"New daycare allows me to get to work earlier and stay later! I love it!"

[afictor]

I overheard this one the other day while at a meeting at a vendor's office. One of the women we work closely with just had a baby and is back at work after her maternity leave. We were all making small talk and the topic of her daycare choice came up. She talked about how great it was because their new provider allows her to work longer hours, coming earlier and staying later. Paying for  a service which enables you to work harder and longer but for no additional compensation (I assume she is salaried, so if I'm wrong this whole post is not relevant). The irony made me laugh on the inside. It also made me cry a little on the inside.

[anastrophe]

Is it possible she is overwhelmed with new parenting and genuinely needs the space away from home?

[afictor]

Is it possible she is overwhelmed with new parenting and genuinely needs the space away from home?

Possible, but that's not the impression I got at all with how she said it. It sounded more like work was too stressful to leave.

[AlmostIndependent]

Good god. I can't imagine spending a shit-ton of cash to spend more time at work. The thought makes my stomach turn.

[Redbeard]

I guess I can't relate to that viewpoint. Our family actively leaves money on the table in order to spend more time AWAY from work and with our son. And I love my job. I can't judge motives, obviously, but I hope she doesn't regret missing so much of her children's early years.

[lauren_knows]

I guess I can't relate to that viewpoint. Our family actively leaves money on the table in order to spend more time AWAY from work and with our son. And I love my job. I can't judge motives, obviously, but I hope she doesn't regret missing so much of her children's early years.

I don't exactly love my job, but I'm on the same page as you. My wife works 60% and I work 90% so that we can have a complicated schedule allowing no daycare, and we get to spend a ton of time with our son.  Totally worth it to me.

[BlueMR2]

On the plus side, if you're going to work anyways, the longer you're there, the less money you're spending...  Water, gas, and electrical usage at home should be lower when nobody is home!  :-)

[dorothyc]

She might be a single parent in a salaried job that requires a 40 hour work week to keep her job. I was in that position for many years.

[ch12]

She might be a single parent in a salaried job that requires a 40 hour work week to keep her job. I was in that position for many years.

+1
Don't be quick to judge her. You may not know her story. I know that if I had a job and a baby (please, no. This is why I'm so into ERE/MMM stuff. I don't want to have a job and a baby at the same time), then I'd have to deal with the whims of my childcare and pay a lot for someone else to take care of my Munchkin while I tried to provide food on the table and a roof over our heads. She's celebrating that her new provider isn't a nightmare of extra charges when she comes and picks up the baby after 6.

[zhelud]

She might be a single parent in a salaried job that requires a 40 hour work week to keep her job. I was in that position for many years.

+1
Don't be quick to judge her. You may not know her story. I know that if I had a job and a baby (please, no. This is why I'm so into ERE/MMM stuff. I don't want to have a job and a baby at the same time), then I'd have to deal with the whims of my childcare and pay a lot for someone else to take care of my Munchkin while I tried to provide food on the table and a roof over our heads. She's celebrating that her new provider isn't a nightmare of extra charges when she comes and picks up the baby after 6.

This. A daycare that opens early and closes late is absolute gold. And it's platinum if it has untraditional hours. Ever wonder what the working parents with evening and night shifts do with their kids?  A typical facility is open, say, 7-6, and will charge you for every minute you are late picking up.

[ace1224]

She might be a single parent in a salaried job that requires a 40 hour work week to keep her job. I was in that position for many years.

+1
Don't be quick to judge her. You may not know her story. I know that if I had a job and a baby (please, no. This is why I'm so into ERE/MMM stuff. I don't want to have a job and a baby at the same time), then I'd have to deal with the whims of my childcare and pay a lot for someone else to take care of my Munchkin while I tried to provide food on the table and a roof over our heads. She's celebrating that her new provider isn't a nightmare of extra charges when she comes and picks up the baby after 6.

This. A daycare that opens early and closes late is absolute gold. And it's platinum if it has untraditional hours. Ever wonder what the working parents with evening and night shifts do with their kids?  A typical facility is open, say, 7-6, and will charge you for every minute you are late picking up.

yep and if you are late more than 3 times in one month you get suspended for some time.  i work early i start at 7 the fact that daycare opens at 6:30 is amazing.  i get off at 3 so i don't need the late so much, but the early is awesome when most people around here dont' start until 9

[Rural]

I managed a large preschool for a while; if children are left too many hours, the facility can lose its license. This is more pronounced for infants but true of all ages. There's no good reason why it's so hardto find care on the second shift, but there are good reasons for the length of time limits.

[ch12]

I managed a large preschool for a while; if children are left too many hours, the facility can lose its license. This is more pronounced for infants but true of all ages. There's no good reason why it's so hardto find care on the second shift, but there are good reasons for the length of time limits.

You are obviously going to know more about this than I am, but I know that there are 24-hour care centers: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-09/local/35446423_1_child-care-centers-day-care-center-parents. How exactly does that fit in with time limits? I'm genuinely asking.

[Rural]

I managed a large preschool for a while; if children are left too many hours, the facility can lose its license. This is more pronounced for infants but true of all ages. There's no good reason why it's so hardto find care on the second shift, but there are good reasons for the length of time limits.

You are obviously going to know more about this than I am, but I know that there are 24-hour care centers: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-09/local/35446423_1_child-care-centers-day-care-center-parents. How exactly does that fit in with time limits? I'm genuinely asking.

I can't tell you for sure, and regulations vary by state, but the way I read that article, it's open all hours (a fantastic thing, by the way), but no individual child's there for anything like twenty-four hours. The regulation that applied to us was a maximum of ten hours per child for infants, occasional exceptions allowed as long as it didn't become a pattern. It didn't matter which ten hours of a day it was, but we weren't open that late, so the parents' choices were limited. I wish there were more good options for second and third-shift parents.

[MrsPete]

24-hour day cares often cater to health care workers, and they pay a premium price for the flexibility. 

My college daughter is headed to a career as a nurse, and if she works in a hospital (as opposed to a doctor's office), she'll likely be assigned to work three days a week x 12 hour shifts.  This is something that she kicked around a great deal before she decided this is the career for her. 

I've told her that if she remains in this area, we'll offer her the same deal my grandmother offered us:  We'll babysit while you work, and the money you would've paid to day care will go into a college account for the child.  My grandmother believed very, very strongly in education, and this was a win-win for everyone. 

Something I have heard my fellow teachers say frequently:  "Since I've paid for it 'til 5:00 anyway, I'm letting my kids stay in daycare an extra hour today so I can run my errands.  What takes me 30  minutes on my own takes two hours with the kids."  I think this is a pretty good choice.  Toddlers don't enjoy being dragged in and out of their car seats for various errands.