Seriously you are amazing for doing that one little thing. As a working mom who has to use the after school option even though he’s only there for 1 1/2 hours (and it is FULL so I was lucky I got his app in early), I can’t tell you how much I would appreciate someone doing that for me. I looked and looked for such an option and found none. And I’m too anti-social chickeny to straight up as a neighbor.

Oh my! This brought tears to my eyes! I’m a long-time lurker, but am compelled to comment– this is such an incredible kindness. I’m a working Mom living in suburb with many stay-at-home Moms and I desperately wish I could figure out how to build strong enough friendships to broach a conversation about this type of arrangement. However, I remain too terrified that the person will feel obligated and awkwardness will ensue. (To clear: I would never expect weekly free babysitting, just the occasional help on “early release days” etc… and of course I would reciprocate on night and weekends.)
I’m actually considering quitting my job in January because I am sick to death of the daily balancing act, and I’ve vowed that I will ALWAYS reach out to working parents and let it be known I’m happy to help out in these types of situations. Thank you for being such an awesome, kind and thoughtful person!

Thank you for doing this, Linda, especially as I know how shy you are. It is massive and you have changed that mum’s life.
As a working mum, I am always overwhelmed with gratitude when one of the mum’s from my kids class picks up the kids for me or does some little favour that takes the pressure out of my day. I always try to do it for others when I can but its easy to forget that there is a “village” right there if you take the time to reach out to it.

As a kid who had to go to after school care, I would have loved this!!! and the after school program I went to was good, and usually fun, but it would have been so nice to be greeted by a Mom and not a Program. The whole family is lucky to have you!

I know you’re not able to write on this space as much as you’d like to, but I love when you have the opportunity and inspiration to do so. Thank you!

I’m just going to add to what will be a cacophony of voices telling you what an amazing thing this is. I’ve just gone back to work part time. I have a flexible schedule and work mostly from home, but I still have meetings to attend, and they’re not entirely flexible. Usually what I need is exactly what you’re providing – someone to bridge the gap between school and me getting home, and MAN would it be awesome to have someone I could consistently count on.

This is a super cool thing you are doing. My husband and I are both working full-time outside our home. We’re incredibly lucky that my mother-in-law gets my 5yo daughter on and off the bus each day. (Why in the 21st century does the #%!?£€ school day not line up with the workday?!?) If it weren’t for her, I know I’d be way too shy and overly stubborn/unnecessarily proud to ask a neighbor for this kind of help.

When I was a kid I was cared for by my friend’s grandma (who was the same age as my mom) for a few years, every day after school as my mom worked full time. I remember those times so fondly and I liked going to a home to watch cartoons, eat snacks etc after school, rather than a gym or community center somewhere. Just know that you are improving the kid’s life too!

I’m a teacher, so I jet to do the stay at home routine during the summer, and then I turn around and send my kids to the after school program during the year. My two favorite days of the year are the last day of school and the first day of school. Staying at home is tough on the mind, and every August I am a little bit relieved to go back to something I feel competent doing.

Having said that, I envy the possibilities available to the stay at home moms at my daughter’s school. My daughter is struggling right now, for the first time in her school career, and I would love to be the kind of mom that could pick her up at the classroom door every day, and check in with her teacher. I’d love to go and volunteer and be more connected to what’s happening in the classroom. I’d love to be able to be part of a carpool and get to meet other moms, even though (or maybe because) I am a giant social imbecile.

That little bit of time that you give to that other mom each day is priceless. Time with the kids doesn’t always feel priceless when you have so much of it (ie how I feel in August), but it is. What you are doing is amazing, both for her family and for yours.

I don’t have children, but please don’t ever under estimate your footprint on this world. I think what you are doing is amazing. I could go on and on about how my Mom and I dealt with me being a latch key kid and the horrible day care experiences as an older child in daycare. (THink ten year old taking care of your infant and being the only one in the room older than 1). You are a saint

A neighbor did this for me years ago and what a lifesaver it was for me. My husband was in sales and therefore worked out of the house when he wasn’t out of town. My daughter went home on the bus and got off at our regular stop. If dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway, she went across the street with her buddies (boys, a year older and a year younger) until I got home. The mom was so accommodating…made sure they got an afternoon snack, relaxed a bit and got started on homework if I was too late. She even fed her dinner on the rare occasions I was too late. It was such an awesome arrangement, and we “re-paid” by having the boys over for movie nights/play dates so their parents could go out for dinner or run errands etc. You are doing a great thing! And to those who are too shy…you just never know, so ask. What’s the worst that can happen?

I will join in and say that this is an incredible thing you are doing. I had planned to go back to work full-time when my oldest start K this year but his school schedule has made that impossible. He starts and ends at weird times and all of the before and after school care spots are taken. Even if they weren’t taken, it would cost us more to pay for care for him to attend public school K than we paid for him to be cared for in a family day care as an infant. So, that’s kind of depressing.

I find I have this magical thinking where I expect that once we reach the next life stage things will be easier. They never are. We get to that next stage and a whole new set of complications crop up and we’re scrambling to adapt. If I had someone who could watch my son for just half an hour at the end of the school day I would be unbelievably appreciative. It would mean I could go back to work full-time which would be a major financial boost for our family.

We are all channeling this other family when we say that they are beyond grateful.

I used to do the same thing with two of my daughter’s friends-due to their parent’s work schedules sometimes I took them for a couple hours a day, for several weeks at a time. They were brother and sister, but all got along very well. To those people afraid to ask-I enjoyed having those kids around, and my daughter loved it. Please don’t hesitate to ask, if a mom can’t do it, she can’t-but I know I was glad my daughter had someone to play with during those times, like a built in play date!

I agree – we are all just too polite for our own good! I recently became a stay at home mom, and I think, like you, I will never be fully happy at home. Like you said, though, I was never 100 percent happy at my job, either. There is the good and the bad with everything, I guess. Also: I am sure Mary’s family is incredibly grateful for what you are doing!

I’m quite a bit older than you are, and I am just now figuring out that I can do little things that have a big (positive) impact on others. I wish I’d fully realized it earlier in my life. I’m so glad you have.

I actually teared up reading this, which sounds silly, but I’m in a situation that’s similar to Mary’s mom and the thought of someone being so kind. It makes all the difference, Linda. I bet she’s so grateful for you, it’s crazy.

That might seem small for you but it is a huge weight off her mother’s shoulders I bet!
I worked full time until my sons 4th grade. In K he went to the Y after school and then to all 4 2 week sessions at the Y because I had no where else to send him.
THEN the following school year a woman who became my friend took him after school and ALL SUMMER LONG. She had 3 girls who’s ages were all around his and it was right in our neighborhood so they all played together anyway. It was such a lifesaver and she made money and I had peace of mind!

my favorite part of this is the last paragraph, linda. you do make a difference, and i am so glad you were able to come to the conclusion!

Thank you for writing this. I often question my “mattering” not in a morbid/suicidal sense, but I do question it. We don’t reach out to others often enough to tell them good stuff, or stuff that matters (telling my mom I was sick, for instance. Nothing major, but as a mom, I’d want to know…)
I’m gonna go home & write some thank you notes to friends, and let them know they matter.

What a cool way to help somebody out!

From this working mom….thank you! :*)sniff I am blessed that my mom is still active enough at almost 80 that she enjoys working at my sons’ school and then takes them to my house a couple days a week. (they’re with their dad the other) I work full time, but being a single mom, day care was killing me financially. And my oldest son hated it.

I am curious as to why your school cut the full-time Kindy? Our veterinarian was just telling me this week that she does not like her son in full-time Kindy.

Good for you for helping out, but beware. Things can get out of hand. Other parents may feel that since you’re at home watching your kids, you may as well watch theirs, too.

I was a SAHM for a few years and I had one neighbor who asked, nay demanded that I pick up her daughter from school and keep her every day until 6:30 FOR FREE.

It meant that I ofetn fed this kid dinner and dragged her shopping or to a doctor’s appointment.

In a pinch, once in awhile, ok. Every day so she could spend what I was saving her on after school care at the hairdresser and nail salon? No.

It would be nice if school and work schedules lined up more, but some parents forget and regard the school as a free babysitting service.

Valuable info. Lucky me I found your website unintentionally, and I’m surprised why this accident did not happened in advance! I bookmarked it.

Great work buddy, keep it up

Yo, has anyone heard about that electrical contractor on Chambers by the name of New York Electrician, 94 Chambers St, New York, NY 10007 (646) 415-6723

The style of…

we have metal shoe racks at home and we use it to hold those large boots and heavy leather shoes.,…

I needed something to get up over him.75.6305, Lyndon Johnson, or so it is said,78840.7629, — Men’s Curling-USA vs. — Primetime Replay. he better be ‘Mike.

Torie Prokes…

How can you lower your adderall tolerance other than by stopping taking it?…

Hi there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
Canada Goose Jacket http://www.mmbrownlow.com/otcly.cfm

I was able to find good advice from your articles.

I have surgery tomorrow, and some lorazepam from my psychiatrist. Thing is, I won’t be taking general anesthesia, only local (way cheaper), and wanted to minimize the unpleasantness of being awake during the procedure. Will lorazepam do the trick or do I pospone it and try something else?.

sorry it took so long to? reply!! my adrenaline dumps come in waves. that was a particularly painful day. even after my clonazepam wore off, the caffeine from the excedrin lingered. i was on edge all day long. the next day, i was back to normal though. as normal as my adrenaline chooses to be on a daily basis, that is….i guess.

Hi my friend! I want to say that this post is awesome, nice written and include approximately all important infos. Iˇd like to peer more posts like this .
Cheap Snapback Hats http://www.gsfi.net/aboutus.htm

Hey there this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!|

Hello.This post was extremely motivating, especially since I was looking for thoughts on this issue last Tuesday.
Canada Goose Jacket http://www.providencerenewal.ca/SkinObject.aspx

Just wanna state that this is handy , Thanks for taking your time to write this.

so much excellent information on here, : D.

I’ve been browsing on-line greater than three hours lately, but I never discovered any interesting article like yours. It’s lovely price sufficient for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made excellent content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.|

Excellent web site you have here.. It’s difficult to find quality writing like yours nowadays. I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!

This design is incredible! You definitely know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!|

I like what you guys are up too. This sort of clever work and exposure! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my own blogroll.|

Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your website is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you

certainly like your web site but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth however I will definitely come again again.|

I do accept as true with all the concepts you have presented to your post. They are very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are very quick for novices. May just you please lengthen them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.|

The secret to this workout is to maintain equivalent balance on the knee and hand that continue to
be on the flooring.

As a workout physiologist with a 4 year level + in Kinesiology,
I’m rather dismayed that you would certainly so matter-of-factly spread out such mistruths!

You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation however I in finding this matter to be actually something which I think
I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me.
I am taking a look forward in your subsequent put up, I’ll try to get the
hold of it!

Hookah smoke is known to consist of higher degrees of nickel, lead as well as
arsenic, 36 times more tar and also 15 times more carbon monoxide compared to cigarettes,
study in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention programs.

Feel free to surf to my blog … hookah charcoal
tray – Layla,

Simply desire to say your article is as astounding.
The clarity in your post is just cool and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject.

Fine with your permission allow me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.