I Don’t Miss Diapers … But I Miss the Daycare Moms
I miss the daycare years. Well, not really.
I DO NOT miss diapers, potty training, stinky formula, constant viruses for $900/month, having no time to yourself on weekday evenings, packing a jam-packed diaper bag every day, spit-up, and carrying an entire car seat everywhere (those Doonas everyone has now are so freaking cool).
However, I desperately miss the community I got with daycare.
I miss the mom group chat about the tiniest little things. I miss the lengthy discussions on whether we were sending the kids in long-sleeve onesies because it was so cold outside, or if it would be too hot indoors. I miss watching the cameras at work and seeing my baby have fun while I worked, then hearing funny stories from my friends about what they caught on the cameras. I miss getting ALL the updates (meals, playtime, pictures, etc.) in
the daycare app and getting to talk about those things with my friends.
We were all new moms trying to figure it all out. The update of a video of one of our kids trying to crawl was one of the most important things we had going on at that point in our lives, even though we all worked and wore other hats. We were all just so excited to be moms and to get this right.
Now our kids are all spread out over Ascension Parish. Though they’re all in great schools, it’s just not the same.
I love watching my daughter grow, but there’s a little part of my heart that aches when she starts a new school year. I know those relationships just don’t exist in public schools. There’s less parental involvement, especially for working parents. We’re not walking our kids into class every day and seeing each other in the hallway. We’re not catching each other outside in the packed parking lot at pick-ups and drop-offs. We’re not sending a “Well, let me tell you what your kid said when I was in the room ????” kind of text.
I always thought I was too cool to make my entire personality about being a mom. There. I said it. Looking back, I’m so glad I did for that small, precious period of time. I soaked up those years. They brought me some of the best people I now have in my life, even though our kiddos are so spread out. They gave me community when I so desperately needed it.
I’m grateful to be in the stage and age I’m in now with my 1st grader, but man, do I miss those precious years and the constant contact with those amazing moms.
