Thinking Outside the Sandbox

When you’ve got two careers, three kids, and one dog it can sometimes add up to a crisis. For working moms, finding good childcare is a huge source of stress. It’s hard enough to find a good daycare center or nanny that you can rely on during the work week – but also trying to piece together childcare during your nursery school’s winter break while also having to attend an evening meeting can be nearly impossible to plan. The key to solving this dilemma is to plan ahead and exercise a little creativity. In corporate lingo they'd say you have to think outside of the box.  In mom speak we say “think outside of the sandbox.”

School vacations, snow days, holidays and sick-days throw a monkey wrench into many of the best laid childcare plans. You're not alone. That's why joining forces with other parents can create a safety net in these times of need.

“One summer, ten parents in my neighborhood got together and organized what has become known as “Club Mom,” said Carol, from Arlington, Massachusetts. “We each signed up for one day and agreed that we would take the kids all day and do some kind of activity or project with them that we might not do with just our own child. We also hired neighborhood teens to lend an extra pair of eyes and hands. Everyday the kids met at one of our homes and the Club Mom day would begin. One parent helped the children make wooden birdhouses, another took them to a sculpture park and I helped the kids tie dye T-shirts in my back yard. It was great fun for the kids, the moms had two weeks of almost free child care,  and everyone got to know each other a little better. It was so successful that we repeated it over winter vacation and again this past summer.”

Creative solutions like this can reinforce a sense of community and provide a much needed service.  Here are some other outside of the sandbox ideas:

Ask at your daycare center.  Often the staff at the day care center are happy to pick up a few extra bucks and would be glad to watch your child for an evening or be hired for a longer-term such as over the winter break or during summer vacation.

Share a nanny.  One au pair might be willing to increase her salary by taking care of another child. The kids will enjoy each other’s company and you get the benefit of reliable child care,

Hire teens.  Ask your neighbors or check in at the local high school for names of students who have taken child care classes or earned a babysitting certificate.

Join a babysitting co-op. Most towns have a group of parents who organize themselves to babysit for each other’s children based on points or some other non-monetary system.

Arrange a swap with your neighbors.  They take your kids one night – you take theirs the next. No money is exchanged. Just leave sushi and a nice bottle of wine in the fridge.

Swap sitting for services. “I designed a web site for my retired neighbor in exchange for her watching my kids occasionally,” says Kat, a mother of two from Oakland California. “Frankly, I think that she actually enjoys taking care of them from time to time.

Enlist your spouse.  After all, they are his kids too!  Look at the calendar and figure out the days you know aren't covered and divide them up. Or, take a day off and think of it as a day to spend together with your child baking cookies or making memories.

Take your child with you.  Sometimes it might be okay to take a child to work for a morning and let them play on the computer or quietly draw pictures while you meet with a client. “It is always a big treat for my daughter when she can come to work with me,” said Joan, the mother a four-year old in Manhattan. “I keep special toys and art supplies in my office and she looks forward to coming to the office and playing with them.”

Check out your local YMCA or town recreation or center for the arts.  Very often these places offer day camps that you can drop into for a day or sign up for a week or two at very reasonable prices.

Ultimately, you have to be the judge of what type of arrangement can work for both you and your child. With a little planning and some creativity, you'll be able to weather anything!