Super or Super Sad: More Daycare Centers Offering Nighttime Hours
More daycare centers are now open around the clock
I often find myself fantasizing about daycare. Or any kind of childcare, really. I chose to figure out a way to work from home so I could be with my kids, but that doesn’t make it any less hard (and I know no one said it would be easy, but until I was doing it with one, and now two kids under the age of 4, I had no clue how hard it would be).
My work “schedule” is fast and loose — I cram in work where I can, which means I basically work around the clock, seven days a week. When I have the occasional help, it’s during daylight hours. But I often need it at night, too. Everything suffers as a result — my work never gets the full attention that it needs, my kids never get the full attention that they deserve. But deep down I feel as if me being home with them full time is still worth it in the end — warts and all.
Hearing that there are daycare centers that now have nighttime hours (via Café Mom) sounds like a nice thing. It’s not something I’ll be taking advantage of (and not just because there are none in my area), but I can imagine it’s a great relief to many working parents.
Whether parents work the night shift or take night classes, it’s just a fact that not every parent works a classic 9-5 schedule. The New York Times reports many daycares now offer 24/7 care for children. It’s not ideal for families that want to eat dinner together, or put their kids to bed, but then again, life and work situations aren’t always ideal.
While babysitters at home might be preferable, they are also usually more expensive than a daycare facility.
Putting my kids in daycare at night would make me sad — not feeding them dinner, not tucking them into bed and kissing them goodnight, but then again, so would putting my kid in daycare during the day. And leaving my kids with a babysitter more often than not would also tug at my heartstrings.
I do the best I can, and I feel fortunate that I have some choices available to me. My sympathy goes out to family with fewer choices, and I’m happy to hear that nighttime daycare may have expanded their choices by one.
What do you think of nighttime daycare? Would you ever put your baby in one?
In a way, this actually seems nicer than day time day care, because if the hours that the child spends away from home are the nighttime hours, it seems as though they’d get more awake at-home time. But I can’t figure out when the parent is supposed to sleep, if he/she is working all night and has a perky awake child all day! The sad thing about this to me is not the hours spend sleeping at day care, but the hours the child might have to spend in a play pen or crib, awake, while the parent gets some daytime sleep.
I think that it’s necessary Many jobs have irregular hours, and I think that daycare centers that are open 7 AM to 6 or 7PM just don’t cut it. Right now, I have two daughters that work nighttime hours (one is third shift at a hospital; one is mid-shift at a restaurant). If I wasn’t available for my grandbebes, where would they go?
If society keeps insisting on 24-hour everything for their convenience and accepts that we live in a capitalist market where in order to stay competitive, companies must be able to respond 24 hours to global demands, then this is just a result of that world which we create.
I think its a good thing for the parents that need it.
I think that it is a necessity. Withe the economy where it is,,,many people can;t be choosy about when they work, MANY people work shifts,,,often both parents. Obviously, childcare in the home is ideal,,,but, if the sitter cancels…
I am a 2nd generation nurse, and while I do work a day shift now, when my daughter was born I worked the night shift for about 4mos. I was lucky because my mother who is also a nurse, worked day shift, and would come to my house and watch my daughter. I work only 3 days a week so it’s ok, I have lots of time with my daughter; but when I was a girl my mom worked night shift and I actually went to kindergarden at night. The daycare I went to was open 24/7, and I actually thought it was fun. It was down the street from the hospital my mom worked at, and there were lots of kids there whose parent were nurses or doctors. Children understand that parent have to work, night or day, you love them and they love you just the same.
My husband and I tag team work. For the times our schedules overlap, we get a sitter. I had no interest in putting my babies in daycare, never mind night care… although maybe I’d get a decent night’s sleep for once! =P
Hey, snakecharmer: I’ll be sure to throw your views back in your face when you come to my hospital & need nursing care in the middle of the night. My job is about caring for assholes like you, not capitalism.
This would be a wonderful option for our family. My husband works 12 hr shifts and if I were to go back to work I cant be guaranteed I would get out on time. We both work in medicine on an ambulance. If someone get sick or hurt we have to go.
I used to work at a daycare that was next to the big hospital in our city. We only allowed employees of the hospital to bring their kids there so mostly doctors and nurses and hospital execs kids were there. We had a 7 to 7 schedule Monday through Friday, but they kept talking about going 7 days a week 24 hours because doctors and nurses work 24/7 around the clock too. I quit before they did it. I guess it would have made sense.