If you work and have a school-aged child...

[samy23]

How do you manage during the day with work and the school run? Most jobs start at 8 or 9am, and finish around 5-6pm...so how do you get your child to school for 9am and get them home for 3pm? And who looks after them from 3pm-5/6pm until you get home from work?

[Alyantavid]

I have a very flexible schedule. As long as I get my work done, they don't really care.

Right now, I work 7-3:30. Dh drops ds1 off at the bus stop in the mornings and I do about half the afternoon pick ups. Last year I did both drop off and pick up and tried to make up time whenever I could.

I know alot of daycares around here take after school kids who ride the bus to the daycare. Or maybe another mom could watch your kid after school?

[JollyGG]

We do after school care. There are lots of options for it where I live. I started out with him in a home daycare where he walked to the daycare with the providers daughter after school. Then I moved to an after school program that is actually at the school. He loved that. I have friends that send their kids to centers that run busses/vans to the local schools to pick up kids for after school care. Another friend has a high school aged neighbor watch the kids after school until she gets home. My husband now works from home so my son rides the bus home, does his homework, then goes and plays with friends. I have a stay at home mom friend who meets the bus and watches him after school when my husband is out of town as it's only a couple of hours and keeps her son entertained as well she doesn't mind.

Eww. I just saw how late your kids school starts. That sucks. Our elementary schools start at 8am. However I do know several home daycares and centers who will do both before and after school care. When I was in high school I did before school care for some kids. I'd get to her house early, get the kids up, fed, and drive them to school then head to my own school. I unfortunately did have to drop the kids at school to play on the playground earlier than I would have liked in order to get to my own school on time. But we made it work.

[pumpkin]

When I was a kid my Mom would drop me at daycare in the am. The daycare handled transportation to the elementary school. They also picked us up after school and we stayed there until the end of the work day.

[lolar2]

I used to substitute-teach in a school district had before-care and after-care for working parents. That was for elementary school-- I think the middle school and up, had to manage on their own.

[meemee]

my dd is in second grade. if i had continued working instead of becoming a full time student, i would have put her in afterschool care this year. not because i want to, but because she has been begging me to put her in aftercare. all her good friends go to aftercare. they have a lot of activities and so for her its like a party. she really wants to go there.

however on my days, i pick her up from school.

when i was working i worked longer days on days i didnt have her, and shorter days on days i did have her so i could pick her up without doing childcare. in K she did go to free afterschool care on days she was with her dad because she begged him to. we changed schools in first grade but we still go to back to visit her afterschool care teachers.

however from 2 to starting k she was in a ps/dc and HATED being away from me.

i would live poor rather than pick her up from afterschool at 6. she has to be in bed by no later than 8 as it takes her a LONG time to go to sleep. just 2 hours with her would have taken its toll on her. and me too.

[waiflywaif]

A sitter picks up DD at 2:30 and stays with her until I get home at 5. Once a week I am able to telecommute, so I handle pickup on those days.

[Ceinwen]

My dd (age 6.5) attends before and after school care at the daycare located in her school. My younger dd (age 21 months) also goes to f/t daycare there. I work 8 - 4, but my commute is about an hour right now (really bad construction) so I drop off at 7 and pick up at 5. Personally, I feel that's a bit of a long day for them, but it's the best I can do at the moment. I have my mom as back up for when they're sick...

[lorijds]

I've always worked nights and/or weekends. I get home in time to get the kids to school, dh or rarely a friend picks them up.

Next year, after pretty much 15 years of nontraditional hours, I'll be moving to day shift. Oldest dd will be driving, so on the days that the weather is too bad for the kids to ride their bikes, she can provide the transportation on the 1-3 days a week I can't.

Oh, forgot to mention that I work 12 hour shifts. So I only work 3 days a week for my full time job.

[Indigo73]

I drop DS off at his bus stop at 7:30, we wait for the bus together... then I head to work early. My brother gets him from the bus stop and they hang for the 30 or so minutes until DP gets home at 3:30ish. (He goes in at 6:30).

We did do afterschool care for kindergarten and first grade and he loved it.

[columbusmomma]

We are lucky because DH works for himself, mainly from home and can take DS(2nd grade)to school and pick him up. If DH has a mtg. or something I often take DS with me to work, check in, and then take my lunch and drop him off at school. If DH didn't work from home we would juggle drop offs and pick ups with neighbors or do afterschool latchkey.

[griffin2004]

I drop DD at school @ 8:00 which gets me to work by 8:30. I take a half hour lunch and leave the office at 5:00. Her school has aftercare on site which is a huge godsend. I pick her up @ 5:30 and we get home @ 5:45.

[Ellien C]

Our school starts at 8:40 and DH drops the kiddo off on his way to work. He works 9:30-6:30 and I work 8-5.

We have an awesome in-school care program that has hours from 6:30 am to 6 pm. I pick DD up around 5:30 from after-care. Ours is run through the Y and it's really good. There is a lot of free-play, lots of creativity. The older kids made-up homework problems for my kindy last year, but this year she has her own. She wrote a little book about Facts about Fireworks yesterday. It was totally awesome and full of pictures and 6 year old spelling. I was enthralled. There is no TV at the aftercare and I think she gets a lot more out of that than she would at home with me in the afternoons. There are tons of kids to play with at all grade levels. I'm very happy with it. We are home by 6, dinner at 7, TV off at 7:30 and Bedtime at 8 pm - it takes her awhile to wash up, pick clothes, read books and fall asleep. Asleep by 9:30 is pretty good for us.