If you work outside of the home, how do you handle pre-school hours?

[Anonymous]

I work outside of the home. My son will hopefully attend pre-school in a couple years. I just found out that pre-schools are part-time. So...how do you handle when pre-school ends? Who picks the child up? We can't afford a nanny, don't have famly near by...so what other options do we have?

[Anonymous]

Not all preschools are part time. The one I used opened at 7 am and closed at 6:30 pm. Programming was only from about 9 to 3 or so though.

[Anonymous]

Our preschool, Westmoreland Children's Center, operates from 7:30 to 6. Wonderful, nurturing school.

[Anonymous]

Depends are where you are looking - mine is from 8-6, though part of the day is more pre-school, and the other part is free play and outdoor time (more like day care)

[Anonymous]

While there are excellent schools that offer full-day schedules, it is my impression that this tends to be less true of the most sought-after schools. NCRC, for example, has quite limited hours for younger children. School for Friends, on the other hand, operates 8-6, I believe.

[Anonymous]

this is part of the reason why we got a nanny after our second child was born. And then our daughter got into afternoon preschool instead of the morning program like I thought she would be in, so thank goodness we had someone who could take her and pick her up also!

[Anonymous]

We've always had au pairs. Good option if you have an extra bedroom.

[Anonymous]

I work full time. We had nannies when our kids were younger and got an au pair once the youngest entered preschool. Au pairs are much cheaper and I love having one around - they make breakfast for the kids!!! Its a federalyl run prgram (try googling "Au Pair in America" or "Au Pair Care") so the rules and costs are very clear up front. We are on our 4th au pair and love it!! For a working mom, the flexibility of the hours is great and you ususally have enough hours left for some saturday night babysitting.

[Anonymous]

We had to limit our search to preschools with before care and after care options. Not every school offers it and sometimes at the younger age (say 2 year old program) the extended day may not be an option. Also many of the pre-K programs mentioned on the board have summers off and spring break etc. We have our youngest at a daycare that has what I think is a good pre-school and Pre-K room. Our oldest is hopefully moving to a Montessori program that also offers optional summer camp. Luckily both my husband and I have a decent amount of vacation days so we can mostly swing the gaps in the schedule with a little help from our parents.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
The 2 PP with au pairs. So you don't mind having someone live with you FT?
Were you always didn't mind it or you tried it and it was okay?
Both DH and I think we won't like it but I do like the lower cost...

[Anonymous]

We've done preschool part of the day and in-home daycare the rest of the time. The first two years of preschol were 2 and 3 mornings a week respectively and we'd use lunch hour to drive to school, pick up DC and go to daycare. This year, daycare agreed to do the pick-up. It's not easy!

[Anonymous]

To 21:57. I was open-minded and ending up loving it. My DH thought he would hate it but actually doesnt mind but also doesn't love it.

[Anonymous]

To the original poster, maybe you could become involved in a nanny-share. Some people who have had full-time nannies to themselves will switch to a share when their children go to pre-school to save money.