The daily schedules that don't match

In our county the school system decided to stagger start times to help prevent additional traffic woes in the morning. For our family, this means that our son's school day starts and ends much later than school did when I was little.

On the one hand, this is a good thing: My son can sleep in a bit and wake up naturally (in fact, he is still asleep as I write this); there is little need for us to rush around in the morning; and traffic isn't snarled throughout our area. But on the other hand, it still means that I have to adjust my working schedule to accommodate the time he is in school - working a bit at home in the morning, take him into school at 9 am, commute into the office.

And almost every day I think that I am so lucky to work in a job that lets me make those adjustments. Because so many other working parents can't make the school times work for their schedules.

I've often wondered if schools will ever adjust their start and end times to meet working parents' needs. After all, around half of all families with school-age children have two parents that are working. It looks like some communities have been toying with ways to extend the school day - but there is always a cost to be considered.

I know that more changes to our daily schedules are coming. After all, my son won't be in elementary school forever, and when he moves on to middle school, our schedules will need to adjust as well.

Have you needed to adjust your working schedule to your child's school schedule? Tell me how in the comments.