Having to turn to her senior in-laws for child care was the last straw for Christie Man.
The mother-of-two has spent the last month frantically trying to find before-and-after-school care and daycare for her two daughters.
The situation was especially disheartening, she said, because her eldest daughter, who is starting kindergarten next September, is already enroled at a preschool in New Westminster that offers a before-and-after-school program, Man told the Record.
“So even though she’s enrolled there for preschool, and they knew she was going to kindergarten, there was an additional waiting list for that,” she said. “I was under the assumption they would take her; silly me though.”
What’s more, Man’s younger daughter, who will need two to three days of child care a week come September didn’t make the cut for the preschool program her sister currently attends.
“We were hoping for the same child-care place, but there isn’t room for her either. I actually thought she would be grandfathered in because she needed the days, (her sister) would be going to kindergarten and my younger one would just kind of slip in there, but no,” Man said.
With both kids out of luck come September, Man, who works three days a week, will have to turn to her mother and in-laws for help watching the children when she is at work.
“I didn’t want to ask my in-laws because they’re close to their 80s,” she said, “but now I have to do that because I have no out-of-school care.”
Fed up with the whole situation, Man contacted Judy Darcy, NDP incumbent candidate in New Westminster, who helped guide her through the planning of a rally to draw attention to the lack of child-care spaces and the NDP’s campaign for $10-a-day daycare. The event – dubbed a stroller brigade – is planned for Saturday, April 29.
“I know some people who are not voting NDP but are going to come to raise awareness about child care,” Man said when asked if the event was aimed at NDP supporters.
She and another parent will lead the stroller brigade from Hume Park through Sapperton to the Pensioners’ Hall. Everyone is welcome, Man added.
The event gets underway at 10:30 a.m. at Hume Park. For more information, click here.
