It takes time to plan and implement lasting modifications to your life. I have long ago given up “New Year’s Resolutions” in the strictest sense and instead opt for a “Year Plan.” And this ‘plan’ understandably will take a few months to create and implement. So there are no “profound New Year changes” that happen on the January 1st – which alleviates tons of anxiety.
Our plan for 2013 is multi-faceted, but one element will consist of converting to a more home-centric educational experience for our children.
I am the type of parent who endeavors to meet the unique needs of each individual child. More than fretting over “equality”, I am more interested in having the ability to honestly assess each child and provide to them what they need to further develop their strengths and support them in areas where they are weaker. No two children are the same, and relationships between family members are as unique as snowflakes. Instead of getting hung up on trying to be “fair,” effort would be better spent focusing on fulfilling each child’s unique needs – realizing individual needs differ.
Of course, as we raise our children, we all do the very best we can with the information we have available to us at the time. With the acquisition of new information, our parenting technique may adjust.
I’ve always been a huge proponent of day-care for young children. While I recognized a clear benefit to being home with a parent or family member for the first year of life, I was always eager to put my children into daycare in the 2nd year of life. The socialization was unmatched. Being home all day with 1 person didn’t hold a candle to being in the company of multiple adults and similar age children. Additionally, the early childhood development that took place in these environments, not to mention the early development of a strong immune system, were clear advantages of attending daycare. It made sense to me that creating our “village” involved daycare. And the proverbial ‘village’ is under-appreciated and underutilized in our culture today.
So our village we created with the help of day-care. We were very pleased with the social and intellectual development of our oldest two children in their carefully selected day-care/pre-schools. They were excited to go, and it allowed my husband and I to continue developing our own careers (which was critical at that point in our lives in order for us to take a pause now). From ages 18 months forward, both Haley and Ian were in full-time preschool/day-care. And our family thrived.
