Some people's kids ... mine included

So, I was gabbing with the folks on the Encampment Town Council before their meeting on Thursday and the topic of kids and childcare in the Valley came up.

An undisclosed source said they would be happy running a daycare facility if they actually liked other people’s children.

I got a big laugh out of this.

I have always loved kids in general, but I find I am very judgmental of “some people’s kids.” My judgment runs the gamut from “worst kid ever,” to “that kid is freakishly well behaved.”

The more I talk with other new parents in the Valley (there was a minor baby boom last fall in case you didn’t notice) I realize that my little Avery is actually surprisingly sedate and we are lucky to be able to sleep through most of the night (not with any real predictability) as many nights as we do.

Of course, in my opinion, my child is not one of the freakishly well behaved, she is merely perfect.

I’m pretty sure saying that in print means I will feel the wrath of a teething baby soon and regret those words, but in the meantime, she is simply perfect.

I feel for parents of children with digestive tracts that lead them to be fussy, growth spurts that hurt, and, as we are soon to find out, cutting teeth.

I know as a former “rebel without a cause” teenager, who wanted for nothing when it really came down to it, that there is no predicting which children are going to act out. I hope that I have the wisdom as an older parent to deal with this when Avery is older, but only time will tell.

I have noticed there are people in this world who need to hold babies and others who can just look at a perfectly formed well-behaved child (obviously mine) and have that be enough. In my estimation about 25 percent of the people that stop by the newspaper when Avery is here feel no need to touch her or pick her up. As for the other 75 percent, well, they coo, they poke, they prod and in the case of a certain woman named after an eastern state, they make crazy baby talk like you have never heard before. Avery is decidedly in favor of the aforementioned crazy baby talk.

As for daycare in the Valley, it would be really nice to see one open in the near future. My wife and I are extremely lucky that we can both take Avery to work with us, but I know that is not an option for others in Avery’s cohort. Affordable daycare can only help provide more jobs, higher productivity and better socialization for kids in the Valley, in my opinion.

While Avery puts on a good act and tries to convince everyone that babies are easy to have at work, this is not the case for a lot of parents.

I feel a bit hypocritical talking about a daycare needing to open in our small community since I am not willing to do it myself. As much as I am a baby person, some people’s kids …