https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 09 May 2026 16:14:32 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817973 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:18:22 +0000 Foodnerd81 2817973@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we have a pretty decent village in terms of support, but not so much in terms of regular childcare. I have plenty of people who would happily shift things around and go out of their way to help us in an emergency, which I consider a blessing, but I wouldn’t ask people to do it regularly. </p> <p>Our families are mostly pretty far but would come help with advance notice- like my mom is a teacher and will drive up the five hours and stay and help me with the kids when DH is traveling for a week, but she couldn’t come help because I was sick with the flu and DH was away. BIl and SIL are about an hour away but will come and watch one or both kids if we ask- we just try not to impose too much. </p> <p>But our friend village is what saves me. Even if they can’t drop everything to help anytime, they always offer moral support. And I comfortable have several local friends who I put as emergency contacts who I know would drop everything and come pick up my kids or whatever if something happened. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817972 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:15:03 +0000 agold 2817972@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a great village since I live in the same town in which my husband and I both grew up. We've gotten by without any paid child care using me, my husband, my mom, my sister and my MIL. But we actually feel very spread thin. With #2 coming in a couple of weeks, we will be needing a nanny twice a week. We also want to start using a paid babysitter for things like golf and other fun stuff we want to do, but feel bad asking our family, since we rely on them so much for necessary stuff. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817966 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:00:18 +0000 smuckers 2817966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we probably have a decent village, but not as good as I'd like it to be. DH is a SAHD, I WOH. Both sets of our parents live within 20 minutes of us. My parents will take DD overnight every now and then, in addition to at least weekly visits. They're also super super busy, though, so I don't like asking for overnights more than once every other month. DH's parents help him during the week when he's feeling burnt out / tired, and would come over to wach her any time I asked. We don't have her spend the night there because FIL smokes, though, and they don't like driving after dark, so they don't generally watch her in the evenings. </p> <p>I have a few mom friends, but all live a minimum of 1 hour away, so we just don't see each other a lot. Most of DH's friends are coupled without children. I REALLY wish I had more mom friends, and I REALLY wish DH had more (read: any) dad friends.</p> <p>If it came down to it and DD was sick, I would be the one who would be with her. DH is an amazing, fantastic dad, but can struggle when dealing with stress (especially related to myself or the baby). It's not ideal, but it's fine for now. Admittedly, I'm also a bit of a control freak who would WANT to be home in that scenario. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817963 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:46:12 +0000 Adira 2817963@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Does daycare count as part of your village??</p> <p>Hubs and I both work outside of home 40+ hours a week. We send the kids to daycare full-time. I go into work super early so I can pick them up. Hubs goes into work late in order to drop them off. Our daycare is rarely closed, except major holidays, that we also have off from work. Occasionally they are closed additional days, and Hubs and I will take turns staying home with them. When they are sick, one of us has to stay home with them, but we both have fairly flexible jobs that don't give us grief about it.</p> <p>Xander is starting Kindergarten in the fall. While Logan is going to daycare, Xander will go to the same daycare the days the school is closed. Once Logan enters school, we'll utilize the YMCA's Summer Program for summer care. I'll also be drastically changing my schedule to go into work even earlier (and Hubs will go into work even later) to accommodate the school hours.</p> <p>And very occasionally my parents will babysit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817960 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:39:01 +0000 Mrs. Carrot 2817960@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is probably our #1 issue right now, not having a village. Our parents are 5 hours away and work, so while my mom does take our daughter for a week here and there, she's not someone we can use for regular help, and my in laws are not in good enough health to be with her on our own. My BIL and his fiance live about 45 minutes away but as a young couple, we don't see them much. We live in a condo building with a high immigrant community that's very tightly knit, so we haven't made many friends/connections here, being outside that community, and are actually trying to sell right now to move into more of a diverse neighborhood that will hopefully let us build up more of a community as our daughter starts kindergarten in August. We had a few family friends that we made, but all have recently moved elsewhere (very common for the DC area, unfortunately, which makes it even harder to build a community here), and our immediate personal friends are all mostly single. So yeah, this is a tough area for us. We literally had no one to put down as emergency contacts except my BIL, when we were registering for kindergarten. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817938 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:55:00 +0000 petitenoisette 2817938@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a good familial village but a non-existent friend one in the sense of friends that can help out with our kids. My parents watch our LOs twice a week and are available to help other times though we rarely ask since they already do the weekly childcare. Then I have two siblings nearby, one has three kids of her own but has been able to help in a pinch and was on call for my recent LOs birth. The other is younger and we really need to get on asking him and his gf to babysit bc they totally will but we’ve never asked in the three years since my older daughter was born! </p> <p>For friends, we’ve yet to make any friends in the town we moved to 4 years ago :bummed: We’re friendly with some neighbors and I’m sure as our kids get bigger we will be forced to socialize as kids want to play together. But I find it so hard to go out of my way to establish a friendship, as in I just won’t do it. My DH and I are generally just too content doing our own family thing. </p> <p>We have other friends just not local and most I would never think to ask for help from since we have family. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817919 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:21:58 +0000 DesertDreams88 2817919@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DH and I both WOH. We work 7-3 and 8-5 as teachers, and we don't bring work home during the week. Unfortunately, we each have about 5-6 hours of school stuff to do on the weekend, and DH has 2 other side jobs (teaching don't pay, yo!) on the weekend, with flex hours (WAH).</p> <p>My in-laws take care of LO1 40 hours a week, and do 2-3 "chores" a day - mainly unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming, and taking care of kid laundry. </p> <p>Other than that, we are very close with most people in our small church. We meet 1-2x a week with friends from church, and 90% of them have kids age 10 and under. It is great to have a network of families who understand, and all have different perspectives and styles. Lots of playmates for LO1.</p> <p>Lastly, within the church, I have a core group of 3 other toddler moms that I meet with weekly, and we trade babysitting and just share life together via group text and alternating nights - the ladies get together one week for prayer and talking, and the men do the next week.</p> <p>As an example, I had a bad week last week, between lonlieness on maternity leave and DH bring sick/cranky. I texted my 3 friends about it and within 2 hours I had 2 offers of childcare, offer of side job help, 2 offers of meals, and an invite to come over and just hang out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817889 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:17:11 +0000 kayla0416 2817889@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have an awesome family village! My husband and I both WOH full-time, and he travels out of state for work about 30-60% of the time, depending on time of year. My parents, brother and SIL and their son (same age as my older daughter), and two other single brothers (one engaged) all live in the same metro area, within a 20 minute drive of each other. </p> <p>My parents are a huge help - both still work, but are able to help with sick days and date nights sometimes. Last winter, my older DD had 5 ear infections in 4 months, then got tubes, so she was home sick a LOT. I had just started a new job about a month before that started happening, so had little sick time. My parents stayed home with her as much or more than I did. </p> <p>My brothers aren't a huge help with the kids, but we hang out with them a lot - get together at our parents or our houses at least a couple times a month. It's nice to have that social aspect, as I'm not a very social person! </p> <p>We live in a young, growing town, so there's a ton of kids in the area. We're new to town and haven't made many friends yet, but I anticipate that happening as our kids get older and are in school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817874 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:28:52 +0000 Mrs D 2817874@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I'm trying to get DH to see the light with neighbors. Our neighbors husbands are so nice and chill - DH is just not as outgoing and social as me, so it will take longer for him. I have been trying to explain that its just invaluable to have the resource...when I am home alone with the kids and they go bonkers...ok lets go outside and see who's around to play. Plus - in an emergency being able to run over and knock on the door is huge. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817869 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:16:41 +0000 looch 2817869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs D: Yes to the neighbors as the biggest area of improvement. We have several neighbors with young kids and I can easily arrange to have my son over there or the other family to my home as needed. Working on expanding it even further, but that will take some work as we're not going to the local school.</p> <p>That's also my other component, school families. There's a group that I call my sister wives and basically, if I needed one of them to grab my son, the administration wouldn't even question it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817861 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:07:09 +0000 snowjewelz 2817861@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd say we have a pretty good village. My mom already helps with childcare. My parents (if not busy) are always willing to help extra on weekends too. My in-laws are further away (only half an hour away but they don't drive), but his mom has stepped in and stayed over when my parents went away; and they're always up to help on weekends as long as we can transport them or the kids. </p> <p>BUT we try not to "abuse" our village. We really just use them for what we need and try not to ask extra. </p> <p>I WOH FT. DH sort of works for himself, essentially WFH but with lots of meetings and nights and weekends. </p> <p>So sick kids automatically is DH and/or my mom first, and then I'd take off if they are not available. Our kids are still in daycare so we don't have all the long breaks yet. So far again, I plan it out where I usually take off and we spend the day as family day, or my mom would help DH. </p> <p>It's def gonna be a a headache once public school starts! </p> <p>So in conclusion our main village is family. We have lots of friends but they're all starting to have kids. But our church family is definitely our village too where we'd for sure help one another out without question. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817859 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:00:37 +0000 Mrs D 2817859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our village has been a work in progress, but I feel like we are getting somewhere!</p> <p>*Family - we have lots of family nearby. My ILs are the closest (15 mins away) but FIL travels often for work, MIL has to be asked (never offers anything) and they are gone 4 months to Florida. Also - they are not able to do overnights. My dad is about 20 mins away, he's very willing to help but is just now comfortable solo with both girls. He's also gone 4-5 months a year between Florida and Up North. My mom is the best - she can be trusted in any scenario and needs little direction. The only problems are 1) she is the furthers (45 mins - I dont like her doing the drive at night), 2) she watches my nephew often which burns her out and 3) she is gone to Florida about 3 months a year and travels a lot otherwise.</p> <p>*Friends: I have been going out of my way to make friends and build relationships with the moms at daycare. Luckily my kids seem to pick the kids with the best parents to be close with. We are close enough with 2 families now that they are emergency contacts/pick ups for both girls. I have also made good friends with a teacher at the school, who is also our sitter (soon to be our PM nanny). They all have busy lives of their own - so its not exactly that they can help with day to day stuff but I know in an emergency they would have my back.</p> <p>*Neighbors: This has been our biggest improvement. Our neighborhood has seen a huge transformation recently - lots of young families moving in. We have built real solid relationships with the 2-3 families we got along with best (who happen to live closest to us) which is great. Lots of random outdoor play dates, mom/grown up time, wine nights...it all makes the tough job of parenting easier. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817858 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:59:52 +0000 Truth Bombs 2817858@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm really fortunate to have a big village. I've never really understood the idea that friends who also have small kids can't help at all. I have a group of 6 mom friends and we constantly help with each other's kids. Picking up from school if someone is stuck at work, babysitting for date nights, helping cover random off days from school, we happily do it all for each other! My husband and I both WOH the home and our families are a plane ride away so having reliable friends as a village is a necessity for us. My parents will also fly in to cover any time we ask them to, but obviously that doesn't work for unexpected sick days, etc. For those days we usually take turns staying home. We are both able to work from home and have understanding employers so that makes it easier. We also use a teacher from our school as a babysitter. Every time she comes she brings one or two of her elementary school age children whom my kids ADORE. They are at our house probably 2-3 times a month while my husband and I go on a date or out with friends. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817850 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:28:08 +0000 skinnycow 2817850@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We both WOH and we are very lucky to have a large village. My parents, my in-laws, my sister and brother-in-law, and brother and sister-in-law.</p> <p>All of these people have helped us out in the past. Usually it's just watching our daughter for an occasional date night but they have been wonderful in emergency situations as well. We don't generally lean on them for sick days - DH and I both have fairly flexible jobs so we alternate taking days off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817846 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:23:35 +0000 Becky 2817846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a very strong village. We moved to where we are because I knew I couldn’t personally do it without being by family. I grew up without that village and when I saw how my college friends would go home and be able to see their parents, grandparents, and cousins all at once it seemed so nice. I’m introverted and have a hard time making friends. I do think that if you live in an area where most people are transplants, not having a village in the family sense is easier. Most parents I know in my area grew up in the area and their kids are now going to school with kids of parents they grew up with. For those who are transplants it seems harder, possibly because they see how much help the rest of us have. If it wasn’t so in your face I think maybe that would be easier. Few of my friends and classmates growing up had that village—most were transplants—so it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time but I know it was very hard for my parents even though they had pretty regular schedules (teachers/nurses/nurse instructor over the years). Having reliable and flexible childcare was an absolute necessity. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817842 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:13:14 +0000 looch 2817842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Are we defining a village as family members? I feel like my village is a big mix of people, some are family, some are friends, others are paid professionals. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817836 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 07:29:09 +0000 irene 2817836@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would give my village a C :</p> <p>CONS<br /> - Our parents do not even live in the same country, and even if they do, I won't count on them to help. One big reason is DS solely speaks in English while our parents don't.</p> <p>- DH is only helpful when he feels like it. </p> <p>- DH also travels quite a bit for work so I am usually solo parenting, which I am actually ok with.</p> <p>- I am 99% the sole responder when DS is sick, school holidays, snow days, early pick ups...etc. This causes me to not being able to have a full full-time job as I am faking it as a SAHM whenever needed. DH steps in in case if I were dying in a hospital lol. </p> <p>- We used to have a pretty good set up, where our neighbor's au pair helps babysit, and when she is not available her friend (also another au pair) will help. But our neighbor's au pair moved back home :sad: Now we have no one. It is hard for DH to trust anyone to be at our home with DS, so in a way I gave up trying to find someone else unless there is a pressing reason.</p> <p>- There seems to be a fall out with my best mom friend. Our boys used to be best friends and we have play dates almost every other week. Now they are older, they have their own schedules, friends from school, new friends, which leaves us very little to no time to see each other. She used to be a big support for me as a mom, but now we haven't talked for a while.</p> <p>PROS<br /> my work is pretty flexible so I can always make up work after DS goes to bed, if needed. Our pediatrician is also very responsive with a nurse line, and we live right next to the Kid's ER lol. I feel covered in case of medical emergencies. I am also thankful that DS is pretty self sufficient. Having only one child also helps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817828 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 03:27:12 +0000 ElbieKay 2817828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My parents live 45 mins away and have watched my 4yo two afternoon per week since my maternity leave ended. They also help out sometimes on sick days. My husband or I usually still have to wfh on sick days because they can't get here in time for our commute but it is often feasible (though not ideal) for us to do that with our jobs. They also take our son for a night over the weekend every once in awhile.</p> <p>We have a part time after school sitter, and that is usually who we depend on for snow days. We try to limit hiring to people who are local enough to get here in the snow. (Our last sitter was about a six block walk from us!)</p> <p>However.</p> <p>We are expecting twins. I have no idea how any of this will scale. My parents are both turning 72 this year. I think two infants plus a four year old might be a bit much for them to handle. In fact I think they may be a bit much for my husband and I to handle!</p> <p>We are planning to keep my parents focused on our 4yo and also keep his after school sitter schedule. We will hire separate, full time care for the babies once I go back to work.</p> <p>Hopefully whoever we hire as a nanny will have a teflon-like immune system and can help with sick days. It is going to be a zoo in our apartment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817826 Mon, 23 Apr 2018 00:24:01 +0000 Littlebit7 2817826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I pay for my village lol. But seriously. We have no family nearby. Most of our local friends have kids of their own and a spouse (or both spouses) work. So while we help by loaning gear,<br /> doing play dates, it’s not the really helpful type of shared help. So I pay for the village. Housekeeper, part time nanny (that I employ for both my 3 yo and 3 mo; it used to be while I was at work part time but I’ve since quit after having my second. So the nanny mainly takes the older one so I have some 1:1 time with the baby). We also put the older one in a few hours of a local 2.5a program. My husband travels Sunday-Friday out of the country so I take all the help I can get.<br /> My parents come a few times a year and they also watched the one kiddo so we could take a week long trip. The in laws come less often. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817814 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 21:19:14 +0000 Hypatia 2817814@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We moved to a new town six months ago. Zero village, zero family. It's hard meeting new people, especially when you aren't religious (church is the primary method of socializing around here). </p> <p>There's a small school that meets one day per week 45 minutes from here, and I'm considering enrolling my daughter there next year so we can meet more people. We homeschool, so we feel particularly isolated. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817813 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:48:45 +0000 gestalt 2817813@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My husband and i have flexible jobs and understanding employers, so if we have a sick kid, we split the day (am/pm) or days if it's the flu.</p> <p>We have zero family nearby and are pretty much on our own. But we are extremely lucky to have become great friends with our neighbours who are always offering to help out when one of us is traveling for work. I have become friends with parents at my kid's school, many of whom are working moms and just understand how bad things can get. They have helped with carpooling and providing contacts for reliable babysitters!</p> <p>It's been a lot of work trying to meet people and make friends in a new city, but i love my support system. We do not use it often, as we don't like to bother or inconvenience friends, but it's not as stressful when you know you have people to turn to when you're in a bind. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817811 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:20:11 +0000 autumnleaves 2817811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I feel like I don't have a village - like if my child is sick and my husband can't miss school, I need to stay home and I can't travel for work because of that BUT really my work family is my village because they get that kids get sick, we get sick, home issues arise, etc and they let me take the time off that I need to, to take care of that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817810 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:19:00 +0000 Ms.Mermaid 2817810@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My parents are about 45 minutes away but my mom is in assisted living with advanced Alzheimer's, so my parents aren't exactly a help. My dad tries but he is so burned out from taking care of my mom day in and day out for 7 years that he isn't really up to taking care of a three year old. My sister lives near my parents and we strive to be support for each other that my parents can't be. Our kids are close in age and get along, so now we are at a point where one of us can handle all three kids at once. We try to travel together, because it makes everything much easier and more fun. </p> <p>My in-laws are about 2.5 hours away. We actually moved recently to a bigger house so that we had space for guests to come and stay and we've had them come and stay a couple of times. They pick our DD up from daycare which is so nice as its just a break from the usual. We've never asked them to come down for sick days, etc. but I did ask them to come down once when I was going out of town and my husband had been home all week with our sick kid and I thought he needed a break. They've offered when we've had issues with our childcare but we've been able to figure things out. </p> <p>We live in an urban area and have undertaken to befriend the other parents from our daycare and to meet other families in our neighborhood. We have an active local Fit4Mom chapter and I have met a lot of moms that way. We then got invited to a babysitting coop, which has been a fantastic way of building a village - we have regular social gatherings (so the kids feel comfortable being left with the other parents) and it allows for us to be able to do date nights and sometimes just have somebody watch our kid so we can take care of chores, etc. We also have a few child-free friends who we try to see regularly and spend time with because they are often the most available in a pinch to help us with childcare or other bizarre favors (like changing our flat tire when somebody punctured it while we were on vacation.)</p> <p>We both work full time out of the house, pretty regular schedules of 8:30-5:30/ish and I've always been lucky to have jobs with generous sick time, though inflexible hours. On sick days we usually alternate who stays home depending on schedules, and I recently changed jobs to a non-litigation position where I can more easily take a day off if needed. I have always tried to work for people who understand the needs of people with kids, which helps a lot. My husband's old job would never have understood the sick day thing so I encouraged him to change jobs for that and many many other reasons before we started TTC our first. In some ways our jobs and coworkers are part of our village - I always try to do favors for and offer to cover for coworkers because they will do the same for me if I need them to handle a court case for me, etc. </p> <p>The bottom line is I invest heavily in my relationships with non-family members and it has paid serious dividends in helping us build our village. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817807 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:08:07 +0000 LCTBQE 2817807@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No, it doesn't take a village. </p> <p>We both WOH 50 hours a week and commute 10 hours a week. Family and siblings/cousins are all across the country, my parents and MIL are unfortunately not trustworthy for any kind of childcare or help, my FIL is amazing but not here and is getting older. Friends are great but mostly in the same boat and everyone works long hours and is already overextended, too. Work has been okay about sick/snow days but I am the only person on my (large) team with kids (hello NYC) so I do feel like it looks bad when I'm out. I wish I had a super amazing local mom in my back pocket but we are making it work :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817806 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 19:56:07 +0000 superkate 2817806@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Almost no village. My family lives across the country and DH's is 2.5-3 hours away. I travel a bit for work and work a lot of nights/weekends and DH is finishing his master's so he has class one weekend every month, but we make it work. If we know a month or two in advance my in-laws or mom can come in for a weekend if we need them. Otherwise we use sitters or a close friend to watch DS in a pinch. </p> <p>Despite the travel and long hours, my job is actually very accommodating if when DS is sick. I stayed home with him an entire week last month and it wasn't a big deal. DH's job is a little less accommodating but he can leave if I cannot. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817804 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 19:52:28 +0000 wrkbrk 2817804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have lots of friends with small kids like us which is awesome but no real help (although I’m sure in an emergency they would do whatever they could). That being said DW and I are lucky enough to have very flexible jobs so if DS is ever sick or daycare is closed for a staff day one of us can always stay home with him. For date nights we hire his daycare teacher about quarterly! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817802 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 19:26:49 +0000 Mamatimes3 2817802@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We both WOH and our village consists of my mom (lives with me), my sister, niece and nephew. I am very lucky! We have 3 and the help is awesome. Especially since my husband works a shift schedule including nights. My mom takes care of my kids if they are sick and picks them up after school for me. If she is busy, my sister and her kids are back up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817797 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 18:35:45 +0000 ALV91711 2817797@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We both WOH and our village is pretty non existent. With #2 on the way we need to work in this. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817796 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 18:21:07 +0000 yellowbeach 2817796@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our village is small but it works (so far). DH and I both WOH at the same place. Not necessarily the exact same schedule. We send DD (14 mo) to the daycare at the hospital where we both work. It's open 6am-midnight 364 days/year, so if we plan ahead we have coverage whenever we need to work. </p> <p>Tricky time is if DD is sick and gets sent home from daycare. Both my parents and his mom are about 2 hours away driving. They come in a heartbeat if it's something serious, but the delay isn't always ideal. </p> <p>We live in an urban area with 100 year old row houses and happen to have about 20 kids ages 14mo-10 years on our block with two more on the way. Neighborhood is pretty ideal. We've had some of our retiree neighbors watch DD once or twice for a date night out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/it-takes-a-village-right#post-2817790 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 16:29:41 +0000 Ajsmommy 2817790@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think our village could use some improvement. Specifically in the area of families in our neighborhood with kids same age. </p> <p>Right now it's basically me, dh, dhs parents (who are 45 mins away), sil and my mom who is a flight away but will come in when needed.</p> <p>For sick days I tend to take off. Luckily though our kiddos don't get sick often. If it's longer than two days then I'd try to get dh to take the third. As for scheduled holidays or daycare days off we will ask dhs parents and sil of either of them can do it unless myself or dh is off. </p> <p>If daycare is closed for a week or more we'll ask My mom.</p> <p>We're planning to move in the next year so I'm hopeful we'll have some neighbors in the new place w kids in similar age and maybe we can add to our village </p>