Memorial Day is a day for celebration, but for parents who have to work, it is inconvenient to find childcare. Several other holidays are even more disputed.
With this past weekends parades, memorials and festivals, many families received a welcome vacation. However, for some families there was more inconvenience than benefit because one or both parents were still forced to work at that time and needed to find alternate day care for this school holiday.
Although any school holiday gives rise to inconvenience for some families-someone must work as police, firefighters, police officers, pilots, doctors and many other vital jobs, it is usually the holidays that are less widely celebrated, but are still national holidays that give the most inconvenience. This is also true on specialized religious holidays that are observed by some private schools, but not acknowledged in a typical business.
Among these holidays that are disputed candidates for days off of work and school are President's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Good Friday. Memorial Day is less widely conflicted, but some parents are given cause to wonder at the day being given off when it is most commonly used to catch up on yard work or to grill burgers. It is often wondered why this holiday is more widely given a day off of school, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day is left up to school discretion.
While children are excited to have a day off of school or daycare, many parents find these holidays to be no cause for celebration. Another source of confusion among these holidays is wondering which ones school is closed on and which are merely acknowledged during the school day.
One solution to these holidays for centers that offer both daycare and traditional school is to have the school portion closed, and the daycare to be open for children who need care. This is often the solution for Christmas Break, which is another time where there is need for additional care.
The primary way to avoid any of the confusion associated with these sometimes-observed holidays is preparation. Parents need to familiarize themselves with their child's school calendar, and schools need to be responsible for clearly posting well in advance which days school will be closed.
The copyright of the article School Holidays in Day Care is owned by Carrie Henderson Weston. Permission to republish School Holidays in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
What holiday do you feel is not handled properly by daycare in you area?
Do you wish that Memorial Day came with childcare? Is your childcare
center open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
Jun 2, 2006 9:11 AM
Lynn Byrne :
I can cope with closures on federal holidays. Its the extended break
periods that are hard to deal with. The full day center my littlest is
enrolled in closes down for a week at Christmas--no matter when the holiday
falls. My eldest's after school program closes for a week at Thanksgiving,
two weeks at Christmas, three weeks in summer (one in June and two in
August). The remainder of the closures coincide with the federal holiday
closures. It makes work/home life an interesting juggle.
Jun 2, 2006 12:20 PM
Irene Taylor :
Hi Lynn and Carrie,
Childcare during holiday breaks is a
challenge, isn't it! I work with a single mom who is often struggling with
this very issue. One wonders why a day care center does close when it is
needed most.
Carrie, your solution of having the child care part
open even if the school isn't sounds like a good one!
Irene
Jun 6, 2006 12:11 PM
Carrie Henderson Weston :
I'm really surprised that your son's ASP closes for a week at Thanksgiving.
It seems as though most workplaces are open during that week, and the
closure would cause quite a few people quite a large amount of
inconvenience. As far as the summer closures go, I know that August is
always a low time for numbers, so the decision to close may just be a
monetary one. Our center tries to keep closures to a minimum-- a week at
the end of August.
Also, our center is open until the day before
Christmas Eve-- unless, of course, this falls on a weekend. However, it is
closed the days between Christmas and New Year's Day. I wonder how a few of
our parents who work as firefighters or nurses or at toy stores or other
stores in the mall where there are usually mandatory work hours in order to
handle all of the returned gifts and after-the-holiday sales handle the
scheduling problems.
This schedule is nice for some of our
employees who are in college and want to go home over break, and as a
local, I usually try to make myself available to cover any of their hours.
This may be another solution to the problem of "childcare when it is
most needed and most inconvenient." There are probably a few teachers
who would be willing to sit for some extra holiday cash. You might even be
able to partner with another family to "rent" one of the
teacher's services in one of you homes. This increased numbers of children
would equal more money for the teacher and give your kids a chance to play
with a few of their friends who they'd otherwise not see until break is
over.
Jun 8, 2006 4:48 AM
Lynn Byrne :
Since our ASP is attached to the school, when the school closes, the ASP
closes. Such is life.
As for having someone do home-based care,
that works up to 2 kids. My state has laws about home-based care. You
can't care for more than 2 children at a time in the home unless you are
licensed by the state to do so. Fun isn't it?
