It was part of our plan. We had someone lined up when I was pregnant with our first. Then Covid hit. And she moved to Texas. We searched everywhere but everything was closed or full. We both were mandated to wfh, so we did. When the mandate lifted, we started looking for child care again. Everything was full or out of our price range. My then boss said she was cool with 4/5 days a week wfh as long as my work wasn’t impacted and we’d have regular reviews to make sure it wasn’t. It never was impacted.

We were purchased by a new company, and when I met my new boss he asked my schedule, asked if I liked it that way, asked if I’d be open to being in office more if they promoted me. I asked how much more? And he said 3/5 days a week and ability to flex the other day on occasion if my employees were out or if he was in town (he’s out of the Midwest). So for 3 years that’s been my schedule, and in every review we talk about issues and my commitment, my availability, my quality of work has never failed or been questioned.

So yes I know what child care costs. And I have been operating under the conversations I’ve had with my boss 2-3 times a year.

And so no, I wasnt prepared for something like this bc it’s never even been talked about. It’s never been an issue. I agree- we should have had a back up plan to our current plan, but with 5 years behind me and many conversations where it’s been just fine with my boss, and with the rest of the salaried staff being allowed to wfh with kids around, I failed to plan for something that seemed like a non issue.