Nursing and childcare poll

[beeker]

I think a lot of us have similar struggles. We were discussing childcare issues at work as our facility had a major change. The hospital offered an in-house daycare for many years, opened at 630am and closed at 730pm. It was used by a lot of 12 hour people. They abruptly closed it down with 3 weeks notice which left a lot of people scrambling. A new daycare in the area has extended its hours and almost doubled in size to accommodate nurses/CNAs/ 12 hour shifters. The cost is double what the in house one charged, but people are willing to pay for safe care. On night shift, a lot of single moms pay overnight sitters to stay with their kids or family or spouse is home. A lot of dayshifters have 2 working parent households, and the spouse bears the brunt of getting everyone up dressed and off to school. Does the 12 hour shift burden your spouse?

How do you handle child care?

For school aged children, who drops off and picks up?

Did you ever have to change jobs or shifts to acccomodate childcare/school hours?

Does your spouse or another family member handle the drop off pick ups?

i know most places don't offer in house daycare, so just curious how others make arrangements. Not everyone has family nearby.

[SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN]

I work every weekend and am off during the week while my spouse works. I have 2 in school, one not, so the daycare price was $1,500/mo for us since we needed before and after school care. We are young so our parents still work, no free childcare here.

It stinks but it's temporary till I get my middle kid in full time school. My husband and I have always worked opposite shifts or schedules to cover the kids but still used daycare for the gaps. But once the third came, it was just too expensive.