I’ve been getting my freedom back because my son, Max, is now in daycare.
I’m surprised at several things. It’s easy to forget I have a kid when he’s out of sight. I miss him when I see his room, but I was able to focus on work.
I’m surprised at the high quality of daycare in Singapore. After three days, we pretty much were confident to leave Max for the entire day. Some daycare centres on the island provide infant care services, which allow babies as young as two months old to be left with fully-trained infant educarers. The maternity leave is four months in practice, so there’s little need to use the service so early. My son is one of the youngest infants in the centre at around seven months, but most of them are under 12 months old.
Having other kids around Max provides lots of benefits for him. I noticed he is much more active on the floor because he’s been imitating how other infants crawl and sit. Within two weeks, he is now able to be on all fours. The carer says he’s about to crawl. We’re ecstatic as parents to hear that.
Another benefit is for him to be social, to see that there are other kids and other people (i.e., the carers) whom he can also rely on in his life. I hope it will make him be more at ease around people in general.
When I was small, my mother was quite the opposite. She was terrified to leave me anyone — even if she knew them. Consequently, I grew up not knowing how to befriend and trust people, and I had to learn all of those good soft skills on my own at work.
I’m thankful that Max can adapt to the new environment.
As for me, hello to newfound freedom.