First, a little background. I have two kids, first grade (starts at 8) and pre-k. My husband works shift work and morning childcare and school drop off falls solely on me two or three days a week.

I’ve been offered a good position with a medical office as their office manager. Great pay, good benefits, great use of my skills and interests.

Here’s the issue: the shift is 6:45am/7am to 4pm, four days a week. Getting kids to school would fall on me one to two days a week, every week. The pre-k school I take the youngest to offers school age before-school care and bussing to the elementary school. I would be able to drop the kids off at 6:30am on those days and know that the first grader would get to his elementary school just fine.

My issue is guilt - they would be away from home for so many hours in the day. I’m also concerned with the consistency - with my husband being able to do school drop off just before 8 on his days off, then me doing that 6:30am drop off one of two days a week, would that change in their schedules be detrimental? We’ve always been routine people and we feel the kids do well on a schedule. Is messing up their schedule like this worth it?

Are there other options for early morning childcare and school drop offs? With no family available to help, I’m drawing a blank on other options.

Lastly, I’m still interviewing for other positions. Do I wait a bit, see if an offer comes along with a better schedule? I can’t string this medical office along for very long, cause I want to be respectful.

Thanks for any help and advice you have! I love this group for how we support each other!