Dear Dr. Laura:
Since my son was 6 months old, my wife and I have had him in daycare. We ignored your advice, and we thought daycare would be just fine. We were both working, he'd be with good teachers, and we would get email updates and pictures from the "school," and he'd make friends. We easily bought into that thinking. But today, we decided to liberate our son from his toddler prison, grant him parole, and have him stay home with the best role model he has - his caring mother and my loving wife.
It was a slow process to get to today. My wife was laid off from her job and wanted to get another one; our son was well adjusted and enjoying going to daycare. In between applying for new jobs, my wife started spending more time at the daycare when she went to get our son. She started to notice the cold, uncaring, unloving institutional side of daycare. We weren't happy about it, and we heard you nagging about it, but we still kept our son there. Finally, one day, our son told us he didn't want to go anymore. We found out another kid was pushing him. The daycare staff did nothing about it, and finally, our son begged me not to leave him. I felt like the worst father ever and my wife and I immediately agreed we were done with daycare. My son is now home, smiling, laughing and playing, with his mother always nearby. Thanks for never letting up and for encouraging us to do the right thing, no matter how long it takes!
Fred
