eek what should I do?

[heliana]

Hi! Would love some advice with a bit of a dillema that im having.
I start back at Uni next week, and my daughters childcare hasn't yet been able to change one of her days to the one I need for this semester. So she goes monday and wednesday. And I need Tuesday (my mum minds her the other days).
So I've been counting on the day coming up - didn't think it would be so hard to change, but suddenly Ive realised that Its probably not going to come up, especially not by next week.
So now Im not sure what to do.
Should I look around for another childcare?
I am fairly happy with her current one though. It could be better, but it took me 3 months to find a vacancy that I was happy with in the first place (Im pretty fussy). But she now goes on two days that Im actually at home. I sort of need one for study, but not really two.
Also I don't really want her to have an extra full day at cc, unless it was somewhere that I really loved.
And I have about zilch time to find somewhere if I do start looking. If I did find somewhere, she would have to be going an extra day to start with at least.
My plan at the moment is to ring up her current childcare on the tUesday morning and see if they have anyone away and my mum can drop her down. But if they don't I will have to come home and get her and take her to my afternoon tute.
Anyway, this probably makes no sense because Im really sleep deprived today crazy night! but hopefully It would help me decide what to do if anyone has any advice they could offer.
For some reason I just don't want to pick up the phone and start ringing places.
Im in Morningside, Brisbane by the way if anyone just happens to know of a great childcare centre I could ring.

[Rivlas]

Does the Uni have a childcare centre or one nearby. Give the Uni a ring to find out. If it's only for 1 day a week this might work.
Make sure you let your current centre know that if a vacancy comes up on Tuesday morning you want it before it is offered to anyone else.
All the best finding somewhere.

[Spring Angel]

Sometimes our centre has 'play up' days. That is where the children who are almost old enough to go to the next room spend the day in there thus leaving a vacancy in the younger room.

They did it once to help me out when I was sick and DH was away and I needed to put DS in for an extra day so I could rest. Of course it depends on whether there is room in the older kids room.

Might be a good temporary solution and help you out in the short term.

[heliana]

Thanks. I think I'll call her centre now and just confirm Im still looking, but I think they have asked everyone, but anyway can't hurt to ring again.
The uni doesn't have a childcare, although there is one close. I haven't checked it out before because its a fair way away from my house but I suppose for the short term it would be ok.
I can't drop a day at her current cc though, its a minimum of 2 days. And if I add the tuesday somewhere else, the only day I have left with her is Sunday. Well I have partial days but you know what I mean.
Anyway, Ta Ill give them a ring.

[luna moth]

I forget what uni you're at - some unis have affiliations with certain centres, like UQ staff get priority at the PA Hospital centre (which is not that far, and may have spaces, being fairly new?)

[MantaRay]

Oh no, how stressful for you. One thing you can try is to ring some local centres and see if anyone even has a child away for a couple of weeks to buy you some time. Our centre in Coorparoo nearly always has a "one-off" vacancy for at least 3 days a week. It's a great centre too, PM me if you want the name.

The other thing you can try is Family Day Care. There are few local organisations - from memory there's a Morningside one, a Bulimba one, a Wynnum one and I think one other one. One of them might have a space, especially if it is only temporary. Some families save spaces for school children during holidays, so can take an extra child during the term. It could be worth a try.

It might take some calling around, but I would think you would have a fairly good chance of getting a temp spot until your day care can change your days. GL.

[heliana]

thanks MantaRay, thats a great idea.
I have pm'd you (I think )

[luna moth]

east brisbane community centre do FDC too. I know you called them before, but worth doing again.

[heliana]

Thanks Snugglybean, I've heard good things about them. Will give them another try on Monday.

[Karina]

I would also suggest Family Day Care. I am also a uni student (studying nursing) and my uni is really slow at telling us when our clinical placements are, which leaves a short amount of time to organise care for the full week. Anyway, when I finally got my prac dates 2 weeks before the actual prac started, I called Family Day Care in my area and they put me in touch with a lovely lady who had vacancies on the exact days I was looking for. I ende dup just using the days for when I had my prac, but I could have had it as an ongoing booking. I think a lot of councils run the family day care. My council doesnt, it is done by a private organisation.

Also, my uni has a childcare centre run by the uni. Its actually on the same block as the uni and they give preference to students who had children.

Some childcare centres are a bit strict on what day they will let you have if your child is only going to be there one day a week. I needed a thursday only, and a couple of the places I called wouldnt let me have it because they only did monday or friday , if she was only going to be there one day a week.

eta: just wanted to also make another suggestion that could be possible maybe? My uni has 2 campuses nearby and they both offer my course. When I couldnt attend a friday class due to childcare issues, I asked them if I could attend the same class but at the other campus which runs that class on a tuesday.. they said I could. Is that something that might be possible at your uni? I'm surprised you didnt get your classes earlier though - thats a bit unfair for people who have to organise childcare. I had to choose all of my classes for semester 1 and 2 in january, and the uni actually sets up the class timeatbles in such a way that its unlikely your days will change between the semesters.

Hope you can find something!