I wish I had known about coworking spaces with attached childcare/preschools much sooner in my parenting journey. This community helped me solve a problem I had been stressing over for two years.
I’m a Chicago mom, an on-air contributor on “The Fred Show,” a nationally syndicated morning radio show, and the founder of The Mami Collective, a media platform for ambitious mothers. My workdays aren’t traditional, and they certainly don’t fit into a 9-5 schedule.
My mornings typically start at 4 a.m., and once the show ends at 10 a.m., the rest of my morning is packed with meetings, recordings, and deadlines. Once that’s wrapped up, it’s time to head home to relieve my mother-in-law or sister-in-law of childcare duties. My husband is a fireman for the city of Chicago and has a side gig, so I’ve become the primary caretaker of our 2-year-old daughter every day after work.
For a long time, childcare was the hardest piece to align with our reality. But when I came across a day care and preschool located inside a coworking space, everything shifted.
Traditional day care never worked for my family’s situation
Traditional day care assumes you can arrive by a specific time in the morning. They typically give you a window, and if you miss it, then you’re out of luck.
This kind of set-up works for families with predictable schedules. It doesn’t work when your mornings are spent inside a radio station or when your workday starts earlier than most schools open.
I also didn’t feel fully ready or comfortable dropping my 2-year-old off at day care, where she would spend most of the day without me.
A coworking space with a day care was the answer I needed
What makes this model work for us is flexibility. Because of my morning radio schedule, we don’t rush for the 8 a.m. drop-off. Instead, we arrive after lunchtime and nap (2 p.m. to be exact).
My daughter joins the other kids for the afternoon, where she learns within the Montessori curriculum, plays, and socializes until closing at 5 p.m.
The best part of this all? I get to be there on-site, five feet away from her classroom: working, taking Zoom calls, editing audio, or answering e-mails. That alone changed my life.
I no longer feel like my career and my childcare are working against each other. As a business owner, this setup gives me something I barely had before: carved-out time to get work done while my child is cared for in a structured, enriching environment.
I’m not squeezing work into nap windows or evenings. I’m not trying to build my business in fragments. When she’s in school, I’m working, fully present, focused, and calm.
There’s no anxiety around clock-watching. If a meeting runs long or someone is running late to our scheduled podcast recording, the entire day doesn’t get off track. This proximity creates a sense of stability I didn’t realize I was missing.
For my daughter, the benefits are just as meaningful
My child has consistency, peers (yay to friends her age), and caregivers who are fully focused on her development. Her day isn’t shaped by my stress or unpredictability. She gets the social and emotional structure of preschool without any disruption.
At home, socialization was a large missing component for her, so I’m grateful she has this opportunity now.
This isn’t about working while parenting at the same time. I’m not popping in and out of her classroom or blurring boundaries. If anything, I’ve found that this model reinforces them. When she’s in school, I’m getting work done. When we’re together, I’m fully present with her.
I live an unusual life, so I needed an unusual solution
I’ve come to realize that many childcare systems are still designed around a workforce that no longer exists: predictable hours, long commutes, and a default parent with endless availability.
My life just isn’t built like that. And I know I’m not alone.
Coworking preschools are not for every family. They don’t replace traditional childcare or solve every systemic issue. But for parents like me, other remote workers, entrepreneurs, and creatives, and people whose work is flexible but demanding, they provide an amazing option.
I didn’t become a better mother by trying harder. I didn’t become a better business owner by optimizing my calendar. Once my childcare reflected my reality, I showed up calmer, more focused, and present.
This isn’t childcare as a treat. It’s childcare that finally meets working parents where we are. My only regret is that I didn’t find it sooner.
Read the full article here
