When and how to dispose of an infant to the clutches of a professional day-care is often not up to the parents.

Recent parents and people working in the childcare biz will know the main reason that daycare transitions tend to be out of control: waiting lists. Like appointments for medical specialists in Canada, or like purchasing a car in communist countries of yore, the possible market for providing the good/service on demand has been strangled by soviet-style regulation / monopoly / rationing. Waiting lists can be literally years long, which by the way is huge compared to infant development time scales. The activists’ cure for child care scarcity? Yet more government intervention, of course, with selective subsidies and not-for-profit business. A recipe for success.

So, with the exception of one or two very expensive outfits in the whole city, new parents basically have to count out the commercial daycare option, and instead consider babysitters/toy basement daycares/nannies. While these have some charm, these may not be an option for logistical or safety reasons. So some folks are stuck at home.

That was the situtation with us, until last week. We anticipated graduating from waiting lists at some 18 months, and have planned other life-scale changes in loose correspondence. However, all of a sudden, a daycare spot opened up for Eric, allowing Juimiin to return to work very soon. Great news … or is it?

We’ve become used to the new status quo. The little brat has gradually become an impressive little learning sponge. (Maybe, like my mother suspects, Eric is temporarily playing a model child, knowing the implications.) Juimiin has not been hugely motivated to return to office life with her old lab group, even though they generously kept a spot open for her even after her maternity leave expired.

After an agonizing week of sitting on the fence, Juimiin finally resolved to turn down the daycare spot, and stay home for at least another season or two. But at least, this time it’s our decision, not the absence of options, that dictates the outcome. It’s nice to be in control at last, a little.