What do you do?

[hepmommy]

How do handle it when your child has an unplanned early release day?  Say, a snow day. 

I'm a SAHM and it was not any big deal to rearrange my plans for today so I could get the kids picked up from the bus stop at a different, much earlier time.  However, I know some moms work and it would be a big inconvenience to have to leave in the middle of the day to intercept your kid(s) and then find alternate arrangements for them.  What would a mom who waits tables for a living do in this situation?  What if she makes the best money during the lunch rush and now she's out a lot of money for having to retrieve her kids. 

I'm curious.  How do you handle the little unexpected bumps such as these?

Discuss.

[kmrtigger]

I don't have and answer to this one. I'm a SAHM. And when I did work, I had the support of family help. So I am curious to see the replies too.

[balagan_imma]

I'm a SAHM as well. The last early release snow day we had I was at the dentist. My cell phone rang 3-4 times to the point where the hygeinist was answering - "yes, 11:45. Yes she knows." It was pretty funny. But I suppose I would ask my mom to get them if I had something that could not be rescheduled (or if the dentist had been scheduled for longer.)

[natesmom1228]

Right now I am a SAHM. I was laid off before Christmas so I did work full time. I had a great boss who always let me go and bring my son to work with me, whether I needed to go get him from school. He also went to daycare so on early release days he would take the bus to the daycare because they were usually aware of the early dismissals.

[Hanaas_mommy]

since my daughter goes to daycare after school they would just pick her up and keep her until I could get there to pick her up. Since I work 35 mins from home it would be very inconvenient for me to have to pick her up early.

[momoffive07]

This is 1 reason why I am a SAHM!!!!   Kids are my number 1!!!

[steelcrazy]

I work from home so I am the person who has other people' s kids until they can get off from work.  So when the school calls these parents to tell them that school is being let out early, the parents inform the school that their kids are to be sent on bus 114 to Steel's house.  Unfortunately on those days I don't get much of my work done after the kids show up.

[kmrtigger]

Quoting steelcrazy:

I work from home so I am the person who has other people' s kids until they can get off from work.  So when the school calls these parents to tell them that school is being let out early, the parents inform the school that their kids are to be sent on bus 114 to Steel's house.  Unfortunately on those days I don't get much of my work done after the kids show up.

That is so nice that you do this. I have also taken other children home with me until the parents were done w/ work or a grandparent could come get them from my place. Heck last year I even had parents drop kids off at my house mornings we had 2hr delays so they didn't have to go into work late. Those made for hectic mornings, but the kids loved getting ready with their best friends, lol.

[momof754]

i have the support from family and from a family friend that helps out so i can go to school in the evenings while hubby is at work. if there is no one else my boss at the nursing home i work at is very understanding and will let me leave early if needed

[Barabell]

I'm a working parent, and I have been since my son was an infant.

When he was in daycare, normally either my DH or I would call out.  We lived in Phoenix at the time, and so there were no snow days.  If my son was sick, then one of his parents should be home to take care of him.  It was usually me instead of my DH because my employer provided more sick days. 

Now that my son is in school (and we live in a snowy state), we might look to friends or family to watch our son or help out depending on the circumstance.  The local rec center near our house has a program for school release days that are non-holiday.  We've used that before, and my son likes it.  It also does a summer program, and he just loves that because it has a different theme and location every week. 

His school rarely closes for snow days, and usually if it's that bad I might decide to call out because I think it's too dangerous for me to drive to work.  Right now my DH is unemployed, and so he'll watch him and take the day off from doing work for family members or putting out applications.  When my DH was employed, sometimes I would ask my sister that lives with us to watch him if she has that day off from work or I will ask his BFF's mom or I will ask my mom that works out of her home.  We have only done that as a last resort, but my family members don't mind helping out.  Again, if my son is sick, one of us will stay home with him. 

[hholllyy426]

Well I don't work but I go to school. If I have to go to a class and he was home I would take him with me or he would go with DH. I have yet to see a snow day the whole 9 years I have lived here, even with over 2 feet of snow.