Last Minute Drop in Childcare?

There is a "drop-in" daycare in our area. You have to register your child in advance with shot records and stuff, but then no appointment needed, they're open from 7-10, I think. I have never used them, but I have friends who have, and say they are fun and responsible, and make going out so much easier. I don't know if it is a chain or not - it is called Skidaddles or something like that.

What I do is I have a baby-sitter who comes one day a week, every week, from 9-12. I use that time to schedule doctor's appointments (always WAY in advance, since I can only do that one morning), hair cuts, etc. On days I don't have appointments, I can run errands and such. It is such a relief, and I love it more than possibly using Skidaddles because my kids know the sitter and the sitter knows them, so I just feel it's more personal. Of course, my kids are quite little, which makes a difference.

There are definitely places like this. I use a few of them up in the Portland area. If you have to head into Portland for anything, look up Kid's Klubhouse (SW Portland - $6/hour - open from 9am until 10pm or 11pm depending on the day) or The Play Boutique (Lake Oswego & Beaverton - price varies depending on program, hours do as well). I also run all of the childrens programs at a church and once our new education wing is finished, I plan on starting programs just like this, since there is not an option in the church's neighborhood for drop in care - so you may look at churches in your neighborhood. Some regular day care centers offer drop in care as well - however, I've only had to use the drop in care at regular centers for full-day situations (no school days, etc.). Also look into the Community Centers in your area - some offer child care programs - or classes for kids.

Not sure where you are located.. There's a place called The Nest in Woodinville WA

Our metro area has a few of these centers. I've had to use them a couple of times. Once on a weekend for a wedding and once as backup care during the week. Here, the max you can leave them in is 6 hours a day up to 24 hours a week. For my son's age, it is only $4 an hour, but you have to provide or buy one of their snacks if they are there more than a certain length of time. It's great for short visits, since they just let them run around the whole time and there's not much structure. Not something I would want to use every day.

The only problem with that is there is a state requirement overseeing the teacher/child ratio. At my grandsons daycare, you have until 9am to arrive with your child. Then they take a headcount. If there are too many teachers versus not enough children...they will send excess teachers home. This mainly happens during Christmas vacation and Spring break...but possible to happen everyday.

There is a place like that here in one of the big shopping centers. People drop their kids off to do their shopping or whatever, the kids play in this huge indoor park, and I guess its hourly? I've never dropped my kids off there.

There used to be a lot of those type of centers around here when our child was young. I did need to use the twice and they were great.

It was like a big indoor playground. You could give them a wrist band with a dollar amount in case they wanted to eat or have a drink that was something other than water.

At the time they gave out pagers to reach the parents. .

Then there used to be a 24 hour day care here in Austin. It is close to a few hospitals and so I am assuming lots of the workers have their children there. They accept drop ins. I will see if they are still in business if I can find the name and any info on this place and send it to you.

We have at least two that I know of in Seattle. Not that expensive either (I think somewhere around $10 an hour). I have never used them though, I don't know I think it would be very unsettling for my DD to just be dropped of at a strange place from one minute to another...

It's called Mothers Day Out. I have found that Methodist Churches usually are the ones that host this. One of ours is on Tuesday and Thursday from 9-noon. The other church has it 3 days per week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10am-3pm.

They usually have the option of one day to all days. You choose the day then every week you take your child and drop them off and then you go to the store, make your appointments for that day all the time, you go to the beauty shop, shopping, etc...you have a designated day that you can plan on spending doing the things you need to get done that are easier to do without kiddo's.

adventure kids located in Issaquah