Daily gripes

HoosOnFirst

I don't want to be a special snowflake so I'll put this as a general thread

But WTF is with daycare and it not being accessible for working parents?! I've contacted like 20 places and most close at 5. Is this real life? Who can leave work early enough to both commute and pick up by 5 pm? I'm about to lose my sh*t. We had one daycare lined up that closed at 5:30 (which still requires DH to leave work at 4) and we lost the spot on Sunday at which point I had a total meltdown (poor DH). I've contacted another 6 providers today and so far one is full, one closes at 5 and one is only 4 days per week. What universe do people live in where I can just say "hey boss, sorry, I can no longer work five days... Or I need to leave at 3:30, HOPE THAT'S COOL!"

Ugh sorry, rant over.

karaelaine1991

hoodoll82 said:

I don't want to be a special snowflake so I'll put this as a general thread

But WTF is with daycare and it not being accessible for working parents?! I've contacted like 20 places and most close at 5. Is this real life? Who can leave work early enough to both commute and pick up by 5 pm? I'm about to lose my sh*t. We had one daycare lined up that closed at 5:30 (which still requires DH to leave work at 4) and we lost the spot on Sunday at which point I had a total meltdown (poor DH). I've contacted another 6 providers today and so far one is full, one closes at 5 and one is only 4 days per week. What universe do people live in where I can just say "hey boss, sorry, I can no longer work five days... Or I need to leave at 3:30, HOPE THAT'S COOL!"

Ugh sorry, rant over.

I haven't been looking into daycares because I'm planning to take some time off after I graduate in August, but I think that's ridiculous! And I've noticed it with a lot of other industries, too - doctor's offices and car mechanics have been the big ones that have really stuck out to me. In my area, most doctors and mechanics close by 4 or 5, and they're not open on weekends... so what exactly are those who work supposed to do? It's mind boggling to me. Thankfully I have a fairly flexible schedule so DH and I have been able to work around most of this but I definitely think it's a problem that services that just about everyone needs aren't available after the conventional workday ends. 

This a problem within my own field, too. I'm going to be a children's librarian and I've noticed that the vast majority of early childhood programs at libraries tend to only be available on weekday mornings. This excludes almost all working families. I understand why children's librarians don't want to be at work on nights and weekends - they have their own families who they want to spend time with - but I personally believe that in order to effectively serve a community, children's librarians have a responsibility to make some storytimes and other children's programs available at times when families with working parents can attend, so when I'm a children's librarian eventually, I'm definitely going to try to be available at least one night a week and 1-2 Saturdays per month. 

Off my soapbox now  

ElRuby

Everything revolves around stay at home parents... Preschools are usually half day (in my area) and all activities for young non school-aged children are like Tuesday mornings at 10... I feel blessed to have an extremely flexible job because I would always worry about not being able to do both....I certainly understand the frustration for parents with full time jobs!