“I am a single parent and really struggling. I work Sunday through Thursday at a hospital and have been struggling with Sundays. My work has been letting me use my vacation days since I went back to work after short term disability and after paid family leave, but there are no daycares open on Sundays and I can’t afford a dedicated babysitter for Sundays.” Parent of a one-year-old living in Brooklyn For those parents who are using nonparental care on weekdays, full-day care (e.g., 8:00 am to 6:00 pm) is the most common, used by 44 to 49 percent of parents depending on the weekday. The next most common weekday schedule is equivalent to school-day hours (e.g., 8:00 am to 3:00 pm), with be- tween 26 and 30 percent using care during that window rather than a typical workday. Another one in ten parents are using care for a half day (e.g., 8:00 am to 12:00 pm). Five to six percent report regularly using care in the evenings and two to three percent use overnight care, depending on the day. While care provided outside of 9-to-5 Monday through Friday has typically been considered “nontra- ditional hours,” NYC parents’ experiences suggest these hours are not uncommon. Forty percent of parents are using care during these hours. Parents who do depend on nonparental care during these times are more likely to use informal arrangements. “I need longer, more flexible hours for childcare centers — like 7 AM to 7 PM, year-round, including summer and holidays. Most programs only run 8 AM — 2 PM during the school year, which doesn’t fit full-time jobs or overtime. If centers offered extended hours and summer care, I wouldn’t have to scramble for backup care or miss work.” Mom of a four-year-old living in Queens Nearly half of parents don’t have the type of care they want — and four in 10 have unmet care needs. Until now, it has not been known, beyond anecdotal evidence, whether parents’ utilization of child care reflects what they want versus what is available to them. This survey suggests that, for many families, current arrangements do not align with their ideal care arrangements. Overall, 47 percent do not have the type of child care they would most want at their child’s current age. The greatest misalignment occurs among parents using nonparental care for children under one who would largely prefer paren- tal care, and among parents who are caring for their three-year-old children themselves, who instead want formal care (Figure 2). Parents using formal care for their two- or three-year-olds are the most satisfied.
THE 2026 NEW YORK CITY PARENT SURVEY : WHAT CHILD CARE PARENTS WANT 11
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