Before and After School Care
August 25, 2014
At this time of year, we have a very large number of parents contacting us regarding before and after school care. If you've looked for this before, you know that it can be difficult to find.
We've developed a few tips that will assist you in find care of this type:
- Finding someone to do child pick-up/drop-off as well as driving them to activities, making/prepping dinner, doing laundry, and helping the kids with their homework can be very difficult. We recommend that you set realistic duties for your caregiver for the time they are with your children.
- You may need to find more than one person to help you out, especially if you need someone for both before and after school
- Finding care for the hour before school is very hard to find. See if you and your spouse can work it out that it’s covered between you two, rather than trying to hire someone for this
- Sometimes this type of position isn't worthwhile for someone; see if you can add extra hours to make it more worth their while.
- Expect to pay more than the average. Part-time caregivers usually charge more than a full-time caregiver
- Look everywhere – use our site, post ads in your neighbourhood, and call moms that stay at home full time (they might be interested in helping you out)
- Have an emergency back-up plan in case the person is unable to come to work that day
- Consider sharing after school care with another family. This will help with the cost, and you can use each other as back-up
- Once you have arranged care, try to have everything arranged and prepared ahead of time, like meals and snacks, or after school activities
- Compensate the caregiver for extra costs, like the cost of driving the kids around
While it can be difficult to find, it is possible to find an arrangement that works. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-866-221-7918.
