The author's mom and mother-in-law help with her daughter twice a week. Courtesy of Riana Ang-Canning

Daycare waitlists are long, and it's also expensive.

My mom and mother-in-law help with childcare a couple of times a week.

I'm grateful for their help and that my daughter gets time with them, but our system isn't perfect.

One of the first things I did when I got pregnant with my daughter was put her on every daycare waitlist I could find.

Daycares in Vancouver are extremely competitive — many have waitlists of a couple of years, and some have waitlists of four years or more. And if you do manage to get a spot, it can be very expensive, since only a few daycares receive government subsidies.

So my husband and I crossed our fingers as we put ourselves on waitlists, but we knew we'd need a backup childcare plan .

I work for myself and from home, so my working hours are very flexible. But I still need time away from our now 15-month-old to actually get my work done.…