After school program?

NYMOM101511

Happy Friday fellow working moms. My daughter is only 18 months but I can't help but worry about the future. As crazy as this may sound. I'm already worrying about, when she starts school what she will do afterwards which will either be daycare, mine currently does picks ups which is amazing! Or do you keep them in the after school program. But I already noticed they only have after school programs up to sixth grade. What do you do once they start 7th grade? I can't imagine letting them stay home alone that young? Other moms, what do you do?

[Deleted User]

That's over a decade away for you. I will stress out about that when it is much closer. 

We will either do after school care at the school or preschool's after school program next year. We haven't decided yet. It would be nice to have him at his preschool since he loves them so much and they are a part of our family at this point.

As far as 7th grade- no clue. 

2chatter

I work from home, so DD will likely just come here when she ages out next year.  If that isn't an option, we will get an after school nanny.

aglenn

DD just started kindergarten and goes to before and after school care at her school.  She thinks that is awesome because the room has computer games and tons of fun art supplies and she gets to play with the bigger kids.  As far as middle school goes, I have no clue and will cross that bridge when I come to it.  When I was that age my mom had a babysitter come to our house to watch my brother and I (and keep us from killing one another, primarily). 

litzo27

Our elementary school has excellent after school : sports, Legos, computer club, swimming pool. He will be in it as long as we are at this school. By 7th grade I expect he'll have no problem spending a couple of hours at home alone. If he'll have activities or clubs to get to after school I'll hire a part time sitter, like a college girl, to drive him.

Mustardseed2007

A couple day cares (none of our current ones unfortunately) offer an after school program that picks up at the local elementary schools around us and I had always assumed we would use one of those, but I've been thinking more and more that an after school nanny might be affordable enough that we may go that route.

I like the idea that a nanny may be able to help with simple homework - which they currently do not offer at any of the programs, they all just have a homework room where kids are supposed to do their own work and then can go play after they are done. Also a nanny can help drive to sports or whatever other after school programs we may enroll our kids in.

Leap08

DD1 starts kindergarten next year. I'm still figuring out what we'll do, but I'm pretty sure it will be a before/after daycare program that provides transportation to/from school. I think kids "age out" of them here by 7th grade if not before. I'm fairly sure that by that time, we'll just let her take the bus home. I see nothing wrong with letting a 7th grader stay home alone for a few hours. I babysat for other families by myself when I was that age. It doesn't seem too young to me at all.

ss+el

DS goes to the after school program at his school. He gets to burn off a bunch of energy and it helps me with bedtime later.   Starting in first grade, they take them to the library and/or classrooms to do homework for about an hour of the program as well. By sixth grade, he'll probably just take the bus, which will save us a ton of money and probably won't leave him home alone for very long, depending on how the route runs.

fancynewbeesly

Also--at least when I was in 7th grade, they had all sorts of activities/sports/etc after school and kids went home on the "late bus"--which may mean they were still home an hour or so before by themselves. 

mommatotwo2

DD1 rode the bus to and from daycare in kindergarten which was a nice transition for us because DD2 was starting daycare at the same time. She also attended summer care there after kindergarten. Because that was her last year, we started before and after care through the school because they also run the summer camp program and I am hoping some of the kids and teachers will be familiar by then. She loves the program.

mae0111

I'm struggling with this as well.  Our plan was to keep our kids at our local Catholic parish school, which offers after school care with some club sports and other activities, and that would work until around 7th grade as well.  But for a lot of reasons that have surfaced over the last few weeks, we're no longer planning to keep them there.

The before/after school program in our town is centrally located, meaning I'd have to drive across town to drop them off in the morning (easily 20 mins), only for them to jump on a bus to bring them back across town to the school at the end of our street.  Then the same thing in the afternoon.  Seems silly.

So we have 2 options that we're considering. 1. A part time nanny, or 2. I take a step back.  #2 is most likely.  Our nanny has already told us that she's planning to move out of the area once DD2 is in school full time, so for a lot of reasons, it seems like the right time for me to change things around with my work life.

amieeyoung

I think by middle school my son will ride the bus home and be home for a little by himself (but that would only generally be 30-45 minutes or so). I think he would be responsible enough for that. I think it all depends on how mature your child is, your work situation, the type of area you live in (is it generally safe or is there a lot of crime) etc. 

Beevol

I think it is way too early to be worried about this, but just adding that I was home alone starting in 4th or 5th grade after school and by seventh grade, I was getting off the bus at a neighbor's house to watch their kids until they got home. 

Fallbaby11

I think a 7th grader would be absolutely fine to stay home home alone for an hour or two.

emberlee3

My kid is in kindergarten, and this year we decided to use a nanny for drop off/pick up and to take care of DD all day.  Next year, DD will hopefully be in daycare, and DS will go to before/after care at school.  By middle school, I am sure he will have after-school activities most days.  Definitely not going to worry myself over that right now.

MirandaHobbes

I worry about this. My kid is in first grade and we have had some headaches already with afterschool care. The care that is provided at the school fills up immediately and we're still on the waitlist in first grade. There are minimal options that he can be bused to. Two, in fact, other than finding an in-home daycare. The first is a private daycare center which has a shoddy license record. The second is our parks and rec program. That's where we send him. It's okay. Not great. He can only go there up to 5th grade. By 6th he will not be able to go home alone. He has ASD. He's high-functioning, but I just don't think he'll be able to do it. We'll see. I'm already looking at options. I just saw that his middle school doesn't start until 9:30 am. WTF. I have no idea what he's going to do in the morning. I'm hoping that the school maybe opens early and has some sort of open study hall in the library. Probably wishful thinking. After school I'm hoping to find a neighbor who will let him come over. When I was in 6th-7th grade I was a "helper" at the afterschool program for elementary kids. I didn't get paid, but it gave me something to do after school until my Dad was done with work. Otherwise when I was in 6-12th grade my routine was to walk to the public library and hang out there until my Dad was ready to go home. I got all my homework done and would read or play computer games. But then, I was pretty responsible. Not sure about my son...

74dragonfly

I thought I was a worrier....I would not worry about it at this time. Seriously. 

NYMOM101511

thank you all for your input.  I am a worrier,  i definetly worry more than i need too. It's not good!