Posts Tagged ‘Childcare’

Working at home during naps sounds so easy–until you actually try it. Yes, I too thought my newborn baby might sleep in a basket under my desk, waking up for storytime and hugs before drifting peacefully back to sleep again when I needed to meet a deadline.

Ha, ha, and also, ha. Nothing is as tough on a work schedule as a small child, who, awake or asleep, has you hopping, and it’s tough to get work done when you’re fetching milk, Play-Doh, and the remote control so an episode of Dragon Tales will give you some sweet, sweet relief.

Down in Menlo Park, however, at least one group of enterprising parents has found a solution: Cubes&Crayons brings together rent-able shared office spaces with onsite childcare. Opened in January of 2008, Cubes&Crayons offers a variety of care packages: You can rent a space by the month or by the year, full-time or a specified number of hours a week, bringing infants or children all or part of the time you’re there. You can buy drop-in day passes or half-day passes, with or without childcare; with childcare and a shared office, rates run about $20 an hour, just $5 more than the Bay Area’s going nanny hourly rate. Working 10 hours a week with childcare will run you about $600 a month.

Cubes&Crayons has proved so popular in the South Bay that they’re headed north. The San Francisco office is in its planning stages right now and seeking investors and early adopters. Got a question? Contact Felicity at felicity@cubesand crayons.com.

The Menlo Park location of Cubes&Crayons is located at 1122 Crane Street (at Santa Cruz Avenue), Menlo Park, 650-323-2551, cubesandcrayons.com. The Menlo Park mothership also has a nice blog, with profiles of members and information on other activities going on at the branch, like yoga classes and date nights.

With all the other things you have to do in a day, “nail care” hovers on the to-do list somewhere between “clean out closets” and “plan funeral arrangements.” Who has the time to keep nails spiffy when you’re so busy taking care of the myriad body parts of assorted children?

Now that Mani + Nanny has opened in San Francisco, you may find yourself making the time. The Pacific Heights nail studio’s gig is reasonably priced childcare while Mama or Dad relaxes and gets some nail maintenance. Manicures (regular or French) and pedicures run $8-35, and childcare in the clean, pleasant, well-stocked playroom is just $10 for your first child aged 6 weeks to 6 years and $5 for a second child for the duration of your services. And don’t get all freaky about bringing your infant into a toxin-filled salon: All the lotions and unguents used are paraben-, toleuene-, and formaldehyde-free. So come on in and breathe deeply.

“There are so many things in San Francisco that you can do for your child, but so few that you can do for yourself while your child is cared for,” says Mani + Nanny owner Stacey Isaacs, who left the corporate world to open her own business after giving birth to her 13-month-old son. “It’s so great to see the moms sitting and relaxing with their hands free!”

Amen, Stacey.

Mani + Nanny is located at 1722-1724 Divisadero Street (between Bush and Sutter Streets), San Francisco. Call 415.673.MANI (6264) or visit maniandnanny.com.

A night out looks a lot pricier from this side of the baby divide. Even if you only have one sprout, most babysitter charge upwards of $15 an hour. Add that to the cost of dinner and a movie and date night starts to empty Junior’s college fund.

A better option, for those whose kids have left the pull-up stage: San Francisco Gymnastics’ Parents Night Out, a bi-monthly party for kids age 41/2 and up. Parents drop the tot at 5:30 or 6pm (depending on if it’s a Friday or Saturday) and race off to enjoy themselves, while kids are stuffing their faces with pizza, playing games, navigating obstacle courses around the gym, and watching a movie. According to one savvy mom I know, most kids bring their pajamas and a sleeping bag for the movie portion of the evening, and by the time parents return at 9:30 or 10pm the kids are exhausted, pliable, and ready to fall asleep like a lil angel in the car. The best part? Parents Night Out is just $25 for singleton kids, $20 for each sibling.

Find out more at sanfranciscogymnastics.com.