For every family, every circumstance, there is an ideal childcare arrangement. In some families one or the other parent can stay home to care for the child(ren). But dual-income families generally require an outside source of childcare. The choice essentially comes down to in-home care, care at someone else’s home, or a daycare center or preschool. Before I was really informed about what good daycare centers offered I swore I’d never put my children in one. I thought they were all places where chaos was the order of the day. But then my older son, z, came along and I found that I didn’t have a permanent source of trustworthy care either in my home or someone else’s. After researching and visiting all of the daycare centers in our area we found one we really liked and started bringing z there when he was a few months old. It was scary at first but then we learned to trust in the great caregivers there, and now I can’t think of any other place I’d want my children to be (except for home with me or my husband). Their days are full of structured learning, some free play, nutritious meals & snacks, arts & crafts, science & math lessons and music. And I find comfort in the fact that it is a licensed, regulated facility with a system of checks and balances – particularly because my boys have significant food allergies.  I don’t preach my choice to put my children in daycare as if it is the only sound option for working parents. I don't wag my finger disapprovingly at people who opt for some other form of childcare.  So I likewise don’t appreciate it when people condemn my choice by saying that by putting my children in daycare I am allowing someone else to raise them. These are almost always people who have never had their children in (a good) daycare and who likely have never bothered to inform themselves of what a good daycare really provides. Sometimes they’re not even parents, which in my book gives them absolutely no standing whatsoever to act so morally superior. Daycare centers may have gotten a bad rap years ago before they became a regulated industry, but assuming that all daycare centers today are still like that is like never taking a cruise because there once was a ship named Titanic.  I am no more letting someone else “raise my children” than I would be if I had any other form of childcare. But at that, the responsibility for raising my children rests solely with my husband and me.  We are the ones who set their moral compass.  We are the ones who instill their values. We are the ones who define and enforce the limits on their acceptable behavior. We are the ones who model loving, respectful, considerate, responsible behavior so they can one day grow to be fully-functioning members of society. My daycare center assists me in that process by facilitating an environment that doesn’t undermine or contradict the morals, values and behavior that we have defined for them. But we are the ones who otherwise do the heavy lifting.  What have your experiences been on this issue? Have you ever been on the receiving end of unfair criticism about your choice of childcare? How have you handled it?