If you and DH work late, how do you manage extracurricular activities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP 13:36 = PP 13:08

In-between PP -- the open hours for the daycare are not for a child to spend both ends of the day, every day. They are there for choices.

We do pay for SACC both morning and evening, but we're shiifting schedules so that kids don't spend more than 8 hours at school. The rest is insurance for the crazy week at work, the snow delays, etc.

We've done the long hours, and we collected tired children who were unable to communicate or do homework or anything else once they got home. There's always 1 or 2 kids doing both ends, and who get picked up the last. But not more than that, in any daycare that I've seen.

Some kids may be able to take this better than others. I have one who can, one who can;t. But neither really completes their homework in the higher grades, and reading is limited to bedtime. So... we do it when we must, but the flexible work hours and shifted schedules are how we manage.

Right. Except for my parents, they aren't there for choices. They are there for necessity. I get many (most?) people here seem to think it is only the Big Law moms and the Sheryl Sandbergs of the world that work these long-ish hours, but that's simply not true. In the DC area, specifically, with our long commutes, most parents need daycares to be open these longs hours simply so parents can commute into the city, work an 8-hour day plus a mandated-lunch hour if you are a fed, and commute home in heavy traffic. Perhaps the other spouse can't stagger schedules because he is out of town frequently. I think this scenario is very common, and explains why, at my DD"s home daycare, 5 of the 8 children there are typicall there from opening until 5:30 or later.

I'm glad you are able to "shift schedules" and work at home at night, but that isn't an option for many fields. I would tell our daycare provider as much if she balked at our schedule, but she doesn't -- likely because she already understands this from all her other families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP 13:36 = PP 13:08

In-between PP -- the open hours for the daycare are not for a child to spend both ends of the day, every day. They are there for choices.

We do pay for SACC both morning and evening, but we're shiifting schedules so that kids don't spend more than 8 hours at school. The rest is insurance for the crazy week at work, the snow delays, etc.

We've done the long hours, and we collected tired children who were unable to communicate or do homework or anything else once they got home. There's always 1 or 2 kids doing both ends, and who get picked up the last. But not more than that, in any daycare that I've seen.

Some kids may be able to take this better than others. I have one who can, one who can;t. But neither really completes their homework in the higher grades, and reading is limited to bedtime. So... we do it when we must, but the flexible work hours and shifted schedules are how we manage.

Right. Except for my parents, they aren't there for choices. They are there for necessity. I get many (most?) people here seem to think it is only the Big Law moms and the Sheryl Sandbergs of the world that work these long-ish hours, but that's simply not true. In the DC area, specifically, with our long commutes, most parents need daycares to be open these longs hours simply so parents can commute into the city, work an 8-hour day plus a mandated-lunch hour if you are a fed, and commute home in heavy traffic. Perhaps the other spouse can't stagger schedules because he is out of town frequently. I think this scenario is very common, and explains why, at my DD"s home daycare, 5 of the 8 children there are typicall there from opening until 5:30 or later.

I'm glad you are able to "shift schedules" and work at home at night, but that isn't an option for many fields. I would tell our daycare provider as much if she balked at our schedule, but she doesn't -- likely because she already understands this from all her other families.

^ "MY" should say "Many."

[Anonymous]

Mother's Helper

[Anonymous]

Having two young adult daughters in the DC area one on the MOCO school district and one in Arlington, it also does not help working parents that the elementary schools start so late!! It would make a lot more sense to shift these students earlier in the morning to reduce time in before care, give more parents the chance to drop kids off at school on way to work and/or have older kids at home to see the younger ones safely out the door. Having kindergartens start effectively at 9:00 a.m. is just plain nuts!! In our area it is 8:00 a.m. and high school which starts at 9:00 a.m.

Whatever decisions a working couple makes there will always be a tradeoff. I would say confidently that child care for two under age 5 and the basic mortgage for many homes easily runs $5,000 a month. That and other basic expenses really takes two incomes to carry for many educated families - outside the relam of the really, really high wage earners.