At 3 a.m., I’m Playing Dodgeball With Preschoolers — Here’s Why

This story is based on a conversation with Amanda Yochum, 44, of Haubstadt, Indiana. She oversees Bright Horizons’ 24-hour day care in Indiana and Kentucky. The account has been edited for length and clarity.

If you’ve never played football or dodgeball outside at 3 a.m. with preschoolers — or watched the sunrise with them — you’re missing out.

I know this because I’m a regional manager at childcare company Bright Horizons, overseeing the 24-hour day care centers we run in Princeton, Indiana, and Georgetown, Kentucky, which are located at the Toyota manufacturing plants in both areas.

The business of making cars runs 24/7, and so do our day care centers. When you’re a parent on night shift — and need to sleep during the day — you need your child to be on that schedule, too. Especially if both you and your partner are working night shift, or you’re a single parent, which is often the case at these plants, which are some of the largest employers in both regions.

So while some people on a more conventional schedule might baulk at the idea of 3-year-olds staying up playing happily all night long, that’s just what we do here.

Staying up all night is part of the routine

The night shift runs from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., so when the plant workers drop their children off, we’ll have some that are still half asleep on their parents’ shoulders. However, they typically run excited to see their friends. We’ll have activities that are already planned out on the table to engage them as they transition into the classroom. Once they’re settled in, then they have some free play and can explore our different learning environments.

When these plants were established in 1996 and 1986, respectively, there were few quality childcare centers available, so Toyota recognized the need to provide this service for its employees.

That’s why our nighttime day care service is in such high demand. At our Princeton childcare center, 164 children are enrolled during the day, while 44 are enrolled at night. In Georgetown, about 159 kids are enrolled in the day program, and 32 are enrolled at night. The center is also open on Saturdays. Around 25 are booked in the day and around 20 at night.

Keeping our nighttime routine as close as possible to our daytime routine is a strong principle that we have implemented throughout the years. It’s that equity piece. We don’t want our children or our families to feel that they are missing out because of the shift that they are on. For example, if it’s Grandparents Day during the day, we will replicate that at night. We often say that the only difference is that we swap sunscreen for bug spray.

It’s so fun to be outside with the kids in the middle of the night

The rest of the night runs like this: once they have settled in, they will eat breakfast. Then they will play outside, and come back in for some activities and projects. We follow a curriculum, but we also discuss with the children what they are interested in learning.

They typically have lunch around 10:30 p.m. Then, after lunch, just like daytime children, some will take a nap of up to two hours at this point. For those children who don’t nap, they’ll transition into rest time and quiet activities. We offer “inner explorer,” our mindfulness program that helps calm the mind and body, promoting relaxation.

After this, it will be snack time, and we will go outside again. They return for some additional curriculum time, and then, toward the end of the shift, they’ll have some extra learning time. It will then be time to go home.

It’s actually a lot of fun being outside with the children in the middle of the night. We are in the middle of a cornfield, so we have high fencing and stadium lighting. There is nature outside to contend with, but we know how to keep safe. The children like to holler at the deer, and we often get mice wandering in. We might also see the occasional coyote, and the children love it. The lights are so bright you often forget what time of night it is.

Kids can come starting at 7 weeks up to before they start kindergarten

Many children start with us at around 7 weeks old and stay with us until they begin kindergarten. Typically, night shift families have it made in this regard – their babies sleep the best and they don’t struggle.

We are often asked if we plan to open a kindergarten program, but there are no plans at the moment. We do everything we can to support them in their transition into kindergarten and school, where they will have to adhere to more conventional hours. We’ll lengthen naptime, so by the time they’re graduating, they’ll be sleeping for an extended period at night.

Our families will also tend to take off the week before school starts, to get into that new groove and routine. Parents aren’t guaranteed to be moved to the day shift when their children start kindergarten, so they may have to drop their children off at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s or arrange for someone to come to their house.

In Kentucky, though, we do have a school-age program. The children have their own beds, dressers, locker rooms, and showers, and they will go to bed by 9:30 p.m. while their parents work the night shift.

Our facilities are crucial to working parents

We don’t tend to have issues with our children not being rested enough — they have learned to follow their parents’ schedules, and they start young enough that it’s easy for them to adapt. Sometimes, life admin needs to be taken care of during the day, and we might not get a full night’s sleep, but that happens to all of us at times.

However, there is a doctor’s office, pharmacy, and store on-site, and we also have health professionals visit us to support the children. For example, twice a year a local hospital will send in occupational, speech, developmental, social and emotional therapists, and they will come in and do developmental screenings. They will bill the health insurance providers directly at no cost to the families.

We also have optometrists and dentists come on-site. Then we have professional family photographers come too. These events occur both during the day and night, benefiting everyone.

Even though I am a regional manager now, I still will go in and work nights. I just drink an extra Diet Coke. I also have an almost 19-year-old autistic son who has never slept well anyway, so he’s been conditioning me my entire adult life to do this kind of work.

It’s a big misconception that we just keep the kids up all night. Yes, we do that. But that work-life balance is critical for parents who work hard. That’s why we pioneered this style of childcare years ago — and it works for everyone.