When my kids were young, I started a home business in a spare room, did some freelance writing (no internet yet at that point -- it's far easier to do this now) and did a lot of volunteer work. I took some of the profits from the home business and invested in a small store along with two other moms. None of this involved using daycare at all. I kept my kids with me throughout all of these activities. I had fun, earned some money and kept up my professional contacts, plus I didn't have to pay for daycare. I didn't really want to put my children into daycare -- I wanted to parent them full-time. But I couldn't have afforded the cost of paying for daycare for two children even if I'd wanted to. No job I was likely to qualify for at that point would have covered the cost. You don't say why you wanted to place your child in daycare before you'd returned to work, but it sounds like you are searching for meaning in your life, right? This is just my opinion: Choose a path. Would you be more fulfilled by parenting full-time or by working at least part-time? If I understand you correctly, it sounds like you are rather at loose ends by the fact your child is in daycare much of the day and you don't have anything concrete you need to/want to accomplish in those hours. Why not go back into sound design?