You're right, that is another childcare model as well! Now that their daughter is old enough to go to daycare, one couple I know basically split the day.

Mommy takes the morning shift with her and then goes to work in the afternoon and drops her off at daycare. Dad is off in the late afternoon/early evening and picks her up from daycare on the way home. Mom comes home at around 11:00 and they get a couple of hours of Grown-Up time.


I also know another couple where it came down to the fact that he was a fulltime employee of the local level goverment, and she was on contract. He was all set to be the stay at home, when they decided she was too valuable to lose and they made her fulltime just prior to her brief unpaid mat leave. Provincial has better benefits than Regional, so she ended up taking the year off, although he also took three months.