Mal had his first stint in a childcare center yesterday when I left him with a fitness center childcare for more than an hour. Joining a fitness club seems to be a win win situation for both me and Mal as I get to workout and Mal get to learn to be independent. But there is always the fear of trying this out as I know that Mal will not like it and we have never done it before. But like many things in life, there is always the first time.
Fitness clubs here are like huge playgrounds for the whole family. The main attraction of the fitness clubs here is that they provide childcare service of up to 2 hours a day for the parents so that they can workout in peace and have some time for themselves. This is a huge attraction to stay at home mums with toddlers who are too young to attend schools.
Went there with Auntie Jane and her 2 daughters Annie and Grace. We planned to go together so that the kids could have company at the childcare. It was both our 1st time leaving the kids at a childcare service. The kids were delighted when we went into the childcare center as there were lots of toys, indoor and outdoor and there were many other kids as well. Seeing them so happy and anxious, we were both relieved. We reassured them that we would be back after the workout. They were already playing with all the toys and were too busy to say goodbyes to us. I was thinking…hey, that was much easier than what I thought! We were gone for more than an hour.
When we returned to pick them up. Annie had already been crying for a while and Grace was doing a great job consoling her. Mal was close to tears. He was searching for the door to open so that he could come out, but we had left our ID in the lockers and in order to pick them up, we need to produce our ID. So we had no choice but to leave them again. When we were finally back, and went through the door to their play area. Mal ran to me and tears started to roll down his cheek! The first thing he said was ‘Why you come back so fast?!’ Hmmm…that was strange, maybe he was trying to say ‘What took you so long’. He went on to tell me that he didn’t cry.
I think what actually happened was, after playing with the toys for a while, reality sets in and he realised that Mummy was still not back yet. Think he had been trying to stay brave and strong and not cry while waiting for me to come back but couldn’t hold back and burst into tears the moment he saw me. Guess it was tears of joy and relief! I was so proud of him as I think he was so brave to stay calm even when he was feeling frantic.
My little boy has grown up and I think he should be ready to take the next big step…to be independent when Mummy is not around.
We rewarded the kids with plenty of water fun at the outdoor heated pool. The kids have loads of fun and I think Mal should be ready to do this again.
This will be a memorable day for both us.
