My kids rode the bus home the two days a week I used to telework. Now they’re in aftercare 5 days a week. But, they get more in aftercare than being at home. They get crafts, games, playground, homework help, sports, etc. they are with their neighborhood friends at their neighborhood school. It is actually pretty great. On the bus at 710 and picked up at 5:15.

It is normal for a home where both parents work in the office. Colleagues have been doing this since at least the mid-1990s.

Sometimes one parent goes to work early to enable leaving work earlier to enable a 4:30 or 5:00pm pickup, while the other parent handles breakfast and drop off maybe at 8:30am then works a bit later.

The kids turn out just fine.

Honestly, no, my kids were in ES pre-pandemic and most kids were not in school those hours. No judgement if yours are, but the majority of kids in our ES came home after school either on bus or as walkers, and most also rode the bus or walked to school at regular time, too. Kids were also in sports and a variety of other after school activities. I’m a SAHM but everyone else works. People either had parents where one went in early and one went in late, an au pair, a babysitter, a grandparent or in a few rare cases a nanny. There were definitely kids who used aftercare, but it wasn’t most and it wasn’t usually both AM and PM every day.

Yep. Normal

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes. The norm for us is 8 to 5:30.

Same here except for 2 or 3 days a week when they're picked up for after-school activities. But in aftercare you can have general play or you can be signed up for various classes and we always aim for those.

Anonymous wrote:No. This is why we have a SAHP.

But isn't school 7 hours? You drop them off the minute it starts and pick them up the minute it ends?

No. This is why we have a SAHP.

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Welcome to the world of dual income working families before the pandemic. Ours was more 730-550 though

Agree, that’s what my family did until the pandemic. They are High schoolers now.
Their infant/preschool years were long days. Luckily daycare was close to work. When they became school aged, my husband changed jobs with a more flexible schedule. What helped my family was staggering our working hours. My husband went in earlier so he could pick them up around 4:30. I went in later and dropped them off at 7:45.

Gosh I hope so even if you SAH don't you take your kids out most the day, around naps.

I'd actually say most kids sleep 2-4 hours every day.

I think it's sad that a kiss life anymore is school, childcare, homework, extracurriculars rinse and repeat. No time for much else, when I was a kid/teen I was out of the house alot, but it was more than likely playing/hanging out with friends in an unorganized way.

Anonymous wrote:At our private, most every kid has a SAHM, nanny or au pair. After care is not used by many. Middle school kids can stay home after school by themselves and high school kids mostly have practice or rehearsal after school. It's just the PreK-6th grade years where you need help. I would avoid after care at all costs, but clearly some schools have nice programs based on PPs.

At our private school everybody uses after care a few days a week so they don't have to host play dates in their home and kids aren't fighting with parents about homework.

At our private, most every kid has a SAHM, nanny or au pair. After care is not used by many. Middle school kids can stay home after school by themselves and high school kids mostly have practice or rehearsal after school. It's just the PreK-6th grade years where you need help. I would avoid after care at all costs, but clearly some schools have nice programs based on PPs.

I struggle with this as well - we have a nanny so my kids are able to be at home. But they spend a lot of hours a day with a nanny and I’m debating leaving my job so they’re spending those hours with a parent.

Agree with PP. Many kids are out of the house for 8 or more hours a day. And they are okay! In fact, many are thriving. It’s really okay.

It was the norm before Covid, and is the norm for families who work in person now.