s/o full day kindy comment

CTFandme · January 2012

someone posted on my FB page that this whole full day/half day debate is really the age old argument between working moms and SAH moms. Do you agree? Do working moms want full day more than the SAHM? I didn't think so, but when I look at my friends who support it and those who don't, it seems that might be the case. What do you think?

mamarazzi · January 2012

Well, I'm a sahm and prefer full day kindy.

veloelle · January 2012

I WOH 3 days a week. For us, half day works. DH picks her up on his lunch hour the 3 days I work (he's closer to the school) and takes her to daycare. It's the same DC she's been at for almost 3 years. If it was full day, we would have had to change DC because ours doesn't do pick up, and I wanted to keep change at a minimum w/ starting school. I do not thinks it's WAH/SAH, I think it's totally family dependent.

At this point I'm thrilled she's in half day. I didn't want her in full day anyway, but I'm apparently in the minority. I don't get the push for full day. DD's friend is in full day private and she's not any more advanced than DD. It is so confusing; redshirting is all the rage, but once you get them there, work them all day? What's funny is Kinder isn't even required by the state of CA! It is totally optional, and to this day parents will enroll in 1st, no Kindie.

juniper19 · January 2012

We don't even have a half-day option. But if we did I wouldn't take it and I SAH.

lsufan · January 2012

I'm a SAHM, and I prefer full day. Most parents I know view full day kindy as an opportunity for more instruction time, not merely as a way to resolve childcare issues. And if you work a typical 8-5 schedule, you'll most likely need to line up before/after school care anyway.

emiliemadison · January 2012

I'm a SAHM and support full day K. I think it's a better model for learning. Plus, it keeps me sane. What's not to like? (Our district does not have a half day option anyway).

surprise3rd · January 2012

I am a SAHM, but I WAH for myself a few hours a week, more a SAHM than a WAHM. I was upset about full day in the beginning. Didn't want my LO gone that long, worried about how exhausted he would be switching frm 3 day a week preK to full day, but it ended up being wonderful, he loved it, adjusted quickly and learned a TON. I do have mom friends that work full time out of the house the seek charter school full day kindy programs to save on child care.

DevonPow · January 2012

I am a SAHM and prefer full day K It isn't an option here - it is all full day (8-2:15). With the full day schedule here all my friends that work still need a nanny or after care for their kids, so I don't think looking at full day K for childcare makes much sense.

Zenya · January 2012

I am a SAHM and prefer half day. I mean my son's specific schedule is PITA but I like that he's at home more than he will be next year. (but then next year I'm glad he'll have the opportunity to go full day!)

passar3588 · January 2012

I SAH and I would prefer full day.

melmax · January 2012

mamarazzi:
Well, I'm a sahm and prefer full day kindy.

This. 100%.

expectingnothing · January 2012

I'm a single working mom, and I'd prefer full day because she's used to doing a full day (7:30-5 at daycare) so why not go from 8-3 instead of 3.5 hours of instructional time. Once both kids are in elementary I will still be paying $820 a month for before and after care so the fact that it's full day or half day is irrelevant since I have to be at work before 8:15 (earliest they are allowed on school grounds) and past 3:30 (time at which they must be off school grounds).

shouldbworkin · January 2012

Perhaps it depends on the district? In ours, they used to offer a KG Academy program for the other half day program for families that needed it. It was ridiculously cheap, like $1800 a year. So, a lot of families that didn't need before/after care used it because they felt like their kids were missing out. Then, the adjacent districts started offering full day and they were open districts so our district had to join in. It didn't have much to do with SAH or WOH parents. But, a lot of the SAH parents supported it b/c they didn't have to pay $1800 for the additional education anymore.

wellfleet04 · January 2012

I'm a SAHM and strongly prefer half day K, which I also would as a working mom. It's not like full day would eliminate the need for aftercare--it gets out at 2/3:00, not 6:00. The reasons I prefer half days are phlisophical, not financial (anti-homework, time for free play, time with me/her brother to do other things besides school, etc).

happy_momma · January 2012

I'm a WOHM so full-day definitely works better for us. From a more philosophical point of view, I think I'd feel very torn if I didn't have the work/childcare issue. On one hand, I look at what is expected in first grade (at least in our district) and I just don't think that the majority of kids could be prepared for that with only half-day kindergarten. Well maybe it's not accurate to say "the majority". But the kids who do not have parents working on things at home, or who haven't had the resources to go to preschool...they really need the full-day kindergarten to catch up, I think. But then on the other hand, I kind of dislike that expectations are as high as they are. Kids are losing the opportunity to be kids. My DS has very little "free" time during the week - it's get home, do homework, have dinner, and go to bed. (And I'm home from work as soon as he gets home from school - it's not that he's in an afterschool program eating up his time. His bus doesn't get home until after 4:00.) So part of me wishes that expectations were more like when I was a kid. But then I flip-flop again and think about all the news we hear about how the education system in the US is behind other countries and I think the rigorous requirements for early elementary school, including full-day kindergarten, are necessary.

Angela814 · January 2012

I think typical working moms seems to prefer full day because it does make child care options cheaper. Our daycare charges $150/week for 1/2 days and $90/week for before and after school care. DD1 prefers being in school to being in daycare, and I think that is a more valuable use of her time.

-auntie-:
It's also possible that parenting philosophy plays a part. The sort of mom who makes the choice to stay home may be the sort who values time at home and mother/child activities as a more appropriate kind of learning for this age than competitive academics.

I agree with this too. It seems to me the moms who prefer half day tend to be the ones that do SAH and who plan all kinds of fun activities with their kids. For those kids, maybe 1/2 day kindie really is the better choice. They can learn more by going to the museum or the aquarium or the zoo.

IDK. I'm currently jobless, and because of that, we can't really afford any activities. So I think SAH without financial resources, I'd still prefer full day kindy.

penguingrrl · January 2012

I think WOHM will be more vocal about it, mostly because half day can be a logistical nightmare for them. I would prefer full day kindy since my daughter is in preK 5 days a week for 3 hours right now (through NYCs Universal PreK program, had we needed private she wouldn't have been able to go to preschool).

My SIL is a WOHM and wanted her daughter to go to public K, but it was half day and there were no transportation options to daycare, so she had to put her in kindy in the daycare because the only other option was a f/t nanny.

I guess I would argue that half day kindy is only practical for SAHMs or those who have a flexible local job (SIL is a pediatrician and works 45 minutes from home... BIL is in family practice and 40 minutes in the other direction, so neither has flexible schedules).

jlw2505 · January 2012

I am a working mom so for me, yes I want full day kindy. If I don't have full day school for my kids, I have to make other arrangements. Granted, my district has an option to help working parents who do not get full day or who can't afford it. YOu can do before care from 6:45am until 9:33 when school starts and you can also do after care which goes from 4:03 when school lets out until 6pm. For the kids that do half day kindy (2 1/2 hours morning or afternoon), they have a program called KinderConnection which covers the other 4 hours of the school day. The cost of KinderConnection is less than what you pay for full day kindy plus you get a discount on the cost of the before and after care since it is the same program. Cost wise, you are still having to pay regardless of the program unless you do a straight half day kindy and nothing else but the half day with KinderConnection is a few thousand less than the full day program. I don't think that 2 1/2 hours of school is enough for kindy - how do they get anything done in such a short time?

CTFandme · January 2012

for the record, I'm a WOHM and for logistics I prefer full day, but it won't save me on daycare costs since we'll have to do before and after care which is about the same price I pay for daycare. I think it's a more effective use of his time. I also think my child will benefit from full day because he's older (already 5, wasn't red-shirted just missed the cutoff), but I will contradict myself next year when it's my daughters turn and she might not be ready because she'll be young in her class with a late birthday.

s/o full day kindy comment

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