Work and Family Child Care Mothers in the workforce How many mothers are in the labor force o 58 5 of mothers with children under age six and 73 2 of mothers with children 6 to 17 were in the labor force o 53 8 of mothers with infants under age one were in the labor force Learning Objectives Identify the options for childcare for working parents Grasp the real cost of childcare o Out of pocket costs to families o Societal cost of inadequate childcare Understand State Level support government for child care o Differences between US and the remainder of industrial world Managing childcare while working shifts Settings for Care Parental Care Formal Setting o Child care center o Family home child care Informal care relative friend In home care nanny au pair Primary Child Care Arrangements for Employed Parents One quarter of all children under the age of 5 with employed mothers were cared for in center based settings Four in five children under the age of 5 with employed mothers were cared for by someone other than their parents Primary Child care Arrangements for Children Ages 0 4 with Employed Mothers by Type and Percentage Type of Care during mother s work hours Shift Work and Child Care Child care may be handled by parents by o Flexible hours parents work different shifts o 1 3 of all dual earner couples with preschoolers worked alternating shifts o Role of Gender Woman put priority on spouse s needs first turn down opportunities more than men Couple relationship can suffer Single parents do not have this luxury o May rely on relatives o Limited availability of night weekend childcare o Have fewer buffers employment more vulnerable Does child care setting really matter that much YES Kids at risk o Most likely to be in informal care and poor quality settings o Least likely to be school ready o Most likely to lag academically even into middle elementary school Affluent kids o Most likely to be in high quality environments If child care setting is at least adequate then home environment matters most Implications of child care setting o Quality matters across domains and over time What determines quality o Child structured day o Developmentally appropriate practices o Predictability and dependability What determines those factors o Depth of child development knowledge o Formal training of staff A two tiered system of work environments is developing Larger firms o Offer better pay o Steadier jobs o More educated workers Smaller firms o Lower pay o less steady jobs o less educated workers The Changing Workplace in the US New options for managing work family balance o Parental Leave Time off from work to care for child o Part time work with fringe benefits o Job Sharing o Flextime Policy allows employees to be flexible with hours within limits Telecommuting Doing work from home using electronic communication
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