Based on research about after‎-school experiences and dilemmas conducted over a four‎-year period with employed parents and their children‎,‎ this book draws on the stories these parents and children told‎-‎-often using their actual words‎-‎-to emphasize the wide variety of children‎'‎s after‎-school arrangements‎,‎ children‎'‎s movement over time in and out of different arrangements‎,‎ and the importance to children of multiple facets of their after‎-school arrangements‎,‎ not simply the presence or absence of an adult caretaker‎.‎ The book also emphasizes that children are not randomly assigned to after‎-school arrangements‎.‎ Rather‎,‎ parents and children struggle to reach optimal solutions to what are often difficult child care dilemmas‎.‎ To understand these dilemmas‎,‎ and the diverse strategies that families adopt‎,‎ one must attend to the individual situations of children as family members understand them‎.‎ This book was written to contribute to the development of new family and work policies and practices by illuminating the difficulties families face and their consequences for children‎.‎ Written for psychologists‎,‎ sociologists‎,‎ and other social scientists who study families‎,‎ maternal employment‎,‎ child care‎,‎ or child development‎,‎ it will also be useful for parents‎,‎ educators‎,‎ community leaders‎,‎ and public policymakers concerned about the well being of children whose parents are employed‎.‎