No 52 69.33%

Yes 15 20.00%

Other (please explain) 8 10.67%

Would/could you, as a parent, send your own child to daycare on their birthday if you were home, not working (assuming your family celebrates birthdays)?

Reply

No but it amazes me how many parents do. Usually with the "little johnny wanted to celebrate with his friends at school." And then they are left here until 5:00. I want to say okay, we usually celebrate birthdays around 10am so if you want to pick him up afterwards. But I know that they wouldn't. Why not pick him up and take him out to a special lunch or something?

Reply

I probably wouldnt if I was off, but why would I be off? Unless maybe they wanted to get ready for a party and figure the kid doesnt know its their birthday. its not an excuse, but some parents dont know what to do with their kids or maybe they dont get a chance to be alone, just like we dont. I cant say that they are bad parents because of it.

Reply

depends. I can see my older (3/4/5 etc) child wanting to celebrate with their daycare friends or get whatever special treatment the daycare does for birthday kids. I would send them for part of the day then, because it's their choice

Reply

Back in the day (eons ago ) I always took my kids' birthdays off so we could do something special. Their daycares at the time celebrated all birthdays in the month on one day, though, so they wouldn't have missed out by not going to care that day.

Reply

I'd keep them home, but in my 7 years of doing childcare I have yet to have 1 parent keep their kid home on their birthday. Tomorrow is my own DD's birthday and this is the first year that I am NOT taking the day off just to be with her and now I'm regretting that decision.

Reply

I replied wrong, I thought it just said would you send your child on their birthday, I missed the part that said if you were home, so I answered Yes, but that would definitely be a NO if I was home, If I were working yes I would.

Reply

Honestly it would depend. We have birthday parties on the weekend so if my child's birthday fell on say a Friday, I might take the day off with the purpose of cleaning, organizing and doing any last minute shopping or baking. I would probably send them to day care/ school because I highly doubt a day of hanging around watching/helping me would be as much fun. Typically on my child birthday we allow them to chose their breakfast - be it pizza or an ice cream sundae and then it's back to "normal" until the evening when relatives come over or they are having their friend party.

Reply

I voted other for the reasons below:

If I was home (original question), I would definetly.

If I worked I might take the day off but I'm not sure. I think if I took off for a couple of my own children but not the others there would be hurt feelings. I'm thinking if some feel during the week but others on a weekend. That happened this year actually. So I might spend the day with one of them and the others wouldn't get that special one on one time.

Then I'm not sure if I would take the day off and take them out of school on their birthdays. I have heard/read studies though where kids where asked about special times in their school lifes and most answers were: the parties/field trips and when parents took kids out for special day with them. They remembered going shopping/skiing/to the park/etc. with parents but not things at school. The studies were saying its ok to take a day here or there for your kids to be out of school because they will remember that much longer then what they did in school that day.

Reply

I value all time I get with my kids. I have pulled my son out of school on his birthday and my husband took the day off of work and we do something fun. Last year we went to the casino pool and stayed the the hotel.

Reply

This is so true. I still remember the occasional days that my mom and/or dad kept me home from school and having a special day in or out!!

Reply

Never. Ever.
I hire a sub for my kids birthdays and take them out somewhere special.

I'm sorry to come across like a jerk but this really irkes me to the core. It is ONLY one day a year, there is plenty of time to plan for it, as it is the same day every year!
It truly makes me sick.

I had a mom take off the day before her kids birthday but not the day of because she had stuff SHE needed to do. He was here both days.
I had another mom send her kid on his first birthday.
I use to babysit for a family 2nd shift. I got a 5 year old off the bus and put her to bed on her birthday. That is just WRONG!

Reply

I just want to point out that if your daycare is open and you are working it and your kid is there on their birthday then that's almost the same thing as sending your kid to daycare IMO

Reply

its not even almost the same thing. not here anyway. i have a very small group. i keep it as small as i can afford so that i am available for my own kids.

if my home was the same thing as any old daycare, i certainly wouldnt be making the sacrifice to keep my kids here. its a million times better than any daycare! my kids have mom to hold and hug and kiss when they need me. i dont miss milestones, funny stories, walks to the park, trips to the library.

i go all out for my own kids birthday and no i dont do that for the daycare kids. the daycare kids are at daycare. my kids are at home. yes mom is busy at times and we have other people here during the day but its still home.

Reply

I voted other. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend both my kids' first birthdays with them as a PT SAHM. After they turned 2 I initially enrolled them into DC for socialization, but then it became necessary due to my crazy, unpredictable schedule. If they had been enrolled on their birthdays, I would have let them choose whether or not they wanted to spend it with their friends or take a special day with me. (Their DC did celebrate all birthdays.) To me, that is their special day and they can spend it how they like. (First birthday being the exception- that should be a biggie for all parents.) We also always have a celebration on the weekend with all family members- aunts, grandparents, etc. if it happens to fall on a weekday.

I would keep them out of DC quite frequently because I would often go a week or two at a time without having to work and I couldn't see not having them home with me if I was home. I also had to pay whether they were there or not, but I would rather raise my own kids than have someone else do it for me.

As for school- I don't think I would take my kids out for the day. My son's school let's the kids bring in treats on their birthday and dress out of uniform for the day so that's a really big deal. I'm not sure that he would want to miss out on that. Plus, his birthday is right when school starts and that wouldn't be a great time to take him out. (Not to mention that the school really values good attendance.)

Reply

I voted no. I have no children. However had I been blessed with them then no I wouldn't.

OT: Once there was a parent at my former center who had 3 children. 2 girls and a boy. The girls were older and school aged while the boy was a baby. His 1st bday was coming up and I know I was excited .

So I asked the mom what kind of party were they having for the boy. She looked at me like I was crazy...I had to repeat the question. She said "oh Heavens no, we aren't having a party" I was shocked! His FIRST birthday. The ONLY boy. My mouth spoke before my brain thought and I said "what? it's his first " She said "oh I know but it's not like he will remember "

I immediately thought....no he won't remember but YOU will.

Reply

You really don't need to feel sad for the boy or the parent. We didn't have birthday parties for our kids' first birthdays. Not our first, our boy or our youngest. We made cake but didn't have a big celebration.

My kids don't care and I'm not feeling regret.

K

Reply

While I TOTALLY respect your opinion etc I still feel sad. I am one of those women who would sell their soul to have a child-birth or adopted. If given the chance I would take advantage of every milestone that I could.

Reply

And I completely understand how your experience colors your view also. I just found this thread to be very judgmental at times. I'm not saying I thought you were horribly judgmental, just the tone of the entire thread. I took your "sad" feeling to say that the mom should be sad also.

We are all different and that is ok.

Kelly

Reply

I have 4 children. The eldest is 20 and the youngest is 2. We had huge birthdays every year for the first child, the second child had big birthdays at first but then they dwindled when the third child came I realized exactly what this mom did with her first child, the child doesn't care or remember. I don't really remember my 20 year old's first birthday, what I do remember clearly is the stress of putting everything together.

Reply

Ok I put yes on the poll but if I was home, no I wouldnt.
Debbie

Reply

I do have a little one coming today on her birthday-mom is home. The child wants to come here though and celebrate with her friends for just a couple hours and then mom is picking up and they are having a blast of a day for the afternoon. Also, this is not a child I have everyday-maybe a couple times a month if mom gets called into work.

These parents are very hands on and this is a child that I wish all children could be like. Polite to the hilt, never cries, everyones friend, loves our family to death. The skies are grey today but when this child walks in it will a sunshiney day!

Reply