Anonymous wrote:I know of a very reliable service the drivers are typically SAHM and very reasonably priced. The drivers service many of the private schools in Potomac and Bethesda.

I would love a contact with this service please.

Thanks in advance.

Agree with you re the ambiguity in 16:09 (teen/cab/preK DD/similar service) and generosity of interpretation.

I am the pre-k mom who took a taxi to high school. I understand that my first post was unclear. The OP did not specify the age of the kid, which is why I addressed both how I got to high school and what I am looking for for my preschooler. Obviously, transportation options differ between these ages. I could have been more clear that I was differentiating these situations.

To clear up any doubts, however, I have absolutely no intention of sending my 4-year-old alone in a cab, but I do want to "outsource" afternoon transportation as I described in my later post about potentially hiring someone in college. I can't get to the school in time to do it myself, but I would like to maximize my time with my child. Not working is not an option for many reasons, and this job allows me the flexibility to volunteer at the school on occassion and attend all significant events. It is very odd to me that someone would think that this potential "outsourcing" basically negated my role as a parent. I basically just need a school bus replacement. Although a sedan service would be great, I would absolutely love it if I could find someone who would just accompany my child on the quick and readily-available public transportation options that exist between my home and the school. My child and I currently commute (to daycare/work) on public transportation, and I would love for that to continue. I was thinking that it would be a perfect job for a college student because the school is very close to a university, and I live downtown, so there would be no reason to have/use a car. I would have to look at the bus schedules, but I would assume that it would take about an hour to pick up the kid, take the bus and then return to campus.

As I am currently just thinking about the options (this would be for next year), I would greatly appreciate if people thought that there would be any pitfalls to such a plan that I may not have considered. Thank you very much to those people that have provided useful information about options. And, I apologize to the OP for hijacking.

Anonymous wrote:eeewwwww. I can only imagine the high self-esteem of a child that arrives at school/activities in a cab when the rest of the cohort is dropped off by a family member or steady nanny. My god, where does the outsourcing of our parenting responsibilities end!
I'd just love to see 1) the therapy bills for these kids and 2) the lovely retirement facilities they find one day for these "loving" parents. Cats in the cradle anyone?

This is the unambiguous 16:02 post I was referring to.

Nope - reading the 16:02 on the same page.

And yes - it was ambiguous - but to me, it was way too ambiguous to assume they meant a taxi or car service and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I assumed instead that it was a quick reply - stating something about the past in sentence 1 (a taxi for an older aged child) and something of the present in sentence 2 (the need for a reliable safe option to help their schedule with a pre-k child).

And certainly, it was ambiguous enough to make me hesitate before sending off a rant about how bad a parent they must be. Perhaps a clarification question posted before "tearing in".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't think anyone here is arguing that the balancing act we all engage in is wrong

re-read 16:02's comment about "outsourcing parenting" and note that it precede any reference to PreK kids.

Personally, I think you are misinterpreting 16:02's post. (and I thought that 6:59 might have been 16:02 coming back to defend that - but maybe not).

I took 16:02's post to say she would like something along the lines of what 8:28 suggests.

We must be reading different "16:02"s -- the one I'm referring to is on the first page and seems pretty unambiguously negative. I'm guessing you saw another with the same time stamp on a different day/page.

it's just possible that not every poster cross references each and every previous post after all, that seems like a lot of work. sounds like there's actually consensus here - no to taxi's for pre-k kids and yes to moms finding good transportation for the kids they love. maybe 'nuff said

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't think anyone here is arguing that the balancing act we all engage in is wrong

re-read 16:02's comment about "outsourcing parenting" and note that it precede any reference to PreK kids.

Personally, I think you are misinterpreting 16:02's post. (and I thought that 6:59 might have been 16:02 coming back to defend that - but maybe not).

I took 16:02's post to say she would like something along the lines of what 8:28 suggests.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's clear the pre-k mom was never talking about using a taxi - there is just a judgmental mom here combining several posts into one as an excuse to rant. I feel like these sorts of moms must somehow feel unhappy about something and need to judge others so they can feel good about themselves and their parenting.

To pre-k mom looking foe college student to help fill the gap at 3pm - I will ask my friend what she paid when the "driving nanny" to bring her kids home to their "long term loving, but non-driving nanny" (on the three days that mom was at work getting some life balance -note she happened to be home the other 4days of the week)

There was an earlier post where the poster said that she would like a car service for her pre-k DD. Not the one you quote above, but an earlier post.

I think you are referring to the person saying they would like "such a service" to help her with her pre-k DD - because I do not see anywhere saying specifically a taxi or a car service. I took that to mean she would like a "vetted service" that helps moms find a reliable driver to help out.

Anonymous wrote: I don't think anyone here is arguing that the balancing act we all engage in is wrong

re-read 16:02's comment about "outsourcing parenting" and note that it precede any reference to PreK kids.

Not really. There was a post in which a poster said she took cabs in HS and, in a subsequent sentence, indicated that she'd appreciate a "service like that" for her PreK DD next year. I read the service like that as referring to previous posts seeking/describing routine commercial pick-up/drop-off arrangements for kids.

Yes, anybody'd be a fool to put a PreK'er alone in a random cab. And no, no poster suggested she'd do that.

That said, I'm not sure I see the college student option as inherently safer than the livery service. I guess it depends on whether you're more worried about rape or abduction vs. traffic accidents.

Anonymous wrote:I personally wouldn't put a preK kid in a taxi either, but I would absolutely 1) arrange a multikid carpool, 2) hire a college student to escort my child home, 3) hire a SAHM to escort my child home, 4) put a preK kid on a school bus/van, 5) include a preK kid in a neighborhood group who jointly hired a van service to transport the kids, 6) arrange a standing playdate with another family which included transportation, 7) arrange for a family friend who drives a taxi to do the daily pickup. Given that in all of these scenarios I have "farmed out" the transportation, does this put me in your "good mom" or "negligent mom" category? After all, I am not "there for my child" in any of them.

These are all great ideas that make perfect sense and are reasonable. I don't think anyone here is arguing that the balancing act we all engage in is wrong - just that the extreme cases seem very unsafe (car service, random driver, etc.). What you are describing is using good judgement to find appropriate transportation for your kids. The extreme, of course, would be if you made alternate arrangements for all of your child's activities/events/waking hours (or put your pre-k kid in a taxi). If you were doing that, then, yes, you probably would have a child who felt neglected, etc. Frankly, isn't that why we all struggle with the juggle -- b/c we don't want our balancing act to tip into neglect. What you are suggesting, above, is totally normal and what we all do.

Anonymous wrote:It's clear the pre-k mom was never talking about using a taxi - there is just a judgmental mom here combining several posts into one as an excuse to rant. I feel like these sorts of moms must somehow feel unhappy about something and need to judge others so they can feel good about themselves and their parenting.

To pre-k mom looking foe college student to help fill the gap at 3pm - I will ask my friend what she paid when the "driving nanny" to bring her kids home to their "long term loving, but non-driving nanny" (on the three days that mom was at work getting some life balance -note she happened to be home the other 4days of the week)

There was an earlier post where the poster said that she would like a car service for her pre-k DD. Not the one you quote above, but an earlier post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Maybe the hired driver can come inside the school and cheer your kids on during their sports events, plays, etc. Maybe he could even attend your parent conferences as well -- those can really be inconvenient. How about trips to the doctor? Wow, you've really hit on something here.
The next time I head to the airport, I'll just see if the driver wants to move in with us. Just think how convenient that would be.

You really are an ass. You are not championing the cause of sahms by attacking the concept of a van bringing groups of middle schoolers home from a school that was not within easy public transportation or walking distance from their homes. We loved being with the other kids in the van! Are parents who send their children to school on a school bus outsourcing their parenting?

Idiocy!

Since you are ok with namecalling, you're the ass here - and, apparently stupid b/c you are referencing the wrong issue. I am not talking about middle schoolers taking a carpool. Read the thread, it is a pre-k kid in a taxi. PS, I'm not a SAHM, I work and, frankly, work my ass off at all hours of the day to make sure that my children aren't put into compromising situations just to make my sometimes-impossible juggling act work smoothly. I don't put my kids in danger in order to make my day less stressful. My first job is to care for and protect my kids. I don't off-load that responsibility just because I also have a demanding job necessary to pay the bills. You are the idiot if you can't see that.

For prek mom,

We had this issue when my oldest was in prek and our nanny and one of our neighbor's nannies were non-drivers who could not do school pick up. We hired a college student from AU to be the driver. Her sole job was to do the carpool line, pick up the two kids and then drop them off at their respective houses to their nannies. It worked out well for all involved. We paid her a very good rate, something like $25 for each day which made her earnings about $25 an hour because it didn't take her much over an hour total of driving time. She was very happy with that.