Reflections on events at day care after our second child.

I wanted to share an observation, and a regret my wife and I talked about last night. Perhaps this could help parents with kids going into daycare as something to think about.My second child is almost done with daycare. At the end of the year there will be a graduation ceremony. At the one we attended last year my wife and I observed a few of the kids whose parents were not there and at least one of them was unconsolably sad. We thought back to when our first child was in day care and we didn't think of these events as being very important, we didn't prioritize them as a result. Over the course of the year things like the graduation or a special Thanksgiving lunches come up. It may not be a big deal to Mom and Dad but it is a really cool thing for kids when their worlds of home life and the daycare environment come together and meet.When I look back to the events we missed for our first child I can only think of her being sad about us not being there and I have regrets. Now that she is in K-5 we have a better understanding of the importance of these events and we do insure that we are there for her.But the pattern starts for the kids long before it reaches something that feels significant enough. It is really hard to balance work and life sometimes and you don't always have a choice about whether you can make it to an event. But when you do have the flexibility to attend it turns out to be really important to your child. Especially when it's a first graduation ceremony for a two year old. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2vdqc0h