I second this, but even people you pay for childcare aren’t that easily found (at least where we’re living—Germany).
The same with this type of network/friend circle—I absolutely love the idea, but my experience is, that it’s hard to build this up and it takes time. Every family is struggling, and have different rhythms (e.g. my kid’s nap time is 12-2pm we can meet afterward—oh but my kid is sleeping from 1.30-3pm and then it’s almost getting too late before it gets dark/dinner time/whatsoever...), you plan a play-date, and then one kid gets sick—just some examples from real life ;-)
I don’t want to sound too pessimistic. That’s just been our experience and I wish I’d had more realistic expectations on things like that.
Yes, I do think that most parents in the bay area are too nervous about taking care of other people’s kids (maybe it gets better when the kids are 6+ years old and people are more willing to e.g. drop them off at birthday parties where the parents leave). It also requires a certain type of personality to be okay with whatever parenting style your friends or loved ones have when they are taking care of your kids for free, and be OK with their diet, nap schedule, etc slipping while you’re gone.
I second this, but even people you pay for childcare aren’t that easily found (at least where we’re living—Germany).
The same with this type of network/friend circle—I absolutely love the idea, but my experience is, that it’s hard to build this up and it takes time. Every family is struggling, and have different rhythms (e.g. my kid’s nap time is 12-2pm we can meet afterward—oh but my kid is sleeping from 1.30-3pm and then it’s almost getting too late before it gets dark/dinner time/whatsoever...), you plan a play-date, and then one kid gets sick—just some examples from real life ;-)
I don’t want to sound too pessimistic. That’s just been our experience and I wish I’d had more realistic expectations on things like that.
Yes, I do think that most parents in the bay area are too nervous about taking care of other people’s kids (maybe it gets better when the kids are 6+ years old and people are more willing to e.g. drop them off at birthday parties where the parents leave). It also requires a certain type of personality to be okay with whatever parenting style your friends or loved ones have when they are taking care of your kids for free, and be OK with their diet, nap schedule, etc slipping while you’re gone.