If you are a single parent who happens to have a job which requires you to work extra long hours, then you appreciate the difficulty that is involved in making sure your school-age children are well taken care of. You might not be able to be around after school because of the demands of work, but that does not mean that you have to let them suffer. In fact, there are lots of ways that you can help them and make their schooling and educational environment all the more welcoming. Here are a few things to try out and see how they fit into your busy schedule.

Investigate After School Programs

One of the big problems you are going to have to deal with is what to do with your children once school is done. One of the best things you can do is look into after school programs. These are perfectly suited to help you out in your special situation. You can find after school programs that are geared towards athletics, such as swimming or gymnastics, or you could choose one that is more geared towards intellectual purists such as music, chess, or even a tutoring program if your child needs help. Many of these programs will also offer people who can assist with homework, which is great if you are someone who really doesn't have the time to help with that once you come home.

Friends, Family, and Other Parents

If you don't have access to an after school program, then you can always look to other parents, friends, or family to help. This is a communal way to try and deal with the problem of latch key kids. If there is an after school program, but it still lets out a bit too early, you might look to working with another parent who has a kid in the program to help watch your kid in the meantime. You could offer to pay them, because it might not be appropriate to ask them to do it for free .Of course, if you have family, you could also look to them for help.

Online Parent Teacher Conferences

There is still the problem of an after school conference. These are important because you want to know what is going in your child's academic life. If you just delegate this to someone else, you will be out of the loop and that's not a situation that you want to be in. So, the solution is to look into an online, web scheduling for parent teacher conferences service that will allow you to meet with the teacher via cyberspace. This way, you can simply close the office door at work, and connect with the teacher and they, from the comfort of their classroom or office, can meet with you during hours that are appropriate to them.

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