Affordable Childcare - It's All the Rage
I am not a super mom. I will never be, and never understand, one of those mothers who is endlessly amused and never annoyed by anything that her child does. My kiddies are my favorite people in the world. They are the funniest, the most fun to be around, the lowest maintenance and yet if I don’t get regular time away from them, I start to disintegrate. This summer was different, because at the beach there is always something for them to do, to keep them occupied while I have a little quiet. The school year is something else entirely, because the free time that we have is not free. In the four hours from when they get off the bus to when they go to bed, we’ve got to get through homework and reading and dinner and baths and playing and talking over the day, not to mention whatever appointments, lessons or meetings are scheduled for the week.
This week in addition to the regular mayhem we had 4 dentist appointments, church school and back to school night. Marty went to hourly care during the dentist appointments for obvious reasons, but since I had to pick up the girls as soon as I dropped him off, it didn’t really count as down time.
Today I was within reach of the glorious hour when Marty could be dropped off at hourly care for my 5-hour sanity restoration session. Then the phone rang. I was informed by the minion at the center that since Marty had already been in on three days, he wasn’t allowed to come in today. According to the hourly care in Kentucky, the limit was 5 hours per day and 20 hours per week according to the DA regulations.
Me: But he hasn’t been in 20 hours this week
Minion: We don’t do it by 20 hours, we do it by 3 days.
Me: Is this new?
Minion: No, it’s always been that way. For example, you could bring him in at 8 and leave him until 5 three days a week.
Me: I thought the DA regulation was 5-hours a day and 20 hours a week.
Minion: Oh, no, every installation has its own regulations.
Me (after quickly lecturing myself that the minion doesn’t make the made up rules, she just blindly and unquestioningly enforces them, and she likely would not have ever pondered the fact that if the DA regulations actually did differ across the country they would not really be DA regulations): (…)
Minion: So, I just wanted to let you know before you brought Martin in that you can’t bring Martin in.
Me: Okay then. Bye.
The main source of my rage in this scenario? The hourly care is never full. I wasn’t taking anybody’s spot or keeping anybody out. Many days Marty is the only kid there when I go to pick him up. The sterling administration at the center would rather inconvenience me and enforce the rule than help me out and make the money. That is always their philosophy – the rules are the rules, and even if only one person is being affected by them (and that person in a negative way) the rules will be followed. Because those are the rules. And they made them up. And they are in charge. And they will decide how to organize my life and what arrangements I need to make. And those are the rules.
As my sister pointed out – it’s called “hourly care” so shouldn’t the restriction be according to the hours not the days? Actually, the restrictions are by the hour in the DA regulations, just not in the despotic regime set up at our day care center.
And to be honest, the original DA restrictions filled me with rage too. I can only picture some middle-aged bureaucrat sitting in an office somewhere thinking, “Five hours is enough for a mother who’s not working. Anyone who wants to be away from their kids longer than that is self-indulgent.” The weekly maximum I can understand – if you need more than 20 hours, you should probably get into one of the full-time or part time programs.
I know it may seem high maintenance to complain about a place that actually offers affordable periodic care. However, the administration at this place seems to spend an awful lot of time making sure that we are not getting affordable periodic care easily. They seem to think that we should be willing to jump through hoops and follow inane policies just because their in charge (and don’t even get me started on the “no holiday observance” policy – not even Thanksgiving or Valentine’s day).
I do not understand this place. But until Marty is potty trained and enrolled in preschool elsewhere, I will likely continue to complain about it here. Enjoy!
This week in addition to the regular mayhem we had 4 dentist appointments, church school and back to school night. Marty went to hourly care during the dentist appointments for obvious reasons, but since I had to pick up the girls as soon as I dropped him off, it didn’t really count as down time.
Today I was within reach of the glorious hour when Marty could be dropped off at hourly care for my 5-hour sanity restoration session. Then the phone rang. I was informed by the minion at the center that since Marty had already been in on three days, he wasn’t allowed to come in today. According to the hourly care in Kentucky, the limit was 5 hours per day and 20 hours per week according to the DA regulations.
Me: But he hasn’t been in 20 hours this week
Minion: We don’t do it by 20 hours, we do it by 3 days.
Me: Is this new?
Minion: No, it’s always been that way. For example, you could bring him in at 8 and leave him until 5 three days a week.
Me: I thought the DA regulation was 5-hours a day and 20 hours a week.
Minion: Oh, no, every installation has its own regulations.
Me (after quickly lecturing myself that the minion doesn’t make the made up rules, she just blindly and unquestioningly enforces them, and she likely would not have ever pondered the fact that if the DA regulations actually did differ across the country they would not really be DA regulations): (…)
Minion: So, I just wanted to let you know before you brought Martin in that you can’t bring Martin in.
Me: Okay then. Bye.
The main source of my rage in this scenario? The hourly care is never full. I wasn’t taking anybody’s spot or keeping anybody out. Many days Marty is the only kid there when I go to pick him up. The sterling administration at the center would rather inconvenience me and enforce the rule than help me out and make the money. That is always their philosophy – the rules are the rules, and even if only one person is being affected by them (and that person in a negative way) the rules will be followed. Because those are the rules. And they made them up. And they are in charge. And they will decide how to organize my life and what arrangements I need to make. And those are the rules.
As my sister pointed out – it’s called “hourly care” so shouldn’t the restriction be according to the hours not the days? Actually, the restrictions are by the hour in the DA regulations, just not in the despotic regime set up at our day care center.
And to be honest, the original DA restrictions filled me with rage too. I can only picture some middle-aged bureaucrat sitting in an office somewhere thinking, “Five hours is enough for a mother who’s not working. Anyone who wants to be away from their kids longer than that is self-indulgent.” The weekly maximum I can understand – if you need more than 20 hours, you should probably get into one of the full-time or part time programs.
I know it may seem high maintenance to complain about a place that actually offers affordable periodic care. However, the administration at this place seems to spend an awful lot of time making sure that we are not getting affordable periodic care easily. They seem to think that we should be willing to jump through hoops and follow inane policies just because their in charge (and don’t even get me started on the “no holiday observance” policy – not even Thanksgiving or Valentine’s day).
I do not understand this place. But until Marty is potty trained and enrolled in preschool elsewhere, I will likely continue to complain about it here. Enjoy!
posted by Shannon at 9:49 PM
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