An Hour Commute – By Kenzie Holste

As a working mom to 2 under 2 living in rural Northern Illinois, child care options are limited. Our commute to child care actually turns my 12-minute drive to work into an hour-long commute. We found a wonderful in-home provider who is centrally located between our home, my husband's farm, and both sets of grandparents who often help with child care pick up. However, child care drop off is all on me. My husband is a dairy farmer and is often up and out of the house before we wake up. While I would never give up our child care provider because she is wonderful, the hour commute before and after work most days turns a typical 8:00am – 4:30pm job into a 7:00am – 5:30pm day away from our home.