Said the privileged as if it isn't a lifeline for those of us in or on the poverty line who struggle to make ends meet when school's out, in an economy where childcare costs about as much as college tuition (in the most expensive country in the world for college tuition and one of the lowest for quality of childcare) and is near impossible to find in a safe environment. I'm so angry for you and so sorry.
@wash878193 “That’s what our child’s SSI is for” although the entire benefit would go to childcare if this happens when my autistic child is school aged. Since she’s a toddler, her child care is the same cost, plus her speech and fine motor skills therapists that is covered by insurance. But when she’s preschool aged, if she isn’t potty trained, they’ll hold her back in the bigger toddler classroom for like 6 months. Then it will cost more for her after that because they’ll need an extra caregiver for her.
Her SSI benefits haven’t started yet but they’ll barely cover the missed work about once a week for the extra appointments. I have a flexible schedule but can’t make up the hours without additional childcare. If I was OP my household would struggle severely. It’s hard enough that we get more holidays off school for all different religions, since we have a huge Muslim and Jewish population.
@kennyseg On our end, we have the resources for childcare but the childcare doesn’t exist in our rural area. There isn’t a single childcare facility in our town that’s qualified, willing, and able to provide care for our daughter due to her behavioral issues. She has been kicked out of every childcare program in our town. We used to have a childcare facility that focused on special needs kids, but they were bought out 3 years ago and no longer do that. The childcare facilities all have waitlists so as soon as our daughter starts acting out she gets the boot and is replaced with a better behaved child from the waitlist.
@bluescalpel My son has been in special education since pre-K and has an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis plus sensory processing disorder. I do not get SSI nor will I ever because I have savings. People don’t often realize you have to be in perpetual, utter poverty to get a paltry $800 disability check.
@kennyseg Lol yeah and what about people who live in a hcol area so they don't qualify but appropriate childcare is unavailable or prohibitively expensive
@anywhere Regular daycare prices are like $450/week here in a relatively HCOL suburb. Since I’m not married and have 3 kids, I finally got subsidies for childcare, but the program is often on a freeze where you can’t even apply unless you receive cash assistance or have DCFS involvement. I got lucky and applied when they opened up the application process, they closed back up less than a week later.
@wash878193 This is my family, I out earn my husband so he stays home, because no daycare would take them and half the time the school sends them home early for “behaviors” like bro I get mad at me if I don’t send them because they are sick but y’all send them home anyway and complain about how hard it is for the staff? Smh. Like idk what the heck the deal is but it’s literally why I rent and won’t move even if we can own because the affordable area of the city where I live went to 4 day school and I can’t handle that and keep my job
@keepingfaith Right? When a district near me trialed full day kindergarten, they purposely focused on lower income areas knowing it could be life changing for those families.
@coramay23456 That's where my kids' school district first implemented free Pre-K (US, Chicago, we have like free lunch and breakfast too and I'm surprised we don't have a 4 day school week yet).
@keepingfaith Also I hate this take. It downplays what teachers do.
School is NOT daycare because teachers are highly qualified and have degrees to teach kids. I can’t do what they do and even if I pay a daycare it’s not the same. Daycares don’t teach (I realize they provide enrichment but they are not planning full on lessons over the course of a year to get a kid from not reading to reading). Daycare is great I’m not trying to knock it but it’s definitely not the same.
I rely on the school to TEACH my kid not be a daycare
@martin777 A district near us does this and all our friends who live in that district love it. The school offers an enrichment/recreation program on Fridays for kids who need “daycare.” Apparently they do really fun stuff, take lots of field trips, etc. Older kids who don’t need daycare still opt in because it’s super fun. I’m not sure on the cost but our friends have said it’s dirt cheap.
Maybe you can show them some other district websites that offer something like this?
My town’s public schools have half-days every Wednesday—they say the teachers use that half day for teacher institute stuff.
BUT!!! Each school has an aftercare program that goes until 6:30pm and costs $200/month max (sliding scale). On Wednesdays, aftercare kids just go to aftercare early. That’s another way to do it without ducking over working moms.
@sottaceto I’m in AZ and we have the same schedule. Luckily my husband is done with work early enough to pick them up but a majority of their friends go to the after school program.
@coolant A lot of schools are doing this due to underfunding (by republicans intentionally gutting public school budgets) so they won’t be adding fun programs.
@martin777 I'm sorry. That's so insulting to tell parents they were using school as daycare when your taxes go to pay for it especially now when the cost of everything has gone up and child care is so hard to find.
They shouldn't be using school as a gym/sports complex letting sports overshadow class time especially in elementary school for fuck's sake.
You aren't wrong to let your 9 years old stay home. Don't blame yourself for it, please! Maybe you can find a teen that could stay with him some Fridays to help with schoolwork, especially if they are providing busing for the 1/2 Fridays as not doing so seems illegal.
