Daycare Dilemmas

I have had three sitters in one day.  I sometimes needed three in order the work two full time jobs.  It went like this:  I drop my little boys off at daycare, who then takes them to school in the morning, and back to the daycare in the afternoon.  Afterschool, around 3 - 4 pm, Brittney, a high school student, picks them up from daycare and takes them to our home.  Around this time, I am leaving one job, changing into a uniform, and going to another job.  After finishing at the second job, it is between 10 - 1130 pm, and Brittney needs a ride home and the kids are asleep.  I call my neighbor, and one of her daughters, Sarah or Ashley, comes over and watches the kids while I drive Brittney home, takes 20 minutes.  That's 3 babysitters!

I remember once getting out of bed on a Sunday, and almost confused as I didn't have a job to go to that day.  I looked at my calendar, I had had ONE day off in 42 days!

Sometimes, I couldn't get a babysitter for Saturdays.  As the girls would be older and get real paying jobs.   And I would just have to take that day off.  Luckily, there were other people that could cover for me. 

Needless to say, I don't ever want to work 2 full time jobs again, but I do take temporary full time jobs, like the evening and weekend shifts when there is an Election.




Of course, there is another alternative, and that is to check out further educational possibilities. Then you won't need two jobs.

Dads are worth 5%?

moms, single moms, single parents, single mothers
I heard about this study done sometime in the past 10 years, and I have tried to find it online, but no success. But it goes like this:

The first time I heard about this study, it stated that children were lesser likely to get into trouble in a home with two parents as opposed to a single mom home and they had statistics to indicate this. They, the study makers, stated that there was a 40% chance that these single-mom-reared children may get into trouble. Now, I don't know what they based their criteria on, but obviously 40% of our children are not career criminals, so they must be counting drinking before legal or skipping school.  And of course I remember this article because I was annoyed that the media was looking for yet another reason to put down single moms.   Grrr. 

Anyways, a couple years later and I stumble across more of this study, and the percentage of children that may get into trouble in a two parent home is 35%.  That's right . . .

THIS MEANS THAT HAVING A FATHER AT HOME IS ONLY WORTH 5%!

The math is, single mom success rate 60%, two parent success rate 65%! Which again means, that moms are responsible for the 60% and the dads are responsible for the 5%.

So all you single moms out there, you truly are doing the job of two people, and only losing %5 of something in the process. We all deserve gold stars.

I also find it bizarre that the media who likes to cut down single moms is completing forgetting that:
1.  there is a dad somewhere, so why isn't he involved;
2.  the focus is on the single moms, yet totally ignoring the fact that the fathers have walked away;
3.  that these moms are doing what is considered a two person job;
4.  that moms will self sacrifice to raise these children, while men do not.

More here on when I took one of my ex's to court, I wish I could blame drugs or alcohol for choosing him.