How Child Care Centers Can Support Working Families

I have always been a proponent of at-home parenting or small in-home daycare situations when necessary. I believe that children thrive in a home setting with lots of one-on-one interaction with adults and other children of various ages. Don’t tell this to my kids though because they are both currently in a daycare center that provides rigorous academic programming to age-segregated classrooms. And they love it!

Our family circumstances have dictated this situation and I would never question it around my children, passing on my anxieties and opinions to them. They love their teachers, their friends, and their classrooms. Instead, I try to make the best of this and every situation finding objects of my gratitude wherever possible. I have learned though that there are certain things daycare providers can do that make working parents feel isolated and without the necessary support. To be optimistic, here are a few things that child care centers can do to support working families:

1. Teach in mixed age-group classrooms:
Siblings can learn together
Kids can learn from peers of all ages
Older kids provide some accountability for smaller kids in a family-like setting

2. Provide avenues for parental involvement:
After school workshops for parents
Conveniently scheduled parent-teacher conferences
Consistent daily communication with teachers

3. Provide a consistent schedule of care:
Limited closures for holidays and maintenance
Adequate notice of any closings
Alternative care options in the event of closure

4. Limit required parental preparation:
Provided lunches and snacks for kids
Limited “homework” assignments
Adequate supplies for projects and activities

Some daycare centers provide a daily reminder that working can be a burden for parents while others make efforts to become part of the team allowing parents to work or go to school while maintaining some level of balance and sanity.

What does your daycare center do to support you as a working parent?

Child Care Options for Flexible Schedules

You have secured your ideal schedule at work maximizing the amount of time you have available to spend at home with your children. However, you still need reliable child care for those hours spent at work. Unfortunately, flexible schedules can reek havoc on daycare arrangements which often require regular hours and full-time costs, regardless of mom and dad's schedule. Consider the following daycare options with regards to your own flexible schedule:

• Babysitters, Relatives, and Friends: enlisting the periodic services of a local teenager or someone you know can buy you a few extra quiet work hours at a relatively low cost. Such babysitters are paid hourly and can be hired to work a few hours here and there to extend your work day.
• Nanny or Au Pair: usually a young adult with or without a college degree, a nanny or au pair is generally hired to work full-time hours but can provide the flexibility of watching your kids in your own home. As full-time employees, some nannies may require you to also provide benefits including housing in a live-in arrangement.
• Child Care Cooperative: coops involve a group of parents who swap childcare responsibilities. Often involving a network of several families, coops will provide several options for care at varying times. The only cost is an exchange of equal childcare hours at another time.
  
• Family Child Care: in home care provided by a licensed provider can offer flexibility to working parents who work longer hours as in the case of a compressed work week. Since family child care providers work from their own home, a provider can watch your child as one of her own brood without interference into everyday activities.
  
• Child Care Centers: some centers offer part-time rates but usually require regular hours. For example, your child can attend a child care center for preschool only, but the daily class times are rigid, for example 3 hours each morning.
• After School Programs or Summer Camps: activities and camps can keep children occupied for a short few hours, again with a rigid schedule, providing extra hours to get work done.
  

Each of these daycare options may suit varying flexible schedules with mixed success. Finding your ideal daycare to match your ideal work schedule will be a constant exercise in balance and discernment.

To search local child care options visit the Maryland Committee for Children. For a nationwide search of childcare providers visit SitterCity (Don't forget Fido. SitterCity also has pet sitter resources).

Monthly Tip: Scheduling for Work Life Balance

A flexible schedule at work means that work and personal commitments can be more cohesive throughout the course of the day. However, if you find yourself constantly checking a work planner and a personal calendar to schedule to do items, separate calendars could be causing complications in your ability to maintain a cohesive schedule of all life's tasks.

Imagine this: You are working at home for the day when your boss calls at 11:00 to see if you will be able to finish a presentation before close of business today. The presentation will take only 2 hours to complete, so you agree and write the task in your work planner. At 12:30, your husband calls to remind you to pick up the children at daycare at 3:00. You set a reminder on your personal calendar. At 2:00, a quick check of your to do list reveals the presentation still to be completed. At 2:45 you get an automated reminder to pick up your children. The presentation is still incomplete and your home office is about to become a playroom.

To avoid conflicts like the one described above, consider keeping one all inclusive calendar. Write work events in one color and personal events in another. That way, when you work a flexible or changing schedule and juggle childcare or other personal responsibilities, one quick check of your calendar will let you know exactly what your schedule will permit.

Go Mom Inc. sells planners that help busy Moms keep track of their own work and personal obligations as well as the activities and important information for multiple children.

World Breastfeeding Week: Corporate Lactation Programs

World Breastfeeding Week is August 1 - August 7

It is recommended by doctors that infants be breastfed shortly following birth and then exclusively for at least 6 months. Breastfed babies are healthier in infancy and throughout the rest of their lives with lower instances of allergies and obesity. For those women who choose to breastfeed exclusively, infants nurse every 2-3 hours for the first year of their life. So where does that leave working mothers?

In the past, we have discussed workplace lactation programs as a key ingredient to a working mother's success in continuing to breastfeed her infant once returning to work. A lactation program can be as simple as a place to express breast milk and acceptance by management of regular breaks. A mother working 8 hours a day, needs approximately three 15 minute breaks throughout the workday to express milk. Corporations can go further and provide working mothers with access to lactation consultants and subsidies for purchase of a hospital grade breast pump.

According to Medela, the benefits of a corporate lactation program to an employer include a 27% decrease in maternal days off to deal with infant or maternal illness. The benefits to mothers and her children include a myriad of health and psychological benefits. The maternal/child bond is enhanced. Breastfeeding mothers heal quicker from childbirth, are less likely to suffer postpartum depression. And the list goes on.

Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week by exploring the availability of corporate lactation programs at your company. Or let us know what experiences you have had as a breastfeeding, working mother.

Proposed Model for Paid Maternity Leave

The Maine Women’s Fund blog, E-Quality Matters recently published a post, “Women in the Workplace” that explored a proposal to fund 12 weeks paid maternity leave for all employees.

“California and Washington State are both experimenting with a new method for financing PAID maternity leave for EVERYONE (regardless of their company policy, company size, etc). …In the model introduced in the West, all regular employees contribute $.01 from each pay check towards an insurance fund. The fund is aggregated, invested, and used to cover the cost of 12 weeks paid maternity leave for all employed citizens. I like this model because somewhere deep down there is a recognition that society benefits from investing in moms and children.” (read more)

Currently, federal law protects employees taking time off for family and medical reasons under FMLA regulations that stipulate employees can take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave per year. Additionally, their employer may not retaliate against them for taking advantage of FMLA leave. However, in many other industrialized nations across Europe and throughout Asia, new parents are extended paid time off up to one year. Most American employees, with a lower tax burden, do not enjoy this benefit. The model discussed on the E-Quality Matters blog places the burden of funding paid maternity leave not on tax payers or employers but on fellow employees. These maternity leave benefits are then offered universally to new parents.

As the baby boomers exit the workplace, talent held by top female employees is coveted by companies nation-wide. Mothers who previously might elect to exit the workforce after childbirth are being encouraged to stay on staff with benefits packages that include paid maternity leave, flexible scheduling options, and childcare resources. Do you think the proposed model for paid maternity leave is fair? Is it feasible?

An Ideal Career Path for Working Mothers?

When I was pregnant and grappling with the idea of being a working mom, I had millions of people tell me, "My mom worked and I was just fine." After considering a few examples I realized that our mothers, the women who experienced the Women's Movement first hand, did do it all, just not always all at once.

Women today need to have it all, right now. We need prestige, a perfect body, a perfect family, and that piece of chocolate...now! I came up with a career trajectory with women in mind who want a healthy family and a healthy career. Is this the only way? By no means. This is not even the way I chose to handle my career. But, could this be the "ideal" career path for women who want it all? You be the judge.

1. Graduate from high school and get a job...any job. This is a time of exploration, not a time to worry about long term. Just work, job hop if you must until you find out what you love. Make sure you pay your bills and avoid debt. This experience will help shape the rest of your career.
   
2. Get married, have babies, raise and nurture a healthy family.
   
3. Get a college degree. While your kids are young, go to school and take classes you truly enjoy. Enjoy the flexibility afforded by the college schedule allowing you to be home with your kids while working to better yourself in the long run.
   
4. Start your career. Consider those aspects of your work experience and education that you loved. These are the clues that will point you toward a truly satisfying career. Hopefully at this point in your life, you have had the opportunity to work with many people in your field, through part time jobs, internships, research projects, or volunteer opportunities.
   

I speak from experience when I say this does not always seem the practical way to live and make money, but the benefits are far reaching. This path through education and work ensures that you can spend time at home when your kids are young, that you can find a career you are truly passionate about, and one that does not interfere with your values and home life. This is also not the shortest path to your dream career, but hopefully it is a sure one.

Dads in the Workplace

The issues that working mothers face in the workplace have for years been addressed by the media (see the New York Times' controversial Opt-Out Revolution) while the plight of their counterparts, working fathers, has been vastly overlooked. Working fathers are equally eager to spend more time at home with their children and achieve a better work and life balance as working mothers. Their needs can be addressed by a workplace culture that accepts flexibility in scheduling for family and home obligations. Workplace benefits that help fathers may include:

• Paternity leave: while unpaid leave is often not taken by men, the mere availability of paternity and adoption leave policies for fathers will help to enforce the acceptance of a father's responsibilities at home
• Daily flex scheduling: fluid start and end times will allow fathers to attend school plays, soccer games, and doctor's appointments. Flexible scheduling needs to be offered without stigma. Eliminate stigma by redefining corporate values in support of productivity, not face time.
  
• Inclusive language: offer family-friendly benefits and parenting support groups. Using this inclusive language will avoid alienating working fathers from programs generally marketed for working mothers.
• Education and support: opportunities for education and support groups will bring fathers together and help them see that they are not alone in facing issues of fatherhood at work.
• Provide positive role models: management should provide good role models for other working fathers by working reasonable hours, involving their own children at work, and remaining understanding about father's changing daily needs at work and at home.

Is your business father-friendly? Take this Business Check-up offered by the National Fatherhood Initiative.

Working at Home...with Kids

One of the many reasons parents request a telecommuting arrangement with their employer is to allow more time spent at home with their children. Telecommuting involves working outside the office one or more days a week and can increase the hours you are available to your children by eliminating a long commute, allowing you to prepare dinner on your lunch break, and making you more available for emergencies during the day, among other advantages. However, working from home should not be a substitute for childcare, especially for young children.

Summertime poses a particular problem for full-time work at home parents of school-aged children faced with up to three months of sharing the home office. In order to maintain productivity while working at home, children need to be self-sufficient or well entertained. Try these tips below to find the appropriate situation for you, your children, and your business.

• Consider scaling back on your work load for the summer by working only part-time on a temporary basis.
• Hire full-time day care or a part-time babysitter.
• Swapping playdates with another stay-at-home parent is a free option that only requires your reciprocation. You can offer to watch the kids in the evenings for a date night or in the morning before you start work for the day.
• When it's just you and your kids, entertain them well. Set up developmentally appropriate activities they can do on their own that will not require too much assistance or clean up. Consider Wendy Piersall's list of 94 Ways to Keep Kids Busy.

Armed with lots of ideas to keep your kids entertained and your work hours productive, you can enjoy the summer months instead of dreading them.