I'm having a really hard time understanding how people with children manage to maintain a job. I thought that when the little D started school that things would somehow be easier. I was wrong.
D starts junior kindergarten at 8:50 and finishes his day at 11:20. There is no afterschool care at his school. There is no transporation from his school to his current daycare. His daycare will pick him up but stops at another school first which means being unsupervised for 10 minutes until he is picked up. We have looked at other caregivers in our area and they were frightening (cat pee, dog and cigarette odors... and that was one house!). I have placed an ad for potential caregivers and they want almost the same pay as I am making (not that they don't deserve it). My only option at this point is to start my 'day job' late in the day. In other words, I am losing 3 hours of work because of the 10 mintues it takes to walk my kiddo to the daycare after school.
We are fortunate. We have jobs that are demanding at times but afford us a great deal of flexiblity. To be able to say to my employer, "Listen, I need to start at noon, not 9" and for him to say "I don't think that will be a real problem" is a lifesaver. How many people have to quit because they don't have care for their children? I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for people who need to find subsidized care. I'm really at a loss.
My co-worker told me I must be a pretty crumby witch if I can't work some magick on this issue. I think she's right. It's time to pull out the wand. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do but I will post a spell when I come up with something and we'll see how it works.
I wonder what spell the Banks children used on that Mary Poppin's letter?
