The Importance of Having a Back-Up Plan for Childcare

People say it takes a village to raise a child, and honestly, I agree with that. I thought, having read all these parenting books, I was like Miss Know It All. I was READY to be a parent and I believe I can do it with the full support of my husband. Date night? I can just get a babysitter, it's fine. We are both working on Saturday? Use the extended/overtime hours at daycare, it's fine.

Then the reality happened.

One day we sent him to daycare but he was refused entry as he had a mild temperature. Went to the doctors, he said don't worry about it, he should be fine the next day. Plan B: call the babysitter. Not available last minute. Plan C: talk to husband and decide who will take the day off work. We both had important things on that day. No choice, whoever had less repercussions had to take the time off. At the time we were both employed and work from home was not a common thing pre-covid. One of us is going to get an earful from our manager.

No judgment here—everyone makes their own personal decisions about whether they choose to attend to work or their child. The point about this post is to highlight the reality that you need a backup plan for your backup plan. This is where a village comes in useful.