My mom was retired by the time I went back to work after the birth of my son. She happily became his 9-5 child care provider. It worked perfectly. He loved going to Grandma's house. So much so, that when I went to pick him up, he would run and hide behind the couch so I couldn't find him. Although both he and my mom loved their time together, I felt guilty. Guilty because he didn't have much interaction with other children and guilty because my mom wasn't enjoying her retirement like I thought she should. My husband and I took it upon ourselves to enrol him in daycare one day a week the year before he started kindergarten. I thought it would be good for both of them. I think I thought wrong. My son didn't necessarily object to being at daycare. He didn't kick and scream. He didn't hang on to my husband's pant leg. He didn't run after him when he walked out the door. He just stood there. Dejected. Driving off with a heavy heart, my husband would see his son's three-year-old face pressed against the window pane watching him go. "Why are we doing this again?"  he'd call me later at work and ask. I would reassure him. I would tell him that this was the best thing for him. That he needed to be around other children. That it would get better. That he would eventually like it. "Let's give it some time", I'd say. But the following week, I would get that same call "Tell me again why we're doing this?" We gave it a few months but it never got better. We pulled him out of daycare and sent him back into the loving arms of his grandmother. He loved it there and she loved having him there. There is so much information at our fingertips and I'd been reading about the benefits of socializing our children. I wanted him to benefit from that so I listened to what the books suggested. I didn't listen to my son. And I should have. I should have followed my intuition. My gut feeling. Although daycares are fun learning centres for some children, it wasn't for him. That was a huge learning experience for me. I've since learned to follow my kids leads. I've learned to listen to what they are saying and also to what they are not saying. I've learned that it might not always be the most popular decision and that's OK. And I think we're all happier because of it.