Daycare envy

I truly appreciate my daycare. My provider does a wonderful job. She is a tiny, pretty thing with huge fake boobs. She seems passionate about kids and seems to really love little Q. I never worry that he is not safe or underfed. I think he is in wonderful hands, though today I had some serious daycare envy. I was working on a story on daycare, and visited one in a wealthy nearby town. This was the daycare of the century. It is only open seven hours a day, four days a week. That's because the clients are stay-at-home moms who want to enrich their children's lives and perhaps get a massage or volunteer at the same time. Imagine daycare being a choice and a luxury? Most of us will never be that lucky. This daycare had just six children and no openings for years on end. The same children stay together from toddlerhood till they venture off to Kindergarten. It was quite the child nirvana with a huge backyard filled with oversized playthings and a indoor classroom/playroom with everything in miniature. The kids are currently learning about space, so there is everything from a tiny dark alcove with glow-in-the-dark planets to a craft project of the moon's surface made by pressing marbles into clay...like asteroids hitting the moon. Pretty amazing, huh? I found my self wondering if Q is getting everything his tiny malleable mind needs. I found myself wishing I had lots of money and the means to get massages while my son is making moon surfaces. I found myself longing to live in this rich town, where I could walk to get coffee and bask in culture and prestige. But, it's always seems better from the outside looking in. Q is in a safe place and that's all that matters. But, it would be nice though.

--MM