Reading on the Run: Articles of Interest to Working Moms (Childcare options)

Successful working women keep track of important matters in the news. However, we are not one-dimensional. Some of us also want to keep up with celebrity gossip and fashion news too. Even in the era of the Internet and 24 hour news shows and E!, it can be challenging to keep up with everything.

Fortunately for you, I make it my job to keep up on articles of interest to working moms and when I find notable ones, I share them with you. Below are two that sparked my interest. They each focus on the topic of childcare.

For most working moms, childcare is their largest expenditure. Indeed, now that I have two children, I pay more for childcare than I do for my mortgage, heath care, or my phone bill. It makes sense that I do this because my children are my greatest blessing. However, I have resources. I have a really good job. And I have a husband. So, while I pay a lot in childcare costs, I can make ends meet.

I am blessed.

Child care during the summer is challenging

Still, despite my resources, it has taken both planning and creativity to ensure that my toddler has had appropriate care this summer.
Her preschool operates on the Pittsburgh Public Schools calendar. So, when the school district let out for the summer, her preschool stopped too. I had to figure out where she would go during the summer. Had I missed the enrollment deadline for camp, I may have been without options, or at the very least fun and convenient options.

Where does a working mom send her kid in the summer if she can't afford camp?

The media has been abuzz about the working mom who got arrested this summer after letting her 9 year old daughter play the park unsupervised while she worked her shift at McDonald's. Apparently, she used to play on the family lap top at the restaurant while her mother worked. However, after that was stolen she became bored and wanted to play at the park where they brought free meals. I bet she begged her mother and became somewhat of a nuisance after the laptop broke and her mother was afraid she might get fired. So, she let her got to the park to play alone.

I used to walk home by myself at 9 years old and was a latch key kid. Most of the kids I knew with divorced moms did the same thing. We may have been scared, but we didn't complain. It was what we were used to and it made us responsible.

We may debate the wisdom of that decision and question her judgment. We may also judge her harshly because she apparently has had some prior brushes with the law. What we cannot deny however, is that mother who work outside of the home in America confront some challenging, sometimes impossible decisions surrounding childcare, especially during the summer. And that is an issue that we should all care about.