Today I’m sharing some thoughts from the lovely Tori of The Mama Nurse on the topic of shift working schedules and the struggles of finding adequate child care. Tori shares her experience from a Canadian perspective, showing us that finding adequate child care with flexible hours is a wide-spread struggle. The guest post below is an excerpt. For the full post, please visit the post on The Mama Nurse.
This post is part of a series I am curating on child care and nannies. If you are a blogger and would like to guest post here on this topic, let me know.
The Shift Working Mom
I have recently returned to the workforce after spending the year caring for my newborn son and three-year-old daughter. I returned to my part-time job as a Registered Nurse working in med/surg and labour and delivery at the hospital nearby. I am a shift working mom and have a hate-hate relationship with child-care.
I love my job, my co-workers, the patients, and their families, as well as the sense of accomplishment and the compensation my position provides. However, working in the hospital inevitably means working a 12-hour schedule with a mix of days and nights.
Basically, a child care provider’s worst nightmare.
Thankfully our parents live nearby and are willing to take their grandchildren for entire days and overnighters. We try not to burden them too much with caregiving obligations, as we know that they have their own goals and aspirations now that they are retired. I am forever thankful for their help as otherwise I probably would have had to put my career on hold.
My unit has recently implemented self-scheduling, and everyone has been receptive to allowing me to take shifts opposite to my husband’s schedule so that between the two of us we can look after our kids mainly on our own. However, since I will be starting a temporary full-time position this summer, our schedules will intermix more often than not. As a shift working mom, I need to find a quality child care provider with extended hours.
The Child Care Conundrum
It would be an understatement to say that we have struggled to find consistent child care that works with our schedules, ever since our first child was born.
- Both daycares we started reduced their hours. The other one has a waiting list.
- There are minimal options for infants under the age of 18 months of age, especially for the hours we need.
- Most home daycares are full and the rest have bankers’ hours.
- The costs are outrageous!
While I can’t fault child care providers for wanting their evenings to spend with their family, I have to ask myself: What does everyone else do? I can’t be the only shift working mom out there!
- Most nurses are shift workers.
- While there are more and more male nurses, nursing is still a female-dominated profession.
- The majority of women have children at some point in their lives.
- Most often these women are the ones to arrange child care and sacrifice their jobs if there are conflicts.
Why, as a shift working mom, do I have to have this child care conundrum? Why aren’t there more supports available to families like mine, so that women can stay in the profession that they choose prior to having children?
My hope is that someday in the future, shift working moms will have the same access to quality child care as those working a regular schedule. That doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch, does it?
About:
Tori is a mama of two, and a nurse to many. Her mission is to empower women in all aspects of their lives- whether during labour and delivery or their threenager’s crisis du jour.The Mama Nurse | Faceboook | @TheMamaNurse | Pinterest
Thanks for sharing your struggles with finding childcare, Tori! While I don’t work a shift schedule, my commute is long and both my husband and I get home very late. Most daycares in my area close while I’m still at work, or driving home. The point about daycares working bankers hours really stuck with me because seriously so many daycares close by 6 pm. I’m barely getting started with my commute by 6 pm! So we also struggled with our own child care conundrum and were searching for child care options that could fit our schedule.
P.S. If you are looking at hiring a nanny, I have prepared a Nanny Contract Template to help you hire your own nanny.
Read other posts from this child care and nanny series.
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Morgan says
I totally agree with you. It’s crucial that you do preliminary research and ask for recommendations before choosing what childcare option is right for you and your family. It’s definitely a red flag if the staff at a childcare center or program are rough and impatient with children. You want to feel confident that your children are safe with the people you choose to leave them with, so it’s important to observe these things before. Thanks so much for sharing your input and advice!
Nicole @ The Professional Mom Project says
Great post! It’s such a challenge to find childcare especially with two busy parents and shift work. Thank goodness you have some help from family. Posts like this one help raise awareness of the problem to prompt some change (hopefully!)
Samantha says
I will never understand daycare hours. I’m grateful that I can stay home with my kids so that this isn’t an issue for us, but I am so frustrated for all those mommas that have to deal with this.
MMT says
What a total headache – I have never thought about this before? Must hit so many critical services…something has to change!
Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub
tori says
Thanks so much Julie for including me in your Nanny Series!
Love your site,
Tori
http://www.themamanurse.com
Erin @ Stay At Home Yogi says
I love this series because I think it is something that really needs to be discussed more! Childcare in North America needs a lot of improvement!
Julie says
Yea it would be interesting to see how we compare to elsewhere in the world.
aNoviceMum says
This is a difficult one. I remember a news item about more childcare providers in some parts of London offering 24 hours service. I suppose they are not yet the norm because of the expectations society generally has of 9-5 work and the time that parents should be with their children. But things are different in modern times and I’m sure providers will increasingly see the market for provision outside of the ‘typical working hours’. I hope Tori finds an arrangement that works for her family.
Julie says
Wow 24 hour child care options, that’s amazing.
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
As a former early childhood professional, I really feel for the parents working shift work. Childcare becomes especially challenging and there really is a gap in the early childhood system there which NEEDS to be filled!
Great points. Thanks so much for sharing.
Julie says
There is absolutely a gap and I hope we see some more options.
Elle Spann says
I was in a day care . but my sister wasn’t. My mom worked with me, but not with my sister. It isn’t always conventional.
elle
Southern Elle Style
Healing Mama says
This was a great post from a perspective we don’t get to hear that often. So sad that most child care places on cater to parents who work conventional hours.