We’ve got a childcare crisis happening here in the United States.

And no, you’re not reading an article from 2020. It’s happening again. Well, I should say, it’s STILL happening. It’s just made worse by another round of illness hitting our kids, which, in turn, hits our whole household.

2020 was an outlier based on every statistic imaginable. If you were comparing trends for just about anything, you’d have to throw out 2020 because nothing made sense then. Everything was new for everyone and parents were having to navigate things they never even dreamed of. 

Childcare was not only impossible to find, but if you found it, it was astronomically priced. So more and more parents were having to take time off work in order to take care of their sick kids or stay at home and educate them. 

I was really hoping all of that was behind us.

Yet, in October of 2022, we hit even higher record numbers of parents missing work due to issues with childcare–numbers that reached higher than the peak of the pandemic! 100,000 parents were unable to come to work because they couldn't find anyone to help watch their kids. The difference between now and then is that we’re in the middle of a recession and things are even more strained financially for most families. So time off of work is a really big deal.

I have heard from countless women that are dealing with this.

So, as busy working moms, what can we do to make this slightly easier on ourselves?

I think the name of the game is being proactive. We can’t wait till our kid comes home with a cough and a runny nose before we take action. Here’s 3 places ways I think you can start getting things lined up for yourself TODAY:

DON’T FORGET YOUR VILLAGE

We did it in 2020 and I know we’ll do it in 2022. Families banded together to make things work. How can you think outside of the people in your home? Start having those conversations now so that you have a list ready to go that you can work through when illness hits. Here’s just a few ideas:

• Extended family that lives in the area
• Your datenight babysitter list (and your friend’s list as well!)
• Retired couples in your neighborhood
• Homeschooling families that might have more flex in their day
• Families from your kids extracurricular activities
• Other school families
• Families from church

Those last 3 are great to swap with…especially if their kids are home sick too! Not that you really want to be taking care of MORE sick kids, but we know that phase of sick that kids get to that’s “too sick for school because no one wants to hear hacking all day, but definitely not sick enough to lay down and watch movies.” If kids from the same class caught the same cold, might as well band together so moms can get some work done.

But don’t forget that this is a swap–you’ve got to make the offer to watch their kids as well.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO DELEGATE

Apps need to be your best friend when you’re overwhelmed and there’s a lot that can help you now, even if you don’t have a sick kiddo at home while you’re trying to conference in to work. While these apps won’t actually watch your kids for you, they’ll make all the other stuff you have to get done a little bit easier.

Here’s just a few:

• Yohana: this is like having specialized assistants in every area of your life. They check things off your to-do list so you don’t have to. 
• Maple: this app helps you to spread out the responsibility in your home to everyone so that mom doesn’t end up doing everything
• Grocery delivery: enough said

TALK TO YOUR BOSS

I can’t stress this enough: if you wait until your kid is sick to have this conversation with your boss, you’ve waited too long. Having an open dialogue with them even from the time you get hired will set up such a better culture when the day comes that you can’t come in.

If you haven’t made them aware of needs you might have, no one else is going to do it for you. You can let them know backup childcare options you have in place, but that there might come a time when you will have to work from home. Ask them if there are any systems set up for virtual work or if you could help develop them. You might even find that your boss has some ideas or resources when it comes to childcare.

Don’t wait on this one, mama. We’re all only one kid’s sneeze away from the whole family getting taken down. And actions you take now can make that whole process so much easier on you!