Aug 27, 201510 yr I have two school age children. The local ymca provides childcare at 7:00 at the earliest. Curious what others do with their children if they work 7-3 day shift? More Like This General Nursing Monitoring Program & Working In Hospital 12-Hours Shift 2 Replies Active 04/10/2026 03:09 PM Hospice, Palliative Working how much of an on-call shift, means it should just be a regular shift 1 Replies Active 01/21/2026 05:17 AM NICU, Neonatal Is taking a night shift NICU job worth it 7 Replies Active 02/27/2026 08:34 PM
Aug 27, 201510 yr Most of the parents I work with favor nights and weekends. Extra pay and easier childcare. Families, especially grandparents, often help out, sometimes nurses hire a sitter. I don't know of anyone who uses daycare. We work 12 hour shifts and if you add commute, report, and sometimes staying late, my door to door time is close to 14 hours.
Aug 27, 201510 yr I'm guessing you need to find a daycare that opens at 6. Most around here do- perhaps your HR department can provide you with a list of licensed facilities.
Aug 27, 201510 yr Author I'm guessing you need to find a daycare that opens at 6. Most around here do- perhaps your HR department can provide you with a list of licensed facilities.to clarify my kids go to school. so nights and weekends would conflict. Was just looking for thoughts for before school care for 1.5 hours. Not looking for a daycare. If both parents have to leave by 6:30 am wondering how others make it work that do the 7-3 shift.
Aug 27, 201510 yr Some daycare offer before and after school care. There are also some that are open 24hrs. I live in FL and would have my son daycare take him to school and pick him up.
Aug 27, 201510 yr I utilize my sons after school program plus the assistance of a licensed home child care provider. She can accommodate the early morning hours of AM shifts. She drives him to school in the mornings. When I work PMs, she picks him up from school and provides care until I get off.
Aug 27, 201510 yr When I worked 7-3 I had my son enrolled at a daycare that opened at 6. Some of them offer before/after school care as well.
Aug 27, 201510 yr When I was a kid, there was a before/after school program that operated at the school itself. It was called BASE (Before and After School Education).
Aug 27, 201510 yr It's not easy to find daycare that starts early enough . I found a church day care that opened at 6:00. . Good luck!
Aug 28, 201510 yr To the original poster, you will likely find more home based day care providers willing to accommodate the early and late hours of nurses, than center based programs. I always used licensed home based programs, in conjunction with the program at the kids school, to accommodate my schedule.If I had the money, an in home "nanny" would be awesome!! 😀😂☺ï¸
Aug 29, 201510 yr I have a babysitter that comes to our home because I can't get daycare for the hours I work 7a to 7p. It is very expensive but as a last resort you can try care.com until you find another solution
Aug 29, 201510 yr Experts When I worked that shift (actually, 0645-1515), I had to find a provider that opened at 0630. Like in your area, most providers opened at 0700. It took a lot of searching--and figuring out the best routes to get me from there to work and in the report room within 15 minutes--but I was able to find one and make it work. You may need to find a new childcare provider, find someone who is willing to watch your kids early and drop them off for you (another parent using the YMCA childcare, a parent with students at the same school, a babysitter...and yes, you may need to pay this person for this privilege), or find another position with a later start time.Best of luck whatever you decide!
I have two school age children. The local ymca provides childcare at 7:00 at the earliest. Curious what others do with their children if they work 7-3 day shift?