‘After going back to creche they are like new children’
Access to childcare is most welcome after months of combining work and parenting, writes Paul Sheridan
AFTER more than 100 days of full-time parenting at home while also holding down a full-time job, the kids went back to creche last Monday.
Those 113 days — yes I have counted — were difficult. They were long. They were stressful.
But they were also rewarding. We grew closer as a family. I got to know my children more. An unintended but welcome result from an extremely bizarre situation.
When they were good, they were good, but when they were bad, well, they were rotten. There have been times over these last three months that I feared I would lose my mind. I used to say that as a way to describe a mildly stressful situation. But now I know what it really means. It means you are on the brink of a total mental collapse and to maintain your sanity you have to take extreme measures. Like hiding in the loo with the door locked, or “going for petrol” for the third time in a week.
When I wrote about the stresses of working from home in May, I had no idea if our beloved creche would ever open again.
There was no clarity on the issue at government level. When we looked for leadership, we eventually got suggestions about pods, staggered opening hours and drop-off zones. Parents were left in limbo, as were the creche owners, managers and staff. Then, after a chance meeting with our creche manager while taking the kids for a stroll in the local park, I had a confirmation of the reopening and a date.
Was I interested in sending the kids back, she asked. I nearly hugged her — but didn’t, obviously. It was like a load had been lifted. I skipped home to tell my wife.
Normal(ish) service was resuming, but there were restrictions. There is just six hours of childcare available four days a week. “Imagine all the hoovering I could do with that time,” was my first reaction. It was like winning the childminding lottery.
There are temperature checks upon entry. If you hit 38C or over, you’re not getting in. Hand washing on a Howard Hughes scale is the order of the day. Spare clothes and shoes — one lot for outside one for inside. It was like planning for the crappest holiday the kids would ever go on.
Except of course it wasn’t. Enabling the kids to go back to creche was not just a godsend for me in a selfish way. During June we noticed they had become wilder. They were like rebellious pirates, dressed in pyjamas, using the house as their own personal playground. They were also grumpier. Less reasonable. Lockdown was taking its toll on them.
Some days they wouldn’t get dressed until lunchtime and our strict no TV policy before 5pm fell by the wayside weeks ago. We told ourselves it was so we could work, but at times it was just so we didn’t have to be mam and dad for a few hours.
Having them back in the company of their friends and teachers is something I got quite emotional about. Were we concerned for their health? Of course we were. But if not now, then when? We sent them back for the good of their mental health as much as ours.
After four days back they are like new children. They’re tired at night from their adventures. David (3) can’t stop talking about his pals. Annie (5) dances the three-minute walk every morning because she just can’t wait to see her friends.
Sara and I know we are lucky. Our creche is open. Many are not. The previous minister badly mishandled the childcare situation. The new Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman must address the sustainability of the sector.
There have been warnings of a second surge of Covid-19; the World Health Organisation warned that “the worst is yet to come”. We are nowhere near out of the woods. We could be back in lockdown in a matter of weeks. So we will savour these glorious days of freedom from our offspring.
It may not sound like much to some of you, but for me, it’s everything.
‘We will savour these days of freedom’