Ever since my wife went back to work after her maternity leave ended, my son, Ace, has stayed during the day with one of my wife’s friends. She is awesome! She has a daughter of her own and treats my son like he was one of her own.

She charges a reasonable rate, $100 per week, and has been very flexible. My job requires me to travel frequently. I never get home at the same time, and sometimes I do not come home. She has never had a problem with me picking him up early or waiting until later when my wife gets off of work.

The babysitter has always worked at Walmart, but has worked at night. Recently her schedule has changed and she has to be at work at 5 PM. This is troublesome. I get off at 5 and it is a good 45-60 minutes to her house. There is no way for me to pick up my son before she can go to work. So something has to change…

In the meantime my wife’s grandma is watching him, but this is only temporary.

I have a hard time trusting just anyone to watch Ace. Ace is an easy baby to watch. Her rarely cries and will entertain himself for the most part. However, he has always had one-on-one attention. There has not been a single second in his life that he has been neglected…and I wish to keep it that way!

What options do I have?

I could take Ace to a day care where he would be among other children of all ages. Would he get the attention he deserves? Are these people qualified to even watch kids? Or are they merely people off the street that seek out a paycheck?

Day cares are scary to me. I prefer to have someone I know watch him. I just makes me feel better. I don’t want to have to worry about his welfare while at work.

Everyone I know that I would trust to keep Ace during the day works. They are not available. We’ve tried convincing both Grandmas to just retire and we’ll pay them to watch Ace, but they can’t afford it.

A few friends have referred people that watch kids, but this is even scarier to me. At least at a day care there are other people around. A private baby sitter that I do not know and trust could do anything behind closed doors. How do i know that they do not have anger problems? How do I know if their husband and friends that may be visiting the house are trustworthy?

This whole thing scares the living hell out of me!

The third option is for my wife to quit her job and stay home with him. Don’t get me wrong. I would quit my job and stay home with Ace every day! I would love to be a stay at home dad! However, since I bring in the majority of the money in our household this is not an option.

Even my wife quitting her job would be extremely hard on our financial situation…if not impossible. My check is enough to pay the bills without much left over. Could we survive on that little bit? I really doubt it…

Does anyone have any suggestions? Have you had good or bad experiences with day cares? How about private babysitters? This is driving me nuts!!!