Types Of After School Care

Who cares for a school-aged child during the time between the end of the child's school day and the end of the parent's work day?

Self-Care

Monkeybusinessimages / Getty Images

Self-care occurs when the child (and siblings) are unsupervised and left to take care of themselves. Self-care is most common in low-income families. The higher the amount of self-care a child engages in, the more often the child will face adjustment challenges when entering middle school. This is especially more common when combined with existing behavioral and emotional problems as well as a lack of extracurricular involvement.

Parent-Care

parents.com

Parental care occurs when one or both of the child’s parents is available after school to pick up and care for their children. Oftentimes, the parent(s) are unemployed or maintain a part-time job. In this case, the parental figure will pick the child up from school then supervise and care for the child until they return back to school the next morning.

School-Based Care

Healthy Food Choices in Schools / Via articles.extension.org

School-based care is usually related to some type of extra-curricular activity supervised by a trained teacher or adult. It is oriented around an event or activity. Other times this type of care might involve an after-school-day-care program that takes place between the time when school lets out and the time that parents get home from work. Most often, higher income families are able to provide this type of care for their children.

Sitter/Relative-Care

Oconee State Bank / Via oconeestatebank.com

Sitter/Relative care involves the informal supervision of an adult. They may include non-parental family members or neighbors. This type of care may take place in the child’s home or in the sitter or relative’s home. The adult will pick up the child at the end of the day, and watch and care for them until their parents are available to pick them up or come home.