How do you manage child care with both partners working??

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 29, 2006

BTW...our kids are 9 and 12.

Check the State in which you live because in many states a child 9 years of age is old enough to be left home alone. And 12 years of age is old enough to be a baby-sitter to one or two younger children. If this is the case, then you do not have a child care problem unless you do not trust your kids due to behavioral issues or one or both kids has a disability that requires special adult care. Good luck!

ARLadyRN · Apr 29, 2006

You might work nights for a while, thats what I did. Have your husband get them ready in the morning. Do they catch the bus or walk or do you take them? Maybe a neighbor could take them with hers. Work like weekend option, fri, sat, sun or sat, sun, mon. 7p-7am. then it would only be 1-2 mornings. Or do like I did, just work part time for a while. good luck, you have to juggle it sometimes. Or does their school have a before or after school care program if they are still in elementry?

Trauma Columnist · Apr 29, 2006

I've worked several places where they wanted day/night rotation. However, you could volunteer to work nights only and then opt out of the rotation which is what I always did when our kids were small.

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 30, 2006

It's hard, very hard. I do perdiem because of childcare issues. I never wanted to use daycare, and thanks to that, don't have to. You will find what works-----even if it means having to lean on family or close friends for help. Good luck.

TazziRN, RN · Apr 30, 2006

My husband works varied shifts at a grocery store. I do 12-hour days. We have a wonderful daycare provider who is willing to keep the baby until I get home at 8 pm if necessary, and will take her as early as 6 in the morning also. We are also lucky in that both my parents and my mother in law are always willing to help out if needed.

clee1 · Apr 30, 2006

I work nights, go to school days; wife works days. Wife's dad keeps dd while I'm at school, and he's great with her. Thank God for that!

nightingale, RN · May 1, 2006

OH those childcare issues are so hard. I still have someone come over if their Dad is not available and they are teenagers! I do not like leaving my kids alone.

Trauma Columnist · May 1, 2006

Its sometimes worse when they are teens than when they are younger. I didn't leave my kids alone until they were well into their teens.

ljds · May 1, 2006

My kids are 8 and 11; I work nights, dh works days as a teacher. He has to leave before I get home sometimes, as my shift officially ends at 7:15 and he has to leave by 7:30--and we all know we often don't get out on time. Though I do have it good, I rarely stay past 7:30.

We just leave the kids at home. They LOVE it. He calls me at 7:15 and gets an ETA, and then based on that tells them approx when to expect me, and what they need to accomplish before I get home. Usually its 5-10 minutes of time that they are actually home alone. He leaves his phone with them, with instructions to call me if I am more than 10 minutes past the time they expect me; if htey can't get ahold of me they know to call a family friend who lives nearby; if they ever actually needed to activate this plan, our friend would come over, help them finish getting ready for school, and then actually get them to school. We've never had to do that, though.

My kids are pretty independent, calm children who get along very well. We also live in a smaller town, have a great community of friends, and also have a larger, protective dog who stays inside with the girls when we do this. I can imagine situations where this would not work well, but it works for us. When they were younger, dh dropped them off at a friends' house, and I would pick them up after I had slept for a couple of hours. We never paid these friends; we just would exchange babysitting. These were people whose kids were friends with my kids--so it was more like a playdate in the early morning.

Good luck! Hope you find something that works for you.

scrmblr · May 1, 2006

My husband is a nurse in hospice and works 3 on 3 off. The person who does scheduling has been so amazing to work out a schedule for me. I usually work 4 off 2 on and pick up alot of extra sunday's because my teenager is home to watch the younger one. (I have a 17, 12, and 5yo) Sometimes this doesn't work out or I have an education class or whatever and we have to use grandma and grandpa. But, they live in another state and only visit occasionally.

I think it would be much easier if my little one was a little older. The older ones are really good about watching her, but she is in kindergarten and gets out of school at noon.