[speaker001:] so um do you have children of your own
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] uh how old are they
[speaker002:] they range in age from twenty four down to five
[speaker001:] ah so have you had to deal with this uh child care question yourself
[speaker002:] not not really my wife has provided the child care up to now
[speaker001:] uh uh-huh uh that certainly is the most straightforward
[speaker002:] that's the easiest one
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] do you have children
[speaker001:] I do I have uh one son who will be three in May and uh we're expecting another in May
[speaker002:] and have you been into child care
[speaker001:] no not yet although my wife stays home also uh we're starting to look into maybe a preschool a couple of hours a day for the older one next year
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh just to give him a little more time with other kids and to give my wife a little more time with the the baby
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] uh but otherwise I I mean even just looking for that has been kind of difficult finding one that you really like and that doesn't have some uh major disadvantages
[speaker002:] well I think one of the things you kind of have to do is decide what you want out of day care or out of preschool you know do you want a real academic one or do you want one that's more for socialization purposes
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] uh you know I I think those are some sort of critical issues we see a lot I see a lot of programs that are really geared to get the kids ready for school and I see others that are sort of more oriented towards fun for the kids
[speaker001:] yes that's true that's true uh and I would tend to lean toward the fun at this age
[speaker002:] me too the last thing they need at that age is academics
[speaker001:] yeah I mean they'll get it eventually anyhow uh how how old are your kids when they started some sort of school
[speaker002:] well we generally with most of our kids there were well with our oldest one they didn't have kindergarten in Texas
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and so we sent her to a private kindergarten and that was really her first exposure
[speaker001:] um uh-huh
[speaker002:] with the others we've either with some friends done a a sort of Mother's Day out kind of thing where they took turns
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] a couple of times a week or we've actually put them into a little preschool at about age four just for a year's kind of socialization and again to give my wife a little bit of relief
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah it sounds like we'll be doing something similar and my wife was thinking of uh starting up a little preschool
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] maybe just with a few other mothers and it would be sort of a mom it would end up being a mom's day off thing because they would take turns um
[speaker002:] we did that until our very last one and then my wife kind of said you know I'm ready for a break
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh so that's quite a spread twenty four to five
[speaker002:] oh we have eight children so
[speaker001:] wow that's great
[speaker002:] there's a lot of space in between I mean there's not an awful lot of space in between them
[speaker001:] um so did now the twenty four year old was was nineteen when the five year old was born has she been at home
[speaker002:] uh she was in college actually when the baby was born
[speaker001:] uh-huh what kind of what's their relationship like
[speaker002:] very good
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] it would be very interesting I mean old enough I mean really no sibling rivalry there I would expect
[speaker002:] no and she kind of really wanted him I mean she wanted us to have him so she was real excited about it
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh she has a child of her own now that's just a couple of years younger than he is
[speaker001:] oh yeah I always had friends in school who had an uncle uh hold it no that child is wait a minute this should be very simple
[speaker002:] my son is a
[speaker001:] that child is your son's nephew
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] that's right yeah I always had friends who had an uncle who was a year younger or the same age and I always thought that was neat
[speaker002:] well we didn't quite make that but came close so it doesn't
[speaker001:] yeah uh but they were pretty close at least compared to me and my uncle whose about forty years older
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] um um do you plan to have more children
[speaker002:] no
[speaker001:] all said um
[speaker002:] now we've we're into the grand type child period now that's much better
[speaker001:] oh yeah I would think that would have a lot of rewards does your does your daughter live nearby
[speaker002:] they live about uh four hours from here they're in San Antonio
[speaker001:] oh well well that's accessible for a weekend um does she have to worry about child care
[speaker002:] yeah uh no right now she's staying home taking care of her kids or her husband is in school still
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh so she works a little night job to help him through school and he stays home and takes care of the kids in the evening
[speaker001:] oh it sounds great
[speaker002:] so they've been able to work that out so far she doesn't wanna go back to work if she can avoid it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah yeah I wish I could stay home with the kid
[speaker002:] and me too
[speaker001:] um but it is nice to I mean I I find it it really gives me peace of mind to know that my wife is home with our son you know as as far as knowing what kind of care he's getting
[speaker002:] I don't know what you hear in California but you know there's a lot of