Twenty-four hour daycare growing in popularity
March 1, 2012
Committing to go to college and pursue a bachelor's degree takes a lot of consideration. Luckily, moms who make this decision have various ways to help offset the high cost of an education such as grants for parents, single mother scholarships and other scholarships for mothers.
Whether you're a mom who's pursuing a college degree while working or you're about to enter the workforce, you may have already faced the challenge of finding childcare for your kids.
While many daycare centers offer care for traditional working hours, an increasing amount of parents need nontraditional hours when it comes to finding someone to care for their kids while they are at work or at school. For instance, many nursing jobs, which are particularly popular among mothers, have 12-hour or even overnight shifts. Other jobs require workers to work the second or third shift, meaning they're not done until after many regular daycare centers have already closed for the night.
"About 40 percent of the American labor force now works some form of nonstandard hours, including evenings, nights, weekends and early mornings," said University of Maryland sociology professor, Harriet B. Presser, according to the Baltimore Sun.
These types of work schedules make finding a babysitter difficult in many cases, especially for single parents.
Some people are lucky to have family or friends who can watch their kids while they're working or going to school. However, experts say that parents should remember that kids do best with routine - being shuffled around to different houses each night of the week can be stressful for them.
Hiring someone to stay at your house with your children is another option, although it can be expensive and less reliable than other situations.
The good news is that many 24-hour daycare centers have started to pop up to help families that are dealing with nontraditional working situations. Some of these centers are located on-site at the companies parents work for. Others are located off-site, like a traditional daycare center.
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) told the Omaha World-Herald that more of its members are now offering nontraditional hours to keep up with the demand.
Donna McClintock, chief operating officer for Children's Choice Learning Centers, which runs 46 employer-sponsored child care centers across the country, told the newspaper that she's seen the demand for these nontraditional daycare centers increase as well. About a fifth of the company's centers have added nontraditional hours in the past few years, she said.
Parents looking for nontraditional childcare arrangements should speak with their employer or contact the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA.org) to find licensed facilities in their area.
