Short Term Childcare

[mad4mady]

Hello All-

I am planning way ahead but, next year I have to do my student teaching and will need child care full time for 9 weeks. After the 9 weeks I will not need child care again until I start teaching which will be anywhere from 10 months to 2 years...my daughter will be 18 months when I student teach and I am not sure what I should do about childcare. Unfortuantely, Family is not an option and My DH cannot take a leave from work. I am thinking it might be hard to find a place that would have a spot for such a short length of time especailly when I won't be going back to work after that for a while.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

[Peony]

You could try a center but like you mentioned, it could be difficult to get a spot. My hours vary, I mostly work very part time but once a year I spend a month training new counselors which is a lot more time then I normally work. I always end up with a new sitters that comes to my house for just the month. I start looking about 3-4 weeks before I need care and every year things just seem to fall into place! 

[34me]

Do you know any SAHMs who would like to make some extra money for 9 weeks? 

[One_Girl]

Some centers will take children for short periods of time, I have done this a few times and never had a problem finding good care.  You may have to call around a lot to find one that fits with your values and will take you for a short period of time but it may be easier than you think to find care.  If your university has a childcare center I suggest checking into it because they will probably have semester based and flexible options.

[Justmee]

Yes, try a SAHM. Also sometimes home daycares have a spot if you are upfront about it being temporary. Anyone who has a few spots would usualy rather the income for 9 weeks than not at all, or you could get lucky and one of her regulars could be out on maternity leave the time that you need.

[Erin77]

I got a list of licensed providers from my state licensing agency (here it's called PATCH) and called all of them until I found some that took part time, temporary placements. I only found a couple places, but luckily I liked one of them and it worked out great.

[beebalmmama]

I took care of a little girl for a mother in your same position. I was just starting to offer childcare in my home as a SAHM and it worked out pretty well. I would have liked to have had her longer, but if you could find someone who needs the money and wouldn't mind the temporary position it could work out.