[speaker001:] do you have uh personal experience involving child care services
[speaker002:] well about the only thing I know is uh one of my um friends at work uh has um one little boy and she's about to have a second baby and I hear some of her um tales about trying to get uh child care now she doesn't like to use some of the places like um Kinder Care La Petite Academy she likes to just find individuals you know who take children into their home
[speaker001:] right uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh you know sometimes they have found somebody by word of mouth other times she has to go through the newspaper and see what she can find there are some um like um oh Chamber of Commerce you can kind of call there are some places like that that will give you some referrals at least but she just kind of goes and uh meets people that she sees advertise and and interviews with them and ask them their
[speaker001:] I have a friend at work yeah who whose wife does that she takes in kids and I think they're regulated by the state as to how many they can take in at one time
[speaker002:] ways oh ah
[speaker001:] so I'm not sure how anybody checks up on that but um I think there's a maximum number of kids that they can take care of at any one time
[speaker002:] yeah there's been a few people that have kind of used the same person kind of like word of mouth one person in the department had them and then um you know other people had followed and had the same one as their child grows like some people only want little infants you know and when they get to two years old they don't want you know a whole lot of two years old because they're a little more active so they you know a lot people in the department seem to have used like the same couple of woman as their their children uh grow but
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I really keep thinking that T I ought to come up with something like through Texins to have you know some kind of facilities there at work because it really is uh a lot of extra pressure on our working parents
[speaker001:] do you think it ought to be subsidized by the company
[speaker002:] no I think it should be done through Texans I mean I understand that
[speaker001:] something you can sign up for and pay
[speaker002:] that that TI wouldn't want to have liability for that and I can understand that I work in the legal department I don't want anymore lawsuits than what we got
[speaker001:] sure right no I don't think that the company should be subsidizing services like that
[speaker002:] but but you know I think they could work out something with Texans something that would be close to work because I think that would help ease things too if you've got your child somewhere close because I see these people you know dashing out the door um have to be out by a certain time because they have to go pick up their child if they don't pick up the child by a certain time then they run extra money you know to uh have late charges
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] and uh you know Texins is is not uh well I don't think it's really directly supported by TI I think it has it's own kind of funding but something like that that you know you would have to be a TI or a Texins kind of um does it
[speaker001:] yeah I think that would take care of any questions about competency for people running the show uh if say if you were in in a situation having to locate a uh child care center how old you go about determining whether somebody was competent or not take care of your kids I think that's a big question
[speaker002:] well how would I do that
[speaker001:] yeah you um pretty much by word of mouth uh somebody recommends somebody else but if you didn't know anybody uh how how lengthy an interview would you conduct with the person taking care of your kids to determine whether they're fit to uh handle it
[speaker002:] well uh again I know from the person who um you know is a friend ever mine at work she and I I've talked to her after she's interviewed some people just really sound I mean bizarre I mean you can't imagine that these people are putting in for um you know minding other children um like if you could go to the house and it seems to be in a disarray and the woman really isn't even dressed and it's afternoon and and you ask her about you know previous children and she won't talk about it
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] kind of go okay um others if they have some way of handling like I kind of wonder about these women who take in children there are times that you're going to have to do you know for the women they're going to have to do some personal things themselves I mean every single day they may have you know every once in a while they may have some kind of um personal doctor appointment or got to get the car fixed or something like that how do they do that so you ask them do you have a fall back you know for those times are you going to put me in a bind or do you have somebody else who can take care of the kids or do those things for you on the times that you need to you know have personal time off and do those items
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and ask them you know who else uh have they you know baby sat for in the past and can you talk to them look at the facilities and ask them what kind of things they do to you know during the day with the child that kind of thing I guess
[speaker001:] yeah there there are some services that uh that are very expensive uh for uh typically subsidized by uh large companies for some of their uh uh important employees
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] where if they can't get there regular uh sitter or a child care service to take there kids if they reserve slots with these other um companies um very expensive rates but they can drop their kid off uh at uh one of these places for so it I don't know what it cost but it's extremely expensive and the companies uh have to uh reserve X number of slots uh per year they can't send anymore it's it's pretty much for for their
[speaker002:] hm hm
[speaker001:] for their uh uh some some of their employees uh lawyers do that a lot um I've heard about this type of service in uh places like New York City where people are uh real busy but if uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] if they can't find the regular sitter they they if the company has uh slots available in this service uh these employees can drop their kids off there
[speaker002:] hm oh do you know one time I um we just got married a couple of years ago and there was people that were coming you know into town with uh children and I wanted you know babysitters for uh the service and and available to them if they didn't want to bring their children or you know get away and stuff and I just called in the from the Yellow Pages you know a babysitter outfits that are um again must have some kind of licensing or whatnot and uh just had them I mean what I did was I had a babysitter during the service you know and and um anybody who had children could just you know take the child to the nursery and I had somebody there everybody I knew was going to be at the wedding so I knew I had to find somebody I didn't know to do that
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] um and it worked out okay I didn't know that there were services that you just called the Yellow Pages and uh there's babysitters are us or something and you say please I need one you know oh yeah no problem we'll send you out one
[speaker001:] great uh-huh do you have any idea what uh what the regular uh uh services cost like La Petite or Kinder Care
[speaker002:] uh I thought I checked into it one time just pre planning and it can run like a hundred dollars a week I think my friend who now has a uh uh a two and a half year old she spends about fifty to sixty dollars per week for him so I think it's anywhere from like fifty to a hundred depending on the place you take
[speaker001:] I guess you have to weigh the financial benefit of having somebody else take care of your kids if uh the working wife can uh make uh more than enough to handle that expense I guess it's worthwhile
[speaker002:] yeah yeah it gets to be kind of expensive and I think you know some of the woman do uh weigh that um we've had some that have had their children and not come back so it just depends I think uh well we have one now who um is is part time she works half days well actually we have two one paralegal and one secretary and one attorney each have very young children and now they are part timing it is kind of like a test to see how this will work to have these people work part time
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh depending on the responsibilities that we're giving them and to see how that will workout because they all want to you know still have a little income to help out financially but they want to spend time with their children so they're part timers
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and it for the one that's working with me it's working uh very well I don't have any problem with that I have one that's um helping me out at um for the litigation we're doing and she's there uh three days a week and this that seems to be fine I can handle that very well with her being there only half time
[speaker001:] uh-huh I know some woman who are very career minded as soon as they have their kids they're back at work the next week but
[speaker002:] next week
[speaker001:] yeah pretty much so but other other than that I know some also who's claim is that after they have their kids or started having kids they're going to quit their job and uh dedicate their time to raising the kids right according in in putting it in their words
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] and staying at home so I don't know I guess each way has it's advantages
[speaker002:] yeah well it's whatever they feel comfortable with you know basically whatever they feel best and there's probably some women who may not do their child any good being there all the time because you know they they they can't uh quite see themselves you know dedicated that much maybe they want to work a little bit whatever it is maybe they should think about do you really want a child or not
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah good question
[speaker002:] and maybe again you know their their you know their ideas change once the baby is there they go oh well you know now I like this a lot more than I thought I would
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but uh Cathlene the part timer she says you know she just doesn't she she's always one of these workaholic kind of people and she just really can't sit still enough to just be home with the baby she has to have you know something else she's always been one who's put in you know like the fifty to sixty hour work week and after she had the baby she was coming back in to check her office and to check her in box you know like ten days later she was back in and we were like Cathlene you got two months off you know you don't have to be back in there she's just always back in there and she's a she she just finds it very hard to um you know tone that down even though she's a part timer she still will put in time on Saturday
[speaker001:] uh-huh