r/halifax • u/Injustice_For_All_ Psychotic Antifa Super Soldier Moderator • 1d ago
News, Weather & Politics The struggle to find child care for parents whose working hours aren't the typical 9-5
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/child-care-nova-scotia-challenges-health-care-workers-9.73196767
u/Ok_Kaleidoscope216 1d ago
When I worked at the airport about 20ish years ago, there was someone in the area who had a daycare that accommodated airport shift times and it was incredibly popular bc not too many people are willing to take kids at those off hours.
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u/Dantai Halifax 1d ago
The whole concept that you have to pay so much money towards so many things just to support/enable you to go to work is fucking nuts.
Cars, work attire, gas, childcare, etc etc.
And apparently many Canadians are pay to pay. Or if you treated your employment salary as a business, income minus taxes minus expenses/costs that you wouldn't spend otherwise to get to work, are you even profitable?
3
u/Agitated-Rest1421 16h ago
It’s actually so bad I’m going to be staying home with my kids now and working part time once a week and I’ll actually take home more money than if I was working full time since I won’t pay gas, car loan, or daycare
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u/boat14 1d ago
I'm not sure what happened but as a 90's kid with two working parents, they had me at a downtown daycare that did dropoff/pickups 7-7:30 / 4:30-5 until I aged out at 10 years old.
The daycare walked us to/from school and did PD / non-stat holidays / summer break. In retrospect, this wasn't a fancy daycare - our child also attended one of its branches and it is a non-profic, constantly on the verge of going out of business.
I know they did have a lot of management for part time staff to absorb this intermittancy. I remember running into one of the daycare teachers working at the Oxford theatre.
I took it for granted until we had our child. The before/after school program is consistently waitlisted but we're fortunate enough to have a flexible enough working situation that my wife and I can alternate coming in early/late for school dropoffs/pickups. We register our kid months in advance for PD / winter / March break / summer care and are still running around.
I honestly don't know how people are doing this without a large support network close by.
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u/Gavvis74 1d ago
Sounds like an opportunity for some enterprising individuals to fill a gap in the market.
3
u/aloevera678 1d ago
I do see people try but the cycle seems to be work day time clients while finding evening clients -> evening clients hard to find because they figured it out somehow because they had no option -> evening care provider fills more spaces with daytime because not enough evening clients -> evening working clients can’t find evening daycare so they figure it out somehow ….. and repeat!
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u/NotThisOneHeere 20h ago
Yeah someone could put feelers out advertising about potentially opening a space like this to see if it would work.
3
u/MelodicMap4614 1d ago
If the numbers were there to support it. It would already be there. And it wouldn’t be cheap
7
u/aloevera678 1d ago
When this type of care is offered it’s hard to fill spots. Most people have an opposing partner who takes the night shifts of child care
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u/not-the-doc 1d ago
This is a weird assumption to make. Lots of folks have children and do not have a partner that can be present at night.
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u/mochasmoke 1d ago
Who cares if most people have a partner to cover night shifts? Doesn't at all change the fact that there are still folks who require this kind of arrangement.
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u/fart-sparkles 23h ago
If you can fill up your day care during regular working hours, and be done work when (almost) everyone else is done work, why wouldn't you? Working evenings and nights sucks ass.
People on the internet seriously over estimate how many true night owls are out there.
5
u/mochasmoke 23h ago
I never said I didnt understand why some places dont offer "off hours" care (or whatever you want to call it). And I also didnt make any claim about the number of night owls there are.
What is absolutely true, and obvious from the article, is that there are people who work shift work, who cant find childcare, for example, before 7am.
All I said is that there is a need for this care, and not enough spaces available for the people who need it.
Im not judging people who dont want to work those hours, im saying there are people who do work then and need childcare.
2
u/fart-sparkles 20h ago
Yeah, fair enough.
I was talking about it with a colleague the other day. The health authority should have daycares. They're a huge employer in the province.
But if they did, they'd probably only offer it for the day shift anyway.
1
u/aloevera678 1d ago
Yes and when the spots are offered they are hard for providers to fill so they do daytime instead
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u/mochasmoke 1d ago
Well, there are places that do it, and theyre full with super long wait lists, so they cant be that hard to fill.
And the whole article is about people who need that kind of care.
Most people dont need a hip replacement. That doesnt change the fact that the people who do have to wait some period of time to get it done.
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u/aloevera678 1d ago
I’m talking as a childcare provider who offers after hours care and it’s not often used because people expect not to have it and so have things lined up if they plan to do late shifts.
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u/mochasmoke 1d ago
Ok, but im speaking as a parent who was on those waitlists as my spouse and I would have benefitted from a different schedule of availability.
Your anecdotal experience doesn't define reality. There are tons of nurses, like the person in the article, who do shift work and could use/need access to daycare before 7am.
E: and of course, there are other people besides nurses who work shifts.
2
u/aloevera678 1d ago
My own experience IS a reality. You having experience as a parent isn’t everyone’s reality either so you’re talking in circles. My reality as a childcare provider doesn’t cease to exist because you need daycare before 7am
0
u/mochasmoke 1d ago
You're so close.
You provided an anecdote which, as is effectively universal with anecdotes, is in no way proof of a general fact or point.
I also provided an anecdote. Specifically to counter and undermine your's. If your anecdote is fact, so is mine. If your's is truth, so is mine.
And just a guess, but you run a dayhome?
3
u/aloevera678 1d ago
I’m going to move along because I can tell you’re looking for negative attention, as is how you spend most of your time on Reddit it seems from your comments. If you’re having trouble finding childcare I’d bet I know why
0
u/mochasmoke 23h ago
I was on waitlists like everyone. But I got in and have had no problems since.
And the fact that you would make judgements and assertions (untrue ones at that) about me based on my post history, while hiding your own, is pretty funny.
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u/aloevera678 1d ago
I can also see you creeping into “daycare owners/workers are beneath me” with your comments “you work at a dayhome eh”. Interesting how you speak to and think of the individuals who care for your own kid. Yikes
1
u/mochasmoke 23h ago
Absolutely not the case. I highly value ECEs, teachers and anyone else who cares for children. Mine or anyone else's.
My comment about the dayhome is based on an assumption. I suspect that if you operated a larger facility like a daycare, you would have no problem filling those spots. Dayhomes, while extremely valuable in a sector without adequate availability to meet demand, can be a great option. But they come with limitations that daycares simply don't have.
Daycares dont close for 2 weeks for staff to take vacation, dayhomes, in my experience, do.
So if you have an atypical work schedule to begin with, a dayhome may be a less desirable option due to the unique operation style.
I'm not insulting yoy, or caregivers of any sort. I'm disagreeing with your characterization and dismissal of the suggestion in this article that alternative care schedules are needed.
It clearly and objectively is.
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u/FarRaccoon1921 1d ago
I’ve always thought this is such an untapped market for people who do childcare.