Blog #6

There are different types of child care used by working mothers displayed in the book. (Chaudry,34). They are home-based care, family child care, center care and also other types of care. The home based care was a typical resort for many of the mothers. This included kin care and care from the father, such as in Brittany and Bethany’s situation. She used a lot of different types of home-based care, but it typically was what Chaudry refers to as “patch work care”, the type of care used until another option presents itself. This was also a resource for the mother to attempt to save money while the father was out of work, though she did not always save many (for example while Bethany’s uncle provided the child care). Many of her arrangements “were not ideal, however, in terms of these relatives’ commitment to being care providers, the location, or their long-term availability.” (Chaudry,35) This type of care is also typically used for “early care, short-term care, or secondary car”, which is not ideal.

There are many different concerns associated with family care centers as well as with center care. In Brittany and Bethany’s case, Brittany came into conflict while using licensed caregivers. She felt the she could not trust some of the care givers to give proper care to her child. Though the facility may be licensed for state quality care, it may not be at the approval of the most important player, the mother.

Many of the choices made by these women were due to the need of urgent care situations. Weather it happened to be because a loss in the mother’s work availability or loss of income. For example, one mother’s story in “Problems of Working Mothers” explained that although she has a real estate license and has previously worked in a real estate office, she must work as a waitress because she needs the flexibility to care for her sick child. One solution to this was suggested in the video “Childcare” was to extend public schooling from K-12 to include preschoolers.

Other factors also include who is available and for what cost. Many of the mothers ran into personal conflict with care givers which needed instant change which lead to yet another, rushed decision.

Chaudry also explains “supply factors”, or what is actually available to them, plays a role in this decision making process. (Chaudry 41)
According to ARC (Applied Research Center) there is a large increase in the number of caregivers who are unlicensed. This can only be because of the fact that many more people of forced into situations that need this type of work (possibly that they cannot afford the training) as well as because women who cannot afford to have child care from licensed facilities must turn to others.

Typically the mothers have stated that they prefer a child care situation where not only is their child safe, but also that the child is being interacted with and in a learning environment. For example, Chaudry describes how the mothers differentiate between care that is “babysitting”, “nurturing”, “developmental” and “educational”.

In the course video, “Problems of Working Mothers”, a mother describes that although she prefers the child be in an after-school program, but because she cannot afford this, they are what is described as “latch-key” children, or children who must take care of themselves after school. This is a last resort for many mothers and although no one is directly to blame for these types of situations a solution rests on the decisions of state and federal assistance programs.