[becca29]

So I'm finally on summer break (yay for teaching!!!) My problem is with my son's daycare. He went three days a week while I was teaching. He loves it there and has a very good relationship with the providers and the kids. My original plan was to not have him at any daycare over the summer, because I want every minute I can have with him. However, the providers suggested I bring him in about once a week, just for a few hours so he stays attached to them. I don't want the fall to come around and have their great relationship messed up because he didn't see them all summer. Problem is, I'm feeling very guilty about this. Should I be?

Other teachers, what do you do over the summer?

 

[kofduke]

I totally understand where you are coming from! My DH is a teacher, and we've decided to keep DS in day care 3 short days a week (he's been there 4, and will go up to 5 in the fall). I think it's important to keep him in a routine, and interacting with other kids - it's not fair to him to have to re-adjust come the fall.

I'd probably go with the teacher's suggestion and use that as a day to yourself (and not feel guilty about it!) My DH has to take classes every summer (working on Master's + 30, which is the big pay boost in his district), so he'll do that on some of DS's day care days; plus he's looking forward to playing a few rounds of golf which I think he deserves after working so hard during the school year.

 

[Fleurette]

I've kept dd in daycare 2 days/week while I've been home on maternity leave with the twins. I wasn't going to, but then I realized it would be a LONG time for her to go without any contact with them. She LOVES her dcp and the kids and it's a nice break for me when dealing with 2 babies and her all day. Last year when the twins weren't here, I sent her half days. I had the morning to myself to do what I needed/wanted and still had all afternoon with her to do fun things with. I would have still had to pay to keep her spot and, like I said, LOVES going. It worked out well all around.

 

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

If you have her go to daycare for some of the week, you could use that time to do the "boring" household stuff. Then you would have a lot more time to do the really fun summer stuff with your child. At least for me, so much of my days off gets taken up with doing the routine household stuff and juggling the kids. Without them, I could the work done in 1/4 of the time and then have time to do other things. Sounds like a great plan to me.

 

[AuNaturel]

... Now my youngest is 5 and will be going to Kindergarten next year. In the past, though, summer vacation for me is summer vacation for him as well. He goes to the preschool at my K-8 private school during the school year. Summers we all take off. The last month of summer I start taking him back to the preschool a couple times a week to readjust. I stay with him at first until he's comfortable staying and playing again. There hasn't been any problems at all with readjusting.
I definitely don't think I would be a big deal to have him keep going one day a week, but I also definitely don't think it's necessary at all. Could the daycare provider be not wanting to let go of the income?
By the way, this summer my son's preschool graduation is this Friday. The older kids and I have been out of school since the 9th. The days that I do take him to school to prepare for the Father's day luncheon last week and for the graduation, he does NOT want to go because he knows the rest of us are partying at home. That may make a difference for you as well.
Sarah

 

[PaganScribe]

Last year, my son didn't go to daycare at all over the summer.

This year, he is "signed up" for three days a week, full days. He's actually going once or twice a week for a few hours at a time.

The reason we're keeping him in over the summer is because he enjoys it (on days we don't go, he'll come up to me and ask for "Blake? Connor?" who are the two kids he spends the most time with at daycare), but more importantly because I don't want to have to get him readjusted to going in the fall. He just got over a phase of biting the other kids when he got frustrated, and we've finally gotten him past it (all without punishment on our part or the daycare's part. Hooray!). I'm afraid he'd relapse if he went an entire summer without interacting with other kids, and I have no social network of other moms and kids. So if he weren't in daycare, he may not see another toddler for weeks at a time. I don't want to do that.

 

[BathrobeGoddess]

Your son is the age of the children in my class and would take the teacher's advice not only because of the attachment issues with the caregivers themselves but also so that he doen't stop doing his routine for 12 weeks, gets used to a new routine only to jump back into the old routine. Its a lot for a one year old to worry about and could be really stressful to come back in to classrrom dynamic (ie the other children who have been there all along) after being gone for the summer. These children are going to change so much during the summer! I have been with my children sinse they were newborns and the one child who has a teacher mommy is staying one day a week for the summer...I couldn't imagine my classroom without him either!