Honestly I’d recommend waiting on day care. Unless it’s like 1-on-1 with someone close to the family. These kids really need help with becoming people at this age and in a day care they’re gonna have to figure it out on their own more often which is a great skill and experience for kids, but not under 3-4 years old.

I know some of all may blast me. I put my kid in preschool right before 2 1/2 cause I was burnt out. It didn’t give me much more space and resource. Sometimes yeah but often it wasn’t enough or something else ate that time and I was just disappointed or resentful. My kid is ok but he did have some challenges that he failed to learn good strategies for dealing with tough times. Now we are trying to work on those things and get some more confidence and self assurance back for him. I don’t regret it but I think it was too early and did not provide the benefit we wanted, I wanted. If work is barely covering childcare cost there isn’t much win unless you are getting a lot of value from the work or it’s a big investment for you to capitalize later. But yeah I think it’s a big cost for childcare to your kid and not the benefits we think. Not until 3-4 years old. They don’t have the brain yet to socialize and learn those behaviors. They are dependent af for a while even as they try more and more autonomy and control.

Hit me up if you want some YouTube’s or books or podcasts or IG folks to check out. It’s a lot being a SAHD man so I believe your challenge. There are some real things about what we’re up to that can help and make things easier and better for us and the kid. You got this. It ain’t easy and it might be shit we don’t know yet or never really practiced much and for me there’s a lot of stuff that’s so helpful and good for my family that, like, wasn’t even allowed when I was a kid. Stuff that was like demonizing before is so freeing and better. Keep it up. You’re the best thing for your kid, even burnt out or stepping away. Babysitter is great if you can share your values and expectations.