Preparing for Summer – Tips for Working Parents

Are your kids counting down the days until school is out? Is it making you panic a bit? To help you avoid getting caught off guard, here are some tips for working parents on preparing for summer.

Things to Consider

It’s good to start with the basics. Here are some things to think about first.

1. How many hours of child care will you need?

Get a solid grip on how many hours of child care you will need each day/week. Remember to factor in commute time and how your workplace views the presence of children. For instance, you can cut back on the hours needed for child care if your child care provider can come to your office and pick up your child, or if you can drop off your child at the caregiver’s on your way to work. Sit down with a calendar and figure out the number of hours you really need to have a caregiver.

2. What can you afford?

If you don’t already have a budget for child care, work one out on paper. If you don’t do this step first, you may end up frustrated as you spend time exploring various options that you end up not being able to afford. Determine what you can afford and go from there.

Where to Look

There are various places where you can look for child care options this summer. Here are some to check with.

1. Your workplace

Some offices and corporations actually offer summer programs for their employees’ children. Find out if your workplace offers such a thing, and if not, maybe you can start one up. You could also see if your company would be willing to “adopt” a local program, such as a day camp.

2. Your child’s school

School is probably the last place your child wants to be in summer, but it’s worth checking with his or her school to see if there are any programs or activities being offered. It might not be on the school’s campus, or it might be in an area of the campus that is not usually seen by your child. Also, your child’s school might have ideas about child care options in the area that are not necessarily affiliated with the school.

3. Combine programs/activities

As you look around at various options, you can save money and get the child care you need by combining various activities. Most camps and programs last for a week or two, but not three months. And day camps might end before your work day does, so you will need after-camp child care as well, such as a babysitter.