I agree with OP. You treat children? You need to be available when children are available.

OP, I am totally with you too. I have two kids with SNs and it is unreal how many dr. appts. we have between the two of them. Let's see: pediatrician, ENT, dentist, orthodontist, speech therapy, plastic surgeon are all on our list of "regulars." And this is when things are going well. Like a month ago something unexpected arose and we added pediatric gastroenterologist. And don't get me started on how doing labs requires you now to go to separate places. No more just getting it done in the ped's office. Nope, now you gotta schedule a trip to the Bastion of Rudest Medical PRofessionals On Earth, aka LabCorps.

Anonymous wrote:Op, I agree with you! Especially orthodontists who need to see kids regularly. I had to make an appt for my kid this past spring. The receptionist only gave me times smack in the middle of the day, when I told her that wouldn't work, her response was "oh, it will only take 5 minutes. " my response to that was "yeah, for you, but it will take me a half an hour to get from work to dd's school, 10 minutes to sign her out, 10 to get to your office and when the appt is done, 40 minutes to get back to work. We ended up only finding a time weeks later. Frustrating.

In your example, it's not that the orthodontist doesn't have after school appointments available, it's that they were already taken by others who made the appointments before you. An office with, say, 2 orthodontists can only see so many people between the hours of 3-6. After they reach that many people, you either need to take a less popular time or schedule farther out. The only other option would be to hire more orthodontists, and that doesn't seem reasonable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they have children themselves and want to be home for them when they get home from school.

We schedule dentist appointments for days off from school -- we only go twice a year and schedule in advance, so it's not a problem. Same with well child visits. Sick visits can happen during school hours, since if a child is sick enough to need the doctor, they probably aren't going to school.

But you are a "thinking ahead" organized adult and this is a foreign concept to 99.9% of entitled DCUMers. How dare these doctors, dentists not stay open for their convenience.

OP, take a hint from this PP and GET ORGANIZED!

Do you know how quickly those time slots get taken? Think for a second how many time slots are available for those particular days and then think of how many patients want those? Take a hint from this PP and LEARN YOUR MATH.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try being a working parent - it's worse.

Who says OP isnt?

Because she'd be complaining about taking time off work.

OP here--and you're entirely wrong, since I am a working parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try being a working parent - it's worse.

Who says OP isnt?

Because she'd be complaining about taking time off work.

Op, I agree with you! Especially orthodontists who need to see kids regularly. I had to make an appt for my kid this past spring. The receptionist only gave me times smack in the middle of the day, when I told her that wouldn't work, her response was "oh, it will only take 5 minutes. " my response to that was "yeah, for you, but it will take me a half an hour to get from work to dd's school, 10 minutes to sign her out, 10 to get to your office and when the appt is done, 40 minutes to get back to work. We ended up only finding a time weeks later. Frustrating.

I really try to take care of annual appts during the summer. It is hard for them to make up missed time from school especially as they get older. I think that most doctors do have before/after school hours, you just have to plan well in advance to get them.

Just scheduled my kids' appointments for this fall:
Dentist 8 and 8:30

Pediatrician 10:30 and 11

We'll go out for lunch

Allergist 2:30

Then we'll grab dinner and go out to a movie. They love the day off!

You can make this same argument for mechanics and banks. Why are they open during working hours. Because they are working hours I do agree with the OP to an extent though. Offices can stand to have certain days where they open very early (6am) and/or close late (8p). Sat appointments are also helpful.

My vent is mainly regarding daycare. Why do most daycares in the region close at 5:30-6p. Between commuting, its hard to work a full 8 hour day trying to rush to pick up my child at 6 everyday. 6:30 or 7p end times would be really helpful.

Our pediatrician has walk-in sick appointments in the afternoons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they have children themselves and want to be home for them when they get home from school.

We schedule dentist appointments for days off from school -- we only go twice a year and schedule in advance, so it's not a problem. Same with well child visits. Sick visits can happen during school hours, since if a child is sick enough to need the doctor, they probably aren't going to school.

But you are a "thinking ahead" organized adult and this is a foreign concept to 99.9% of entitled DCUMers. How dare these doctors, dentists not stay open for their convenience.

OP, take a hint from this PP and GET ORGANIZED!

We can't all of us do appts on days off from school. I know a large percentage of people in my school go away for the weekend when the school has those crazy days off. Besides, the kids are off school, but I'm not. I still have to work, so how does that help me? I thought to schedule an appt on July 3 for my kids, but guess what, the ped was closed on that day for July 4 just like most everyone else. Oh yeah, and all those extra appts for ADHD medicine too. Forgot that one!

Our pediatrician doesn't close until 5:00, so plenty of time to go after school.

Anonymous wrote:Because they have children themselves and want to be home for them when they get home from school.

We schedule dentist appointments for days off from school -- we only go twice a year and schedule in advance, so it's not a problem. Same with well child visits. Sick visits can happen during school hours, since if a child is sick enough to need the doctor, they probably aren't going to school.

But you are a "thinking ahead" organized adult and this is a foreign concept to 99.9% of entitled DCUMers. How dare these doctors, dentists not stay open for their convenience.

OP, take a hint from this PP and GET ORGANIZED!

A lot of dentists claim that kids do better in the mornings. Not sure about how true that is. Our dentist don't schedule anyone younger than 7 in the afternoon.