early morning child care

Childcare is full of cultural expectation.

I too stayed at home with my children until they were school aged and then worked part time. I had no car or luxuries and loved every minute of it! Luckily, I had a husband whose wages covered the bills. I think parents are under too much pressure these days to both go out to work because wages are low and the cost of living is high. I feel so sorry for the children as they do a longer day than their parents. Why does the Government fund only one particular type of parenting? i.e funded childcare. The same money could be given to families so they didn't both have to work full-time. Mothers At Home Matter put it much better than I do mothersathomematter.co.uk/

We just about managed for me to stay at home when my daughter was small, not an option for her and her partner now they are parents. I'm up before 6am in the morning to get to their house to look after my DGS , back home to mine about 6 pm. I love it, but I feel almost guilty, I'm having the lovely days in the park, at playgroup, and toddler games that she misses being able to do. I really think parents today get a raw deal.

I stayed at home with my children, in the 70's you did. I used to love being home with them. When they started school I was offered a job as a lunch supervisor which was ideal and then went onto be a TA was great because we had holidays together. It was a struggle when they were really young, my husband was the only one bringing in a wage, I sometimes wonder now how we managed only got child benefit then nothing else.
I do feel sad to see young children going into school breakfast club and onto childminders after school. When to they get to have quality time with their parents.?

in the 70's where I come from most mothers were back at work within weeks .In fact I worked until I lleft the office with my hospital bag for the labour ward and was back at my desk 8 days later...I took my baby to work with me and she was there until she started nursery .I was lucky I coulld do that because I was self employed

I went back to work in the 70 s when mine was only a few months old. We had to get up early to go to either Nans or the childminder,no central heating,just a 2 bar electric fire,it was cold.
I did it because I wanted a house with a garden for mine to play in and not just a back street.Not all husbands earned good money, mine didn't,it barely covered the mortgage and bills.

I didn't work when my 4 children were young (between 1973 and 1986). As my husband worked away during the week and we lived in a tiny hamlet with no public transport, and I didn't have a car, there was little opportunity for me to do so and it did mean that it was very difficult to afford luxuries etc. We lived miles from both sets of grandparents so life was a struggle at times, but I wouldn't have changed our way of life even had I been able to do so. I had a fabulous time bringing up my four and enjoyed every moment of the time I spent with them. My eldest was 13 when I went to work which was just as the youngest started school at 5 and I have only ever worked part time since so I could be there to pick up and drop off at school each day. I now have six grandchildren and still do my share of picking up and dropping off, and I really look forward to having those special times with the grandchildren.

My daughters all went back to full time work when each baby reached one. Their lives are non-stop, rushing the children to childcare, nursery then school. They hardly see the children in the week. One daughter is efficient and keeps up with the washing, cooking and chores by spending the whole weekend on it.
Another is completely overwhelmed by a new job with long hours and a boisterous puppy and never catches up with the washing. Their house is a tip..
These young mums work far far harder than I did as a SAHP with four children.