What solutions have you found? Any little victories in the ongoing quest to juggle childcare, work, and life? Join us on facebook to share!
Solutions…
At CASY & MSCCN, we are driven by solving problems, but we can’t deny the difficulty military families and spouses face balancing childcare with life’s other demands nor the circumstances in which military families face these challenges.
1. Get Involved and Let Your Voice Be Heard. While many organizations work diligently to resolve issues military families face, it’s necessary that military families continue to communicate their childcare needs.
2. Sign Up Early and Often. If you know you’ll be PCSing, get your name on the CDC’s list as soon as possible. Look into other community resources you can use as well (see below).
3. Consider your options. The base CDC is one child care option for parents. Military families have access to Family Child Care (FCC) Providers who provide care in approved homes, and the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force offer military fee assistance programs for care in your community. Visit http://www.naccrra.org/military-families to learn more.
4. Find summer opportunities for school age children. Summer is a time of growth and exploration for children. Find opportunities in your community to supplement what they learn during the school year.
5. Consider flexible schedules and opportunities. If you are flexible in your expectations, you may find opportunities that fit into and around your other priorities and responsibilities.
6. Find your battle buddy. Are you searching for work and need just a few hours of care a week? Can you trade off with someone in the same boat? It’s much harder to create a support network in a new situation, but someone else whom you can depend on can provide short or long term support in the military community.
None of these solutions alone resolves the BIGGER problems we face trying to juggle our family and professional needs, but they can lessen the burden and resolve some of the smaller issues we face.
Here are some solutions that have lessened, but not alleviated the burden, for some of us.
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