Daycare, Hockey and a Little Black Dress

So you married a farmer, had a baby, or two, or a hutterite van full, and now it's time to go back to work.  Who will look after your children? 

*crickets*  

Maybe you don't even plan to return to work.  Maybe you just need a place to take those monkeys when they are driving you to the edge of your sanity.  

Or maybe you'd just like, for once, to be the mom at the play-date who takes her kids to daycare so that she can sit, visit, and pour a few extra ounces of Baileys in her coffee.  

Maybe you're like my girlfriend who told me that she'll take her kids pretty much anywhere with her, but she draws the line at her annual pap smear- that she deserves to do alone.  

Or maybe, just maybe, you take your three-year-old into the shower with you because that's the only way you can get a shower some mornings, and she takes one look at your breasts, the ones you sacrificed to nurse her and her sister and tells you that you have "long boobs."  Maybe you just need a break so you can remember who you were before the long boobs, when you'd only be found wearing yoga pants if you were in downward dog and having blond highlights put in you hair four times a year didn't seem indulgent.  Where do you take your kids if you're that mom?  

Of course there are willing family members and friends, but wouldn't it be nice if there was some kind of drop in centre, a place where you could take your children daily, or just when you needed it?  A place where adults love children and teach them skills that help prepare them for school?

Wait a second... Small towns need daycare!  And moms in small towns are starting to realize that.  Around these parts, daycare is the new black- useful for a variety of occasions, slims you down by 50 lbs of toddler weight and reminds you of the sophistication you once possessed when you wore heels instead of Toms and listened to Feist instead of Raffi.

I've told you before about the resourceful country women who are fundraising to start daycare in their communities.  Tomorrow my farmer husband is playing in a rec hockey tournament to raise money for the Outlook Daycare Project.  I know it will be a great day of hockey, kids on the loose and maybe the last rink burger of the year.  

I'm also excited to attend The Little Black Dress Event on the Prairies to benefit the Elrose Daycare Project at the end of the month. Who wouldn't be excited to leave the family at home for a night, dress up and have an evening out with the girls?  

After all, most of them have the long boobs too, they're just not admitting it.