I think my favourite part of each day is picking up our girls and watching all of their friends run up to the door with them to hug goodbye.

6. It helps establish a routine for the family. Before ever putting my kids into childcare, back when I was a stay-at-home-mom, I found the structure-less days very difficult. Not having a reason to wake up at a certain time each day, or get out of pajamas started to affect my mental state. Days would blur into each other to no end.

Having to get out the door at a certain time each day has created a huge shift in everyone’s moods around here. Our family thrives on a routine and having school and daycare set up our day is a big help.

napping

7. I am able to compartmentalize parenting and work. As a self-employed, work-from-home-mom, I have found it very difficult in the past, before having daycare to separate work life and home life. I was often scrambling to get deadlines done while trying to occupy my toddlers with television and play-doh. This would usually result in me becoming frustrated, our house being destroyed, our twins being bored and me working well into the night.

Now I am able to wrap up my work during my now established “work hours” while my twins are being stimulated and making friends at daycare. Then after everyone has arrived home from daycare and school, I can just give them my focus and be a mom.

8. It has been good for my marriage. Mondays are my favourite day of the week. Although I love the laid-back vibe of the weekends, there is nothing like being able to get your bearings on a Monday after all of our kids have cleared out of our house.
These quiet breaks are not only great for all of the reasons listed above, but they have also been very beneficial to my marriage. My mood has drastically changed for the better since having this relief.

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company not only has the flexibility I have needed with my unique schedule, but the incredible fresh, from scratch meals they provide for my kids each day (which they actually eat), fills me with such confidence with my choice in childcare.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. It started under the leadership of two moms (one with 8 children!), who felt there was a need for flexible care options in a setting with amazing teachers, community, proven development programs and an understanding of today’s families.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email msawatzky@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2017. Subject to availability.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.

How I found myself after becoming a mom by going back to work

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

mother reading to children

When I became a mother I felt lost.

After the dust had settled, my nipples healed and the excitement with round the clock visitors died down, I realized that my identity had been stripped away from me.

This was it, the end all, be all moment I had been fantasizing about since childhood… I was a mother.

First time mother

But then why was I filled with such resentment?

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my baby, and I really didn’t experience any postpartum depression with my first pregnancy in the very beginning, but something felt very off.

I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. That was it, end of story. Watching my own mother raise her four kids with such pleasure and fulfillment, I was sold.

Motherhood was my end game.

During my pregnancy I took my last train into the big city for my pretty amazing Interior Design job, and said goodbye to a traditional career.

pregnancy

But as weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, and one baby eventually turned into two, I increasingly felt myself fade away.

I was the shell of the person I once was. My days were filled with routines, caring for my children, while constantly watching the clock. What was wrong with me? Why wasn’t I thriving?

mother of two

As time went by, I eventually realized that I didn’t love a lot of the stay-at-home mom activities some of my friends cherished. Guilt began to set in, and I felt like a fraud.

When year three rolled around, I started to get real with myself and admit that I was pretty deep into a depression. My husband would walk in the door from work at the end of the day and find me pacing the halls.

Something had to change.

It was time to face my biggest critic and re-evaluate my path, including what my life was going to look like and most importantly, who I was.

The truth was I had no idea who I was.

The me before kids had different priorities, friends, interests and values. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the person looking back. It was time to find out who that person was, despite how scary that process might be.

After a lot of thought I finally decided that I did want a career outside of my home, which then set off a new type of guilt. I felt guilty that motherhood wasn’t enough for me, and I felt like I was betraying myself and my kids by deciding to take a different path than the one I had so clearly thought I had wanted.

It took me a while as I worked through a bizarre grieving process of letting go of being a stay-at-home mom, and reframed the ideals of motherhood I had pictured in my head for so long.

I finally realized that my new path and sense of balance would ultimately make me a much happier mother and wife, and no less of a mom.

Happy mom

After going back to work, I felt a new sense of self emerge. I wasn’t the same person I was before having kids. I was a new and improved me; a stronger person, a person full of confidence and maturity who had faced their fears and reinvented who they were.

Now eight years, four kids and many career changes later, I am thriving, balancing family life and work life while running my own business.

at a conference

Although some days my house looks like a tornado went through it and my to-do list is impossibly long, I’ve never felt that sense emptiness again.

happiness

I definitely don’t do it all and it does take a village. I think the biggest factor of making your own work/life balance fit is finding the right childcare for your kids.

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company not only has the flexibility I have needed with my unique schedule, but the incredible fresh, from scratch meals they provide for my kids each day (which they actually eat), fills me with such confidence with my choice in childcare.

Kids and Company

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. Beginning under the leadership of two moms, (one of whom has 8 children), who felt there was a lack of child care options that truly understood what parents wanted, like amazing teachers, flexible care options, a community, a nurturing environment, programs designed to develop children and support for other pursuits like work, volunteering and hobbies.

Kids and Company

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email msawatzky@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2017. Subject to availability.

Head to kidsandcompany.com for more!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.