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Moms who work - best part-time schedule for work and daycare?
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Anonymous
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I'm currently applying for jobs and one of the jobs I'm interviewing for is part-time (20 hrs/week). They have told me the 20 hours is flexible and could be arranged however one chooses. I haven't been offered the job but in case I apply for other part-time positions I'm wondering what would be the best schedule in terms of work, school, and daycare.
I have a child who is beginning kindergarten, so will be in school 8:30-3:00 most days, and 8:30-1:00 on Wednesday. I also have a toddler who would need care. My first thought was to do 4 days/week at 5 hours/day and have Wednesday off, so I wouldn't need extended day for my daughter, but would it be hard to find half-time, half-day care for a toddler? The other option would be 3 days/week at ~7 hours/day or 2 full days and one half day. Thoughts? If you work part-time, what is your arrangement, particularly if you have school-age children. Do you find that half-time care is half as expensive as full-time care or slightly more than half as expensive? My intuition tells me the latter but I'm just wondering. Thanks. |
Anonymous
| Can you do the three days back-to-back? That seems best. |
Anonymous
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I think it depends on your situation. I am going back to work also, and decided to work fewer longer days and get after school care for our kindergartner. Here is my rational:
1) Getting out the door, dropping the kids off and getting to work takes a lot of effort and a good amount of time. Why should I do it 4 or 5 days a week, if I can get away with only doing it 3 days a week. I'm not getting paid for those hours. 2) Knowing me and my job, it is going to be hard to make it out of the office, every day before 2:30pm. 3) Having worked part-time before, I discovered that for me, the best schedule was 3 7-hour days (T,W,R). That gave me a nice long weekend every week. Not a lot of work gets done on Mondays because everybody is in meetings. Not much work gets done on Friday because a lot of people are off and those that are at work either leave early or like to chat about what they are doing that weekend. 4) Our daycare offers a 3 day a week part-time option. |
Anonymous
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how old is your toddler? if he/she is old enough for a preschool that accepts 2's, then you can probably find a preschool program with similar hours to the kindergarden. then you have more flexibility. it might be hard to find part-time daycare for a younger toddler - most daycares are going to max out their money by only accepting kids full-time. You might try to find a daycare share with another mother who works part-time, then figure out your work hours accordingly.
good luck! |
Anonymous
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I think I'd do two ten hour days.
Can I ask a related question? How did you find a part-time job to interview for? I've been looking for one, but none of the databases seems to have any (real) options? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| I currently work the 2 & 1/2 day option you describe, but am changing to 5 short days during school hours as both my kids (2 & 4) will be in full day preschool (until 3pm). I am looking forward to that option because I feel that I'll get more done at work when I can do a bit each day instead of having long gaps. I'll feel more connected (answering emails quicker, etc.). I'm not sure if my 2-year-old will be a bit grumpy because the nap will have to be shorter than usual (hoping we'll get better nights as a result!). Have you thought about what you'll do during school holidays? As far as costs go, we're paying full time preschool even though I'm working part-time. Still cheaper than a part-time nanny though (since the older one would necessarily be at school). |
Anonymous
I don't know how efficient that would be though. Wouldn't you spend the first few hours just getting settled in, emails, etc. after being away for 5 days? Plus how efficient are you really at the end of the day? And, I think the advantage of part time is having a balance between kids and work, and this way there would be 2 hellish days (don't see the kids, heavy workload) and then 5 free days. I think three 7 hour days would be what I would do, or the 4 days with Wednesday off. Just my take. I work 4 *8 hour) days now and love it. |
Anonymous
| I work five short days. (I am 30 hours though, not 20.) The reason for my decision is largely traffic-related. Leaving early means a 20 min drive vs. a 50 min drive. I worried that I would be late picking up at daycare and would be charged for it. |
Anonymous
I would do 3 days a week, and have Wednesday be the short day. I work 4 days a week right now (Mondays off) at 32 hours a week, and I'm hoping to go to 3 days a week. But I doubt my current company will go for it  .
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Anonymous
| You sound like your goiing for some balance, so firstoff...brava! and secondly, strongly recommend AGAINST going back to back days...i've done it both ways (kids the same age) and prefer the 3 or 4 shorter days, but do find it critical to have one full day off. I've done the 3 10 hour days, and was so burnt out by the time it came for my Mom day, and the company always finds you on those two days off for one reason or another. By doing 3/4 shorter days, well-spaced, you keep the control. good luck! It's great, great, great to be able to be intellectually involved, bringing home some cash but still very available as a Mom...difficult but great. |
Anonymous
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My fantasy is to go full-time Mondays (a busy day where I work), from 9 - 2 on Tue, Wed, Thurs, and be off on Friday. That gets me to 60%...
That's all in my fantasyland, though. Maybe someday. 
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Anonymous
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Thanks for all your input.
For whoever asked where I found a part-time to apply for - it was listed on the website of one of the organizations I am interested in working for. I've actually applied for several positions at the same organization and am interviewing for two of them (the pt and ft) simultaneously. I was actually a bit surprised that it was pt but they told me in the interview that it had been cut a few years ago for funding reasons and at this time they can only afford to fund it pt, although within 1-2 years it may become ft again. I actually had been looking for ft jobs but am considering this one because it's actually a pretty good match for my background, and would allow a bit of balance and flexibility. |
Anonymous
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I'm on maternity leave now, but work about 20 hours per week. I was doing 2 10s, but found it really exhausting (maybe because I was pregnant and had a 2yo) and that I needed the morning of my "off day" to recover. I switched to 3 shorter days about two months before the baby was born, and really liked it. When I go back, I will do 3 shorter days, just haven't decided which ones. I was doing M, T, Th. I was thinking that back to back might work better for my 2yo, so it's not so confusing to go back and forth between daycare at home. But, I'm not sure I want to leave the baby for three straight days (plus that means back to back days of pumping, ugh). Still up for debate.
FWIW, I was full-time after my first was born and switched to part time when he was 1. Life is so much sweeter this way! |
zumbamama
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Going PT rocks, anyway you split it up, but I think 2-3 days in the middle of the week would be ideal.
I typically work two 8-hour days, three 2-hour days, and two days off. |
Anonymous
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I work 24hrs a week, I split it between 4 days. I work Tuesday-Friday 9-3PM. I started with 3 days a week and felt WAY to disconnected taking Mondays and Fridays off. People really think of me as FT since I'm avaialble everyday, but Mondays.
As far as childcare expenses go, there really is no such thing as PT care. I pay for FT childcare, it is marginally more expensive than a PT plan and offers me tons of flexibility. Unfortunatly, one has to have a pretty generous PT comp plan to support FT chilcare. |