What do you do for after school for your elementary school aged child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are in Fairfax, go to the child care search site and filter for daycares with elementary aftercare in your school zone. That is how I found our aftercare sitter.

The karate place might be good too. It would be a good activity/experience to do for that hour.

If you're willing to do $25/day, I'm sure you could find someone on Craigslist.

I'm willing to pay $50/day, more if this person will help start dinner and do some cleaning.

[Anonymous]

The SAHM's I know won't drive my kid to soccer even if I offer to pay them. They don't carpool with other SAHM's either. I doubt there are many who would watch my child every day afterschool or even once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SAHM's I know won't drive my kid to soccer even if I offer to pay them. They don't carpool with other SAHM's either. I doubt there are many who would watch my child every day afterschool or even once a week.

WTF? And here I am taking kids here, there and everywhere. People suck.

[Anonymous]

If you are in Fairfax, you need coverage for Monday afternoons, also. Which might bump your job up to enough hours per week to interest a part-time nanny.

I SAH and drive other children places, but would feel weird about someone offering to pay me to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See if your PTA has a parent contact list or try your local SAHM group.

Look at Karate places as a back up.

I reached out to a mom's group I am in where several moms are SAHMs. Not one person responded. I also asked a handful of SAHMs that I know and they all did not seem interested. I don't know if it a pride thing or it just isn't worth the money to them.

I know I certainly would not want that responsibility daily. I'm sure they would do be the occasional favor but they don't want it to be a regular gig.

I'm a SAHM who does this part-time for a family in my son's grade. Works out great, mostly because the kids have built-in playdates 3x/week. I'm sorry the SAHM in your group didn't respond! I'm not sure why they didn't, because this far from an unusual setup. Keep looking for someone, and try college kids who are in the education field. Ask the office workers at your kid's school if they know anyone who needs the extra hours.

[Anonymous]

14:21 Some of us can't carpool or at least not switching every other time, but are willing to pickup at the end of practices and/or pay someone for their time and gas. I can vouch that it would really be a help if you and other SAH moms would consider helping some of us who can't easily pick up their child and get them to soccer by 5:00 with the traffic around here.

[Anonymous]

I would pick the Karate place (if it's reputable) since you're not locked-in to the arrangement. The school after care spot may open up earlier then expected.

The SAH moms at my kids school have a busy schedule driving/car pooling multiple kids/siblings and are not interested in babysitting. They will help me out in a bind but not do not want it as a job.

HS kids might be willing to do 1-2 days a week but many of them also have after school activities that preclude them from babysitting all 5 days. The most reliable would be a pair of responsible sisters that would cover for each other.

My friend found a retired teacher through CL who would babysit and drive her daughter to sports. But she had to go through many babysitters who didn't even show up and many many more months of searching before she found a match. Good luck !

[Anonymous]

The Karate places (usually Tae Kwon Do actually) are great. They normally have an hour for schoolwork and an hour of exercise. Very fun and good for them too. We've been doing it for 4 years. Kids are black belts and really enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Karate places (usually Tae Kwon Do actually) are great. They normally have an hour for schoolwork and an hour of exercise. Very fun and good for them too. We've been doing it for 4 years. Kids are black belts and really enjoy it.

I second this. We've been using a TKD studio for afterschool care for a few years as well. It's a great way to get my kids exercise without me having to cart them to another activity. They love it.

[Anonymous]

Feed the hogs, rake out the barn, clean the chicken coop....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Karate places (usually Tae Kwon Do actually) are great. They normally have an hour for schoolwork and an hour of exercise. Very fun and good for them too. We've been doing it for 4 years. Kids are black belts and really enjoy it.

I second this. We've been using a TKD studio for afterschool care for a few years as well. It's a great way to get my kids exercise without me having to cart them to another activity. They love it.

We are looking for after care also for next academic year. Could you please let me know how TKD's work? Do they actually pick up children from school or do parents need to drop them off?

[Anonymous]

I'm a sahm and would never consider watching someone else's child for $50 a week. I'm college educated, experienced in taking care of kids and sahm because we can comfortably afford to live on one salary. Being paid $5/hr would be insulting. I pay my 15 year old neighbor $15/hr for babysitting!

But as the OP is saying, $50 a day- it would be worth my time for this. I wouldn't mind rescheduling some of my kids' activities to accommodate taking care of another child for fair pay.

OP if your in Vienna let me know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Karate places (usually Tae Kwon Do actually) are great. They normally have an hour for schoolwork and an hour of exercise. Very fun and good for them too. We've been doing it for 4 years. Kids are black belts and really enjoy it.

I second this. We've been using a TKD studio for afterschool care for a few years as well. It's a great way to get my kids exercise without me having to cart them to another activity. They love it.

We are looking for after care also for next academic year. Could you please let me know how TKD's work? Do they actually pick up children from school or do parents need to drop them off?

They pick my kids up at school and I pick them up at TKD at 6 pm. If you can identify the school, people may be able to recommend specific TKD places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Karate places (usually Tae Kwon Do actually) are great. They normally have an hour for schoolwork and an hour of exercise. Very fun and good for them too. We've been doing it for 4 years. Kids are black belts and really enjoy it.

I second this. We've been using a TKD studio for afterschool care for a few years as well. It's a great way to get my kids exercise without me having to cart them to another activity. They love it.

We are looking for after care also for next academic year. Could you please let me know how TKD's work? Do they actually pick up children from school or do parents need to drop them off?

They pick my kids up at school and I pick them up at TKD at 6 pm. If you can identify the school, people may be able to recommend specific TKD places.

Child would be going to Flint Hill ES. Would really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks for the response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a sahm and would never consider watching someone else's child for $50 a week. I'm college educated, experienced in taking care of kids and sahm because we can comfortably afford to live on one salary. Being paid $5/hr would be insulting. I pay my 15 year old neighbor $15/hr for babysitting!

But as the OP is saying, $50 a day- it would be worth my time for this. I wouldn't mind rescheduling some of my kids' activities to accommodate taking care of another child for fair pay.

OP if your in Vienna let me know

OP here. We live in Alexandria. I agree that $5/hr is insulting. I would never offer that.

What we need is a PT housekeeper/PT nanny. I think we would be able to offer a decent amount of hours and I would not want a SAHM. As a mom of two, it is hard enough watching my own kids. Can't imagine being responsible for another child during hectic afternoons.

A pp made a good point about half day Mondays.

We could probably afford to pay someone $500/week if they can provide cooking, cleaning and pick up from school everyday. I don't care so much if they work 4 hours per day or 8 hours per day if this person can do our laundry, clean up and cook.