Reply to Two working parents and no nanny

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "Two working parents and no nanny - tips please"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I feel like there was just a thread on this. Maybe in the DC schools forum? You should see if you can find it because it had good ideas.

This is what we do:

- Different kinds of flexible jobs. I have a job where my hours are extremely flexible (virtually no meetings or calls, so I can shift work to evenings or weekends very easily) but has tight deadlines. DH has a job with very rigid hours plus lots of in-person time, but the pace of his job is much slower and it's easy for him to take leave if he has even a little notice (plus lots of leave because very senior). So I handle surprise days off and he handles many/most of the planned days off. If I have to take a day off because DC is sick, he also helps with evening or will take DC on the weekend so I can catch up on missed work.

- Exchange playdates with neighborhood friends. When this works out it's a godsend. We have another family at the same school with whom our kid is good friends. For something like a planning day, each family will take both kids for half the day. Plus couples sometimes divide it further if both are wfh that day (so one partner takes kids to playground for 2 hours, then the other feeds them and sets them up with a craft). When it works, it really minimizes impact on anyone's day. Obviously must be planned well in advance.

- Aftercare and camps. You obviously know about aftercare but we use camps not just in the summer but sometimes for longer school-year breaks. Like we had a week off in February and one off in April this year -- we traveled in February and kid did a weeklong camp at her ballet school in April. Yes, these cost money but it's usually cheaper than hiring a sitter and way easier because it gets her out of the house for the day and is more similar to school, so she stays on her schedule. And definitely camps in the summer -- get used to spending December and January setting your summer plans up because things book up early.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics