November 5th, 2007 by Jennine

When my children were little, Mother Teresa herself could have offered to do daycare for my children and I would have politely declined, knowing that I couldn’t trust a non- family member with the most important people in my life.
I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to miss out on one smile or baby coo.  I didn’t want my baby to smell like the
perfume of another woman. My instincts were to be selfish and extremely protective and nothing could convince me otherwise.

The consequence for following my instincts was to live without many of the “extras” which some would call necessities. There were times that living on one income meant that I was cooking with dried beans and using cloth diapers,  even cloth baby wipes. There were times when I couldn’t go anywhere because the gas tank was empty and more than once the guy from
the electric company rang my doorbell to collect a past due payment. Financially they were the most difficult times
we’ve experienced as a family, yet those were also the days of entertaining the children by filling the wading pool in the
kitchen during a snowstorm and a million other little ways we found to giggle and laugh together.

I am mindful of how difficult the decision is to work outside the home as I care for the two little angels in the photo. They are my daycare babies and I love them as much as I possibly can.

So much responsibility and trust is given to a daycare provider. Sometimes it overwhelms me to think of how I have been
given the chance to impact children’s lives in a positive (or negative) way, not because I’ve chosen to give birth to a child, but because another woman trusts me with hers. I’ll always be second best to them yet I am driven to give them my very best because their mom believes I will. What an extraordinary honor!

Shame on our society which makes it so difficult to live on one income. It can’t be easy to say goodbye to those faces every morning.