Juggling kid's essential activities with new full-time job?

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I've been searching for work for about 2 years now, so I'm super excited to have a job offer.  But I have also just realized that for most of the time I've been a mom I have had part time jobs or an after-school nanny.  Now we can't afford individual child care and my kids are old enough that I feel OK about leaving them home on their own for a couple of hours most afternoons.  My 3rd grader will go to the after-school extended care program for the one day a week she gets out 2 hours earlier than her brother.  So far, so good.

So here is my dilemma.  Twice a month DS has therapist appointments.  Once a month DD has an orthodontist appointment.  Once a quarter each of them has a med-check doctor's appointments.  All of these are essential.  None of them can be scheduled after work hours or on weekends.  Neither DH nor I can take that much time off of work, at least not right now.  So clearly I need some sort of child care to handle transportation to these appointments.  But its not enough for a "regular" sitter.  How/where do I find people that can do this for me?  The sitter services in the area can't guarantee that they could always send a familiar person and I don't want some random stranger showing up saying "Hi, I'm here to take you to your appointment".  I don't have any regular sitters that I use at the moment -- no money for going out.  Thoughts or ideas?

[pianojazzgirl]

Do you have any friends who could help?  Perhaps in exchange for you doing some childcare (or something else)?

Are you absolutely certain that none of those appointments could be scheduled for before or after work?  I know our dentist (might have similar hours to an orthodontist?) works later than most people's work day.  If you haven't actually called to find out I would do that.

At the worst case could you and your dh take turns calling in "sick" to take the kids to their appointments?

ETA - I'm not sure what your job is, but could you ever come in early one day so that you could leave a bit early in the afternoon?

[JudiAU]

Have you carefully reviewed your company's sick time policy? In many cases, everything you mentioned would quality as legitimate sick time. It would at my firm.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by JudiAU 

Have you carefully reviewed your company's sick time policy? In many cases, everything you mentioned would quality as legitimate sick time. It would at my firm.

Yup.  Also, depending on how flexible your hours are, you might be able to make up time, or do some things during "lunch" and take an extended lunch. How much sick leave do you accrue every month? You might need to take turns with your partner, so that neither of you is taking all the hits on sick time. Can you do some work from home a few evenings a week after the kids are in bed to make up the time?

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

This is a purely "paid by the hour" job with no sick time or PTO available.  Maybe going forward I can negotiate for this but for the moment its not there.  Its also a brand new job, so even if I were earning PTO I couldn't use it right away.  And because I've been unemployed for so long I can't afford to lose several hours of pay just at the moment.  And DH is frequently traveling or in court and cannot count on being able to leave work for appointments.

And yes, I have called each of these providers to find out options for appointments.  None of them work for me and all of these providers are in the midst of long-term things (braces for one, mental health issues for the other) so I don't want to switch providers at the moment.

Luckily, asking around church on Sunday I came up with several adults who were available in the late afternoon and eager to make some cash on an occasional basis.  So I think it will be a rotating round of drivers and I'll just have to hope that one of them is available each time an appointment is set up. 

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by Evan&Anna's_Mom 

This is a purely "paid by the hour" job with no sick time or PTO available.  Maybe going forward I can negotiate for this but for the moment its not there.  Its also a brand new job, so even if I were earning PTO I couldn't use it right away.  And because I've been unemployed for so long I can't afford to lose several hours of pay just at the moment.  And DH is frequently traveling or in court and cannot count on being able to leave work for appointments.

Ok, but just to address one thing - when I started my current job, I couldn't take paid vacation for the first 90 days. However, I could start taking sick leave right away. I'm lucky enough to have paid sick time, but even if you have unpaid sick time, you should be able to take sick leave starting immediately. I don't know what type of job it is, but I definitely sympathize (I only accrue one day of sick time a month, and when a kid gets sick its really hard).

Is your DH a lawyer (I ask because you said he's in court frequently)? If he is, depending on his firm he may be able to at least attempt to schedule his court dates around some of the kids appointments (not all of course, but one or two a month). Judges ask for availability when scheduling court dates, and the lawyers get out their schedules and hash it out with the court calendar. I don't know what kind of travelling he does for work, but now that both of you are working he's going to have to take some time off for sick kids, its the only way you'll be able to move up at all, unless you can afford to pay sitters to do this all the time.

[pranamama]

Is this local driving only?   If so you could probably find another mom willing to take it on if the pay is decent and the hours are set well in advance.   Would the "driver"  be expected to take along both children or just the one with the appointment. 

[Anna Phor]

So 3x a month plus an extra appointment every 3 months--not quite once a week? Could you get a college student sitter and book them for the same time each week (and schedule the appointments the same time), and then have them do other errands in the bonus week (like drive your car for a tune-up, grab groceries, do laundry)?

Alternately, find a SAHM and do a swap for babysitting?