Long Work Days

I woke up this morning, got the kids ready, and dropped them off at the childcare center. It was a normal morning until I hopped back into my car and drove home. Today was the first weekday of my break from law school.

I had planned to change the kids' childcare schedule. I'm home from school for a month, so I wanted to drop them down to part time. I still have a little work to do for school during break, and could use the childcare for a day or two a week, but it doesn't make sense to leave the kids in childcare full time while I'm home all day. If I kept the kids home with me most of the week, I would have time to do the work I need to do, plus we could save money on childcare. Oh, and there's that thing about building stronger relationships with my children by spending time with them, but I was really excited about saving money.

It turns out childcare centers don't let you do that. My request to drop back to part time was not well received. They didn't quite laugh at me, but that may only be because they're perpetually cheerful in that place. Their schedule is locked into full time. We pay for those days whether the kids are at the childcare center or at home. It doesn't matter if they're home because I'm home and able to care for them, they're sick and can't go to the center, or it's a holiday and the center is closed. We pay for full-time childcare every week until we drop out. Ooh, but after a year we get a whole week of "vacation" where we can keep the kids out of the center without paying for it.

I couldn't decide which would make me feel more ridiculous: Dropping the kids off for childcare I didn't need, or paying for childcare we wouldn't use. After much deliberation, I settled on the latter as more ridiculous. So this morning I dropped the kids off at childcare the same as always, and returned home to work on a few things. A couple hours later, I needed more work to do. Obviously I should find more work to keep me busy.