Short week can mean big headache
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about state employees moving to four-day work weeks, saving them a day of gas money and in some cases, easing energy costs to operate buildings.
In theory, it sounds great. Work four 10-hour days and then get a three-day weekend. Who wouldn’t love that?
But for parents that depend on child care, it can be a nightmare. Many daycares charge the same whether your child is there four days or five. And not all are open long enough hours for parents who travel any distance to work.
I could work 7 to 5, but if daycare doesn’t open until 7 a.m. or later, I’d never make it to my desk on time. Plus, I really wouldn’t want my kid to be class for 10 hours each day.
What do you think? Are four-day and 40-hour work weeks a fit for your family?
Susan Simpson
Two days, two firsts
My 5-year-old graduated from pre-kindergarten last night. Well, one of them anyways. She attends a half-day pre-k program at our neighborhood public school. Then a few days a week, she finishes the day at our company’s childcare center run by the YMCA. It’s from the latter that she officially graduated during a cute program that included a prayer, a patriotic song, the Pledge of Allegiance, 26 short songs that covered the alphabet and a touching video and song tribute about their great-grandparents as guardian angels. I might have even teared up, had I not been alternately wielding a video camera and sharing chase-the-toddler duties with my husband. She was most concerned about what she was going to wear. When I told her she needed to dress up, her predictable reply was, “As what?” I picked out an adorable turquoise dress with bright-colored polka dots. She was having none of that, demanding to know why I didn’t grab the dress she had set out. She won that disagreement. It was her graduation after all.
Then today she lost her first tooth and a potential crisis was averted. Yesterday, she asked if loose teeth changed colors. I said no and didn’t give it another thought. Until this morning. I noticed her wiggly tooth was a shade of gray and her gum was red. The dentist said to bring her on in so she could check it out. But when I picked her up from school, she was all grins, with an empty space where one of teachers had pulled it. No need to see the dentist. And no need to worry that trauma would make her terrified of losing the next tooth. Turns out, this particular teacher is a tooth-pulling expert! Now, to figure out what the tooth fairy pays these days … Christy
Do you have your child’s birth certificate?
I knew where it had to be. Yes, I did have Cade’s birth certificate, or, at least that’s what I told the school officials as we planned for my 3-year-old to begin school.
But after sifting through stacks of papers, opening legal-sized envelopes, digging through my cedar chest and emptying drawers, I decided I really, truly had never ordered copies of Cade’s birth certificate.
I felt guilty, disorganized. Why hadn’t I taken care of this? But then I started thinking about some of the little obstacles we had to overcome when Cade was born, how he had to undergo light treatment for about a week for jaundice, how his blood had to be tested constantly for about two months because the numbers were not exactly where they were supposed to be, and how we had to go through a liver scan … We were a little busy.
And then, life kind of evened out. Trips to the hospital became less frequent, and we went on about our business, dealing with normal everyday “stuff.”
When I found my middle daughter’s birth certificate last week, guess what? I had ordered her’s right before she started school. … Maybe I wasn’t such a bad, forgetful mother, after all.
So, today, I went to the Oklahoma Department of Health and stood in line to get what I should have gotten a few years ago. It wasn’t a great experience, but it wasn’t so terribly awful either.
I stood in a long line – it was a Monday and other parents were having to enroll their kids, too, and they needed their children’s birth certificates. Yes, the man behind me carried on a colorful conversation peppered with every expletive you could imagine on his cell phone, and after standing in that line, I had to stand in another line to pay … and then I had to wait for my number to be called. But the people assisting everyone were friendly.
And then it was done. I had my son’s birth certificate – four copies – you never know when you’re going to need an extra.
So, here’s some advice. If you have children and you haven’t gotten their birth certificates, go ahead and take care of that today. You can mail in your request or you can go to the Health Department, 1000 NE 10th St. If you go in person, print off the form ahead of time, fill it out, and then all you have to do is step into line. You won’t have to worry that you’ve forgotten information or misplaced your ID, because you’ll already know you need it.
And, then, when you enroll your kids in school, and someone asks if you have their birth certificates, you can say, “Yes,” and know that it’s true. - Linda
My little sheep are sleepy
My family’s schedule will have to adjust. Cade turned 3 on April 21, and that means he’s eligible to attend public schools. My husband and I found out Cade had Down syndrome within an hour of his birth, so each little step since then has been a learning experience for all of us.
Now, it’s how to get three children to three different schools in the morning and then get myself to work on time. I’m pretty cheery in the morning, but my two daughters, ages 13 and 9, get a little nauseated if they hurry too much. So, the challenge is how to juggle and enable them to help make this work.
OK. I’ve made my kids a little too helpless. I fix their bowls of cereal or toast or sliced banana … then I wake them up (one at a time), encourage them that it’s going to be a great day … and then they curl back up on the couch to take another nap. ugh.
I feel like a sheep herder, but my sheep have vertigo – they keep going in circles or lying down. Well, today I told them times are changing. We have to all get up at the same time, get ready and scurry on our way.
Cade was the first one ready to go today. - Linda
