Bringing Kids to school and activities

Just curious, when you bring your children to school, do you also bring along your baby (if you have a baby) or do you have family or pay a babysitter to watch the baby?

Preschool I find the biggest dilemma, I was paying for my daughter to go to a early drop off service so my dh can bring her so I did not have to shlep the baby every morning and especially in the cold winter months. Now because we want to save for HT, I am giving up that service.

Also to pick my dd up from preschool I pay somebody weekly to come here and watch my baby so I do not have to drag her along and I can pick up my preschooler,

Then comes my older grade school daughter, I have that same person take her to the yellow schoolbus in the morning and the afternoon so I do not have to bring the baby out in bad weather etc. I pay for that also.

Do most of you pay for babysitting or have family or just bring the baby everywhere and manage?

I am curious on do most depend on family to pick up the slack, or do you do it all yourself or do you hire help?

This is just to school.

I would have to start another thread on regular care for going to doctors, shoppping etc. There are some that bring the kids everywhere or some that alway have somebody else watch them.

But for now I will stay on the dropping and picking up from school topic.

Thanks in advance.

This became a huge issue for me this year going from 3 to 4. My third child was my most easy-going child so she just went everywhere with us and napped in the car when she could.

BUT, enter DS and the crap hit the fan. The older my kids get, the more difficult it has gotten for us. We have to drive our kids to school and pick them up. I pick up 2-3 days per week. I tried loading up my two little ones and waiting in carpool line...I wanted to kill myself and ended up in tears most days.

A friend of mine hooked me up with a girl that could not find a job and she now comes the 2 afternoons when I have to do pickup to stay with the little 2 so they can nap/not have to sit in the car. We also have a second pickup that I do for extra curricular stuff 4 days a week so they would be in the car for 3+ hours all in...not good with an infant that is fussy.

Preschool though, I bring baby everyday to drop off my preschooler. I so wish they did carpool dropoff but they do not. I am going to switch to a preschool that does that next year just so I don't have to get him out of the car anymore when I take DD3.

After getting used to my helper, I now have her come another day or 2 per week for a few hours just so I can go to the grocery store alone, etc. It has helped but it is not cheap.

[QUOTE=nuthinbutpink;2171]This became a huge issue for me this year going from 3 to 4. My third child was my most easy-going child so she just went everywhere with us and napped in the car when she could.

BUT, enter DS and the crap hit the fan. The older my kids get, the more difficult it has gotten for us. We have to drive our kids to school and pick them up. I pick up 2-3 days per week. I tried loading up my two little ones and waiting in carpool line...I wanted to kill myself and ended up in tears most days.


LOL.

A friend of mine hooked me up with a girl that could not find a job and she now comes the 2 afternoons when I have to do pickup to stay with the little 2 so they can nap/not have to sit in the car. We also have a second pickup that I do for extra curricular stuff 4 days a week so they would be in the car for 3+ hours all in...not good with an infant that is fussy.

I have someone come here that I pay for the afternoon pick-up and the morning and noon bus for my gradeschooler I used to have the morning covered with the early drop off but now giving it up to try to save for HT ($150.00 per month). It is definately good to have a young girl come and pay then and get the extra help. I am all for it. I have beeing doing it this way all the time. Just now have to give a little up to try to save for me that is.

Preschool though, I bring baby everyday to drop off my preschooler. I so wish they did carpool dropoff but they do not. I am going to switch to a preschool that does that next year just so I don't have to get him out of the car anymore when I take DD3.

If I have another baby, I definately am going to try to find a preschool that you can drive there line up (called circular drop off). And some said they would help in bad weather to bring preschooler to the car. I chose this preschool with the hopes that they got their small bus back that I used to use but I do not think that they will.

After getting used to my helper, I now have her come another day or 2 per week for a few hours just so I can go to the grocery store alone, etc. It has helped but it is not cheap.

I can understand that. Going food shopping with even 1 child is rought. My dh does the grocery shopping.

I think the preschool is the hardest. For Kintergarten - 5th grade, the yellow schoolbus in which we use stops close to my house. So the person takes her to and from the bus. I feel like a premadonna, but it helps me manage.

Does it seem for you that every time another one of your children is in preschool, that you have a small baby? For me it is that way, and I may not even be done if plans work.

I cheat and have my older boys watch my 3 year old while I run errands (he is a tiny tornado). I bring the baby with me because he's unusually well behaved.

I also have at least one of my older sons come with me when I do have to take them both. I cheat, cheat, cheat!!! The only place I ever dare to take them both together alone is grocery stores where they have the shopping carts that look like little cars - my toddler is entertained by those and they have a spot for the baby to sit as well.

Anyway, as you can see I have NO advice at all but I just wanted to wish you well!!

Hi, I have three boys and they all go everywhere with me, I couldnt afford to have anyone look after the two little ones when I drop DS1 off at school so everybody comes along, we also dont have a car and were from the UK so we dont have school buses, I use public transport to get everywhere we go. Honestly, I think you'd be able to manage without the babysitting if you really really want to start saving. I hope you do manage to sort something out that works for you :)

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Originally Posted by Hollie86

Hi, I have three boys and they all go everywhere with me, I couldnt afford to have anyone look after the two little ones when I drop DS1 off at school so everybody comes along, we also dont have a car and were from the UK so we dont have school buses, I use public transport to get everywhere we go. Honestly, I think you'd be able to manage without the babysitting if you really really want to start saving. I hope you do manage to sort something out that works for you :)

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I am not using the early morning drop off service any more for my preschooler. My dh used to drop my preschooler off and I did not even have to go out of the house. I actually went back to sleep for 2 hours. So some of these luxuries I have to give up to save. However, there is a very nice Grandmother at the school. Her grandson is friends with my daughter. When she sees me she helps my daughter get her hat, gloves and scarf off and put them in her backpack. I am wearing the baby with the Ergo Baby Carrier.

Today the mother to the little boy told me that her mother can actually watch my daughter if I wanted to bring her to the school a little earlier and she can stay with her son. I told her that I would want to give her some money and she said No. So I am going to wait a few days and see. But I think maybe I can leave my daughter with her at the school and let her walk her up to the class. That would just help out so much.

I think sometimes even if others see you and they know that it is difficult with you and if you do become friendly with them, they will help out for no money at all. It is kind of luck though.

I just hit it off with this grandmother.

And funny I lost my mother 5 years ago and she knows about it. I lost my father as a teen. I think she knows that also. I used to not be able to be around grandmothers but now in a positive note I am able to be around a lot of them.

Sorry for going off the topic if I did.

Thats such a nice offer and it would seem to help you out a lot, as long as you feel comfortable with it after thinking it over then i cant see any reason not to do it. Definately sounds like a good solution :)