Maybe one possible solution for some working moms (those who work part-time would have the easiest time doing this) would be to have a sort of co-op with other moms from their neighborhood, church etc. where they work different days and switch off watching each others' kids on days they're not working. Then the kids can play together and have more freedom than they'd have in a regular day care, and parents wouldn't have to pay for child care because it would be a bartering type arrangement. Obviously this would be easier with some jobs than others (I could see it working very well for nurses, for example, but it would be harder with less flexible hours). What do you think?