Twenty-Four Hour Daycare Is on the Rise
These days, most parents have to take whatever job they can get– sometimes they have to take two. As more and more people are at the mercy of their job’s schedule, 24-hour day care facilities are on the rise.
It would be nice if everyone could work 9-to-5, but this just isn’t the case for nearly 40 percent of Americans.
For low income jobs in particular, it’s nearly impossible to get traditional business hours– priority is given to those few with the highest education or seniority, and everyone else is out in the cold.
It’s not uncommon for parents to have to drop off children after dinner or before the crack of dawn. It’s getting as common for parents to pick up kids at 3:30 AM as it is for them to pick up kids at 3:30 PM. For those who can’t afford private, in-home child care, round-the-clock daycare facilities are the only option.
Known as “extreme daycare”, facilities are striving to meet the needs of these hard-working parents. In some states, the number of overnight daycares has doubled in the last 10 years. Many of them are open seven days per week, including holidays. With more stores staying open to stay competitive, more retail workers find themselves on the job. Without extreme daycares, they’d be stuck.
Many parents are not entirely happy with the arrangement, but do what they have to do. Good daycare facilities do their best to be homey, nurturing and provide children with a sense of stability. By meeting these childcare challenges, daycares are helping a lot of families survive.
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