Comments on: The art of winter back-up plans

By: Virginia

Virginia — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:56:04 +0000

In reply to lauravanderkam. I’m going to guess that men with stay-at-Home wives don’t feel the pull to stay home with sick kids.

By: ARC

ARC — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:50:21 +0000

In reply to lauravanderkam.

I have always thought it would be a brilliant business idea, especially in the evenings – you could use another daycare center at night and pay them rent.

One of them here is a chain of these centers – there are at least 5 in our city. The rate is quite reasonable, maybe $9/hour and you pay a little extra for meals. They also have a day rate for people with unpredictable work schedules.

The only issue we’ve had is that they don’t take advance reservations so we’ve been there and found them unexpectedly full (they still have to adhere to state ratios of kids to caregivers, and since they take babies, I guess it’s not a high #).

There are a few “regular” daycare centers here who turn into drop-in daycare at night, so we will definitely try those, too. Since we’re new to the area, it takes a while to find good babysitters. And we’re in a high-young-kid area so it’s hard to ask (new) friends without them feeling like you’re poaching their sitter 😀

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:14:05 +0000

In reply to Alissa. @Alissa- yep, it's no joke, and here you have a stay-at-home partner! I think a lot of people assume that solves all kid issues, but it doesn't necessarily. Glad you were able to take your nap.

By: Alissa

Alissa — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 15:45:45 +0000

While my husband is the stay at home parent so snow days don’t interrupt us to much what does get me is the sickness. On Monday night my youngest was up practically all night with a stomach bug and who did she want – ME her mommy. I was quite frustrated the next morning and fortunately I had a clear afternoon so after some morning meetings and work I went home at lunch to nap and then came back late afternoon and worked to make a total of 6. Last night I stayed late and worked a 10 hour day to catch up. I’m fortunate to have the job flexibility but my first thought Tuesday AM as I was late to one meeting so I could drop the non sick kid off at school was “being a working mom is no joke”

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 13:02:57 +0000

In reply to ARC. @ARC - that sounds like a fascinating business concept (or is it a non-profit?) Like the YMCA, only you don't have to be working out there!

By: ARC

ARC — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 05:09:46 +0000

We are unlikely to ever have a snow day here in CA, but something I discovered nearby that has been amazing for meetings at the girls’ school where both of us parents would like to attend is a drop-in daycare center. There are several of these in our city and one literally across the street from our subdivision. I’ll be honest, it’s not the best quality EVER (they mostly park the kids in front of a screen), but it’s safe and clean and for an hour or two, it’s fine for my 5 and 8yo. There are two nearby so we’ll likely give the other one a try for date night.

Hubby and I often did a lot of handoffs during the day based on schedules – typically if we had a snow day in Seattle, EVERYONE was home, so we’d just hand off the kids when we had a call to take. Our girls still thankfully go to bed at 7:15ish so we have a big chunk of time in the evening to play catch-up as needed, if the day got too crazy.

Now that I’m not working, I welcome a day off as a change in the regular routine which I find a bit relentless 🙂 My 5yo was home sick yesterday and even though I was “on call” for her, she was happy to listen to kid podcasts, read, nap and watch a movie, and I didn’t have to remember mid-day Kindergarten pickup. It felt surprisingly relaxing to NOT have my day cut in half like that even though I didn’t have any kid-free time yesterday 😀

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 00:21:42 +0000

In reply to Sarah K.

@Sarah K – that’s great that the YMCA and Parks departments offer options. Because it’s not like only one family has a problem when there’s no school! And while I can imagine that it’s not ideal, some times situations aren’t ideal.

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 00:19:59 +0000

In reply to Aly. @Aly - thanks so much! So glad you're enjoying them!

By: Aly

Aly — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 19:10:51 +0000

I want to say I love your podcasts even more so as I return back to work this week after maternity leave!!

By: Sarah K

Sarah K — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 18:50:36 +0000

The YMCA and the Parks department in our town both offer drop-in snow day care as well. My son doesn’t really like to go (it’s a bit loud and chaotic for him) but at least I know I have an option if both my husband and I both have work responsibilities we absolutely cannot miss.