I agree… my son is 5 and this would NOT work. We are majorly struggling with this in general right now so I almost gasped when I heard this! My guess is that because her kids were so young it was actually easier on them? At newborn and one year old, I think some of those issues are a little easier.

@Lisa – I only lasted through getting one kid ready to go to/from daycare before thinking we needed more adult help. And we only lived a 10 minute walk away too! I locked myself out of the apartment multiple mornings because somehow it was one more thing to remember. I would grab the bottles…but not my purse.

What is stunning to me if the broken leg/crutches situation and being on her own with 2 small kids! I can’t even imagine doing that! So I can see why that is the worst thing she has ever been through. I was on crutches for 2 weeks after a hip surgery pre-kids and even that was incredibly challenging since you can’t carry anything! She must have put the baby in a baby carrier to get around the house with him? But wow, what an extra challenging thing to go through!

For the question at the end, I think adding a baby to the situation won’t really change things all that much, at least in our experience. Our baby started daycare around 4 months. It got easier when he was around 6-8 months and we could put him in the high chair with some cheerios, bananas, etc to snack on/entertain him. He’s 15 months now and continues to be the easiest one to get out the door. It’s the 4yo who is the one who will cause delays because he requires so much active management, plus we leave the house around 6:50 and breakfast is at 8:30 at school so he needs to eat something before we leave which adds time to the schedule! So the baby might not make such a big difference in the grand scheme of things. I felt like it was pretty easy to get our oldest out the door until around age 2 when he really started to have opinions about things!

@Maggie – I don’t think Molly handed the kids to a new caregiver with no transition – she was working in the building right next door and was going home multiple times per day as she was still breastfeeding. I think it was really cool she did this program as a mom of young kids. There’s been a lot of criticism of the highly competitive accelerator/incubator programs that because they require you to move somewhere for several months they are “off limits” for women with young kids. Molly showed it can be done! (Though of course there are no doubt ways many of the incubators could be more family friendly too I am sure).

Yes, I do think a small baby notices whether a parent whose smell, touch, voice is familiar holds him or someone he’s only met the day before. I am not saying children can only be with their parents. I am saying children need time to get to know new caregivers and feel secure and attached to them.

Per the comment above on childcare, that seems to imply her kids are negatively impacted?!?! She worked with an agency who vets their nannys. Meeting new people is a regular occurrence in life and I’m sure kids are extremely adept at it. They do it at daycare, swim lessons, sports, music lessons, school, many places. I highly doubt a 5 month old is affected by a different adult holding him?!

They were on sale when I got them $24, so something super affordable, and not junk for $2 per kid. I ended up ordering an extra pack for my kids to do on weekend afternoons. I love that each kid has their own supplies, so I don’t have to worry about getting little kids to share paint.