Commuter Mom: Drop In

One of the wonderful benefits we get at Bright Horizons is the opportunity to take advantage of our back-up child care services. We can use any Bright Horizons child care center, if space is available, for emergency care at a discounted rate — up to 20 days per year. Since Commuter Girl is enrolled in a child care center full time, we haven’t found much use for back-up care. But, last week there was an event after work that I wanted Commuter Girl to go to so I decided to use a back-up day at the center in our office park.

I had several mental hurdles to overcome before the big day. Would Commuter Girl have a meltdown due to our change in routine? Would she like the teachers at the other center? Would she cry all day being in an unfamiliar classroom? Would there be bad traffic forcing us to start our day with two miserable hours in the car? Would the new teachers know how to make her happy if she was sad? Would she like the other kids?

A few days ahead of time I started talking to her about going to a new school for one day. She made a picture for the new teachers. She got very excited about the new friends and new toys. So much so that the day before Commuter Dad took her to the new back-up center she told him she didn’t want to go to her usual center, she wanted to go to the new school.

The big day arrived and things went pretty smoothly. Commuter Girl was thrilled to get to watch Curious George while we commuted. She thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate munchkin on the way in. (I thoroughly enjoyed a big dose of guilt — TV and munchkins!) We got to school and I felt like a new parent all over again. But, Commuter Girl got me through it. She wasn’t thrilled when I left, but she wasn’t crying. They said she had a great day. She ate all of her lunch. She loved the new playground. She made lots of new friends. I was a little worried she wouldn’t want to go back to her other school. But, by the end of the day she turned to me and said, “Mommy, I want to go home.”