Daily Life

I work full time for a large insurance agency. I have the luxury of an amazing boss and flexibility in working from home or in office, whatever I choose.  I will have six weeks parental leave to get to know the baby, and will probably use a lot of my PTO days to extend that time.  

When I do have to go back to work (and I'm already dreading leaving the baby!), my mom has agreed that she'll babysit 2-3 days a week.  The other days I am planning to set up childcare arrangements with a dear family friend who runs an in home day care.  She's known my family for 30 years and is amazing with kids.

My co-workers are very flexible and I know it wouldn't be an issue if there were any issues that would require me to leave work early or miss a day for my child.  

As soon as my child is old enough, and assuming I think they're ready, I would want to get my child into a pre-school.  I loved it when I was younger, and so did my brother.  It will be a great way to introduce them to the structure of a school-like environment.   

Once they're ready to start kindergarten they'll go to the local elementary school, which is a bit less than a mile from home by car, but less than half a mile on foot.  Depending on the weather we'll walk or drive to school together, and then Mom and Dad or I will return later in the day to pick them up. 

We'll spend some time together, maybe doing homework, and from there we'll head to the kitchen and make dinner together.  I would want my daughter or son to participate in making dinner at least once a week so they wouldn't have to live on take out when they eventually move out as an adult, but if it wasn't something they enjoyed doing with me I'd let them play while I cooked the rest of the time. 

I played t-ball and later softball as a child, and at other times of the year I did ballet or jazz or even hula dancing.  My brother tried karate and soccer.  We were both involved with the scouts for several years.  I would encourage my child to try an activities like that once they're old enough.  I don't want to have them involved in so many activities they don't have time to play, so I will keep an eye on things to make sure they aren't too overwhelmed.  Kids need time to play more than they need to have their time filled with activities.

Other than hoping that my child will be healthy and happy, I try not to imagine too many specifics beyond their young years- the things we do together will depend very much on what they're interested. 

I will hold out hope that we share common interests - reading, crafting, travelling - but if they turn into an outdoor loving hiker, well, I will buy hiking boots so I can support them.