Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I have heard complaints about daycare in Ontario for years. The concerns about affordable daycare space shortages has been in and out of the news for years with no solution in sight. I always thought that we would be able to slip by that issue as we planned to have one parent at home with the kids always- even if that meant working opposite schedules.

After a few years of opposite schedules and the toll it took on our own relationship- hard to maintain a connection with someone you rarely see- we are trying a different tack. This year, due to an amazing out-of-the-blue opportunity, we are both working full-time. That brings with it new challenges for family life that we have not faced before in our relationship.

It also brings new appreciation for the struggles of others that I never had the appropriate sympathy for. The phrase "walk a mile in my shoes..." resonates for me today. DM, I am learning an entirely new respect for the balancing act you walk everyday with your family.

The current struggle is with daycare. Now, we are deeply appreciative for an amazing daycare. Doubly appreciative that our community daycare is really wonderful because it is the only daycare option for 80km. Josiah is happy, learning and loves going to daycare- what more could a parent ask? However, the daycare is occasionally shut down with little notice due to the heat not working.

Before you suggest that they replace their furnace, the heat is delivered to the large buildings in the community from a 'community heating system' that is really cool. I think if you google the term you may even find a few hits about Grassy. Very interesting.

But back onto my point here...

We have arrived at the daycare doors to a note that daycare is closed due to no heat. This week we received a phone call from thoughtful school staff members two days in a row to let us know before we left home that the daycare is closed because there is no heat.

Our options are;

1. use up one more precious sick/compassionate leave day when no one is sick to stay home with the little man and have a great day of one-on-one time, but leave our students and school in the lurch with an extremely short substitute teacher list,
2. or take the little man with us to school and shuttle him between our classrooms depending on what we are doing each period.

Neither option is ideal. But, as my father recently pointed out to me, coping strategies that we use to deal with reality can often be less than desirable when closely examined. I am not happy with our coping strategy- we have a very overstimulated little boy and my class didn't get nearly the attention they deserved or needed today because my attention was divided between their needs and the needs of my little man.

So, what to do? Compassionate leave days are designed for the purpose of family emergencies. Daycare is not my employer's concern. But I haven't got an option for back-up care. This is when I really wish my mom lived down the road.

For now, we cope with a less-than-ideal coping strategy and I pray, as we did at dinner tonight in addition giving thanks for our food, for the heat to be on at daycare really soon!