Momma Tales: Who Cares for Your Kids While You’re at Work?
It’s time for another episode of Momma Tales and we have a question – Who cares for your kids while you’re at work?
In today’s feature, we get to meet Mrs Damoye!
She is a thriving working woman in Lagos with a passion for what she does. As a mom to her adorable little tot, Toye, she often has to balance work and being a mom. Thankfully, she has some help.
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My reality was my mom and mother-in-law were not available to help with Toye. My sisters were all married and lived outside of Lagos, the town where I reside. Toye’s nanny is a 27-year old who I recently recruited. Apart from doing the house chores, Sikira was clearly not equipped for child care, as a profession. Plus she was a total stranger. Mothers take the biggest steps of faith, entrusting their young children to complete strangers, with little or no real childminding skills.
A competent creche I could trust remained my only childcare option for Toye. Could I possibly be the only working mom faced with this reality? I totally loved my job, I needed to earn income and my career was full of promise.
Toye’s loud giggles broke through my reverie as I came to a temporary halt in slow-moving traffic. I looked up into my rear mirror to see him in his car seat kicking his legs in the air as he continued to babble playfully. We were a few minutes away from the creche. One quick glance at the clock on my dashboard and I knew I would be getting into the office late…yet again. I took a deep long breath as I pulled the car into the parking lot at the crèche. I was exhausted.
“Good morning Mrs Damoye. Trust you had a restful night. Hello Toye! Look at you! All bouncy and rearing to go!” Ms Keima, one of the Care Assistants on duty at the creche said as she reached into the car and brought Toye and his bags out.
With a creche that is a SUPPORT SYSTEM, I can take on the world. I just needed one like Toye’s creche so I can settle into my life as a working mum with an infant properly
“Hello. Hi, Segun. I’m sorry I’m running a little late. I’d be in the office in another 15 minutes. Okay. Thanks. Bye.” As I got off the phone with my colleague, I felt so much at peace and ready to focus on the day’s work, knowing Toye was in great hands at the creche.
It was going to be one of those days; packed with marathon meetings and conference calls. As I sank into my chair, finally in the ‘sanctuary’ of my office my phone beeps, signalling some notifications were coming through. I picked my phone to see one from the creche. It was a picture update, with Toye at play looking so happy and content. This completely brightened my day! I felt a surge of fresh motivation to put in more at work. My Angel was well catered to and I could focus at work.
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Tell us, how do you ensure your kids are taken care of while at work?
Written by Itoro Ugorji
Itoro runs a top-notch creche in Lagos and has the passion and experience to walk us through Momma Tales. She will be filtering the noise to share tested tips, based on live examples, even as she brings us the voices of other women along the way. Fasten your seatbelts for the rollercoaster ride that is Parenting, with the funny yet deep relatable accounts of the life of today’s working mother.
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