Kinder reg

[khm]

Do you not have after care? Don't they cover these days? Are there one day camp options? Those are very popular here.

The thing that always gets me is snow days!

Our school does not. It is hard. The neighboring school has late starts every other Thursday and they can bring the kids in at the regular time (the bus would pick up at the late start time, so they do have to be brought in). There's a small fee, but it'd be totally worth it.

Our school has late starts every other Monday and it is hard to navigate. My kids are old enough that it isn't an issue anymore, but it is still stressful making sure they actually get onto the bus when we're at work. We used to have early outs, which I'd prefer. One year, we had NOTHING, no random 2 hours missing and it was amazing. But, that fell by the wayside apparently.

[twowhat?]

Do you not have after care? Don't they cover these days? Are there one day camp options? Those are very popular here.

The thing that always gets me is snow days!

Oh, we do have an aftercare that covers all those - the problem with early release days is that many of them vary by campus, so the aftercare programs won't pick up on early release days - parents have to transport their own kids to aftercare. HOW DUMB IS THAT? HAHAHAHAHAHA. So, if we have to go get our kids ANYWAY, it's easier to just take them home than to drive them to another location and then go back in 2 hours to pick them up.

What would work better for us is to enroll our kids in an on-site aftercare (YMCA) but they don't want to They are comfortable and familiar with their old daycare and would rather go there, and for this year at least we didn't want to rock the boat. We're generally able to cover all the one-day holidays between DH and I (or our grandparents). The drawback is that we never get time to ourselves now (whereas when the girls were in daycare, we'd send them pretty much every day they were open and would therefore have a few PTO days leftover to do things for ourselves).

The other thing that makes it hard is our girls have complained many times to us that many of their friends get to go to "parent pickup" (either picked up by a SAHM or a nanny) and just go home after school. Well, we both work from home and they're not at an age where they can walk home alone and reliably take care of themselves (quietly)...so for now the answer is no. I know we're the adults and we make the decisions, but our kids are such introverts/homebodies and really do draw their energy and comfort from being at home so it's kinda sad. I keep re-evaluating though - at some point, maybe soon, they'll probably be old enough to just walk home by themselves and entertain themselves quietly while we work, right?

[KrisM]

Oh, we do have an aftercare that covers all those - the problem with early release days is that many of them vary by campus, so the aftercare programs won't pick up on early release days - parents have to transport their own kids to aftercare. HOW DUMB IS THAT? HAHAHAHAHAHA. So, if we have to go get our kids ANYWAY, it's easier to just take them home than to drive them to another location and then go back in 2 hours to pick them up.

What would work better for us is to enroll our kids in an on-site aftercare (YMCA) but they don't want to They are comfortable and familiar with their old daycare and would rather go there, and for this year at least we didn't want to rock the boat. We're generally able to cover all the one-day holidays between DH and I (or our grandparents). The drawback is that we never get time to ourselves now (whereas when the girls were in daycare, we'd send them pretty much every day they were open and would therefore have a few PTO days leftover to do things for ourselves).

The other thing that makes it hard is our girls have complained many times to us that many of their friends get to go to "parent pickup" (either picked up by a SAHM or a nanny) and just go home after school. Well, we both work from home and they're not at an age where they can walk home alone and reliably take care of themselves (quietly)...so for now the answer is no. I know we're the adults and we make the decisions, but our kids are such introverts/homebodies and really do draw their energy and comfort from being at home so it's kinda sad. I keep re-evaluating though - at some point, maybe soon, they'll probably be old enough to just walk home by themselves and entertain themselves quietly while we work, right?

If it makes you feel any better, each of my kids has requested a few times to go to aftercare instead of just coming home . I think at least part of all that is that the opposite thing just seems more fun!

[Kestrel]

I so hear you! The bad news is that it doesn't get much better, so you'll need to set up a "B" team if at all possible, to cover for you when you can't drop everything and deal with the school.

For example - we have three weeks of conferences, where for a full week school's out at noon. We have TWENTY random "in-service" or training days, 15 of them early release (noon) and five of them days off. Plus all the regular school holidays. DS's holiday concert was at 10am. PTA meetings are at 6pm, but they are constantly asking for help days (or HOURS) before an event. The communication from the school sucks.

The only thing I can suggest is see if you can buddy with another parent in the same grade and try to do the best you can.

[american_mama]

I;m amazed so many of your don't have schools that are more flexible. My kids' elementary always has parent teacher conference slots starting at 7:00 on a few days, and many more slots from 3-5 pm. So you can schedule it at the end of the day, and teachers are generally very flexible about adding a slot if those are taken. I think they get harangued by the principal if they haven't had conferences with all their parents, so they start to bend over backward to accomodate parents as their deadline with their principal approaches... which I think sounds like very effective management.

In addition, field trips and mid-day events are rare and there is no expectation parents attend. A few do, most do not. Thanksgiving lunch is probably the most attended mid-day event by far, and that is completely optional. Concerts are held in evening hours. There are two end-of-year events that are mid-day (awards ceremonies and Field Day) but the first is, strangely, not really geared for parents and the second (Field Day) is inexplicably popular for parents to volunteer for. I hate it, so I either am a spectator or skip it all together.

I suppose it helps that I live in an area where commuting is not a major time suck, so people can get to school and still get to work without it consuming a huge amount of time.

[HannaAddict]

Because teachers have families and lives too and can't work all night after working during the day. The schools really can't win.

[Kestrel]

I do understand that the teachers have their own commitments, too, but some districts are so much better about scheduling than others. I so wish that we were in the neighboring district, that starts two hours late on Mondays, and all of their in service/training/daytime conferences are during that time. I could so work with that! Instead, I need to cover twenty random days, three weeks of conferences, school holidays (MLK, labor day, memorial day, ect) as well as winter break, spring break and summer vacation. We're in a rural area; we have no aftercare or YMCA/boy's club type options, and very limited daycare for those over age 5. I'm scrambling _now_ to find child care for summer, and it's January!

[KrisM]

Teachers have lives, sure, but they also want to go to their kids school events, right? Once the kids pass through their school, it's harder on them to make daytime things as well.

My example of 4th grade concert and 2nd grade portfolio night on the same evening - the principal of the K-2 school had kids in K, 2, and 4th last year, so he had the same issue as I did with the conflict, so it kind of surprised me they were scheduled at the same time. This year, DD is in 3rd and 2 of her classmates are kids of other 3rd grade teachers. Those teachers are able to pop into parties for a bit, as they are right around the corner. But, last year in 2nd grade, it was a different building, so didn't happen.

The schools are never going to make everyone happy!

[egoldber]

I guess we're lucky because the teacher conferences times generally have at least 2 days with late afternoon or very early morning slots.

The during the day events annoy me too. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so MANY! I can see 2 maybe 3, but in K and 1st there was something every month. And because there are many SAHMs in my area, there were times when my kid would be the only one there without a parent if I hadn't made the effort to go. It's not so bad since I can now telework up to 2 days a week, so I can usually just head over to the school and head home and call that "lunch". But many parents don't have that flexibility.

[belovedgandp]

They truly can't win. I am a SAHM. Our K registration is from 1-7 on a Thursday. You can come anytime during that window and it takes about 30-45 minutes. Except my 5YO who will be entering K goes to preschool from 12:30-3:30 every day. And my older kids have activities on Thursdays at 4:00, 4:30 and 6:00. I have to call in carpooling favors or have my youngest miss preschool.