Until her only child started elementary school, working mother Hiromi says her life was "busy but manageable." She and her husband had successful careers in the media industry, while their daughter was thriving at the day care center she had attended since infancy. Hiromi took advantage of the company's reduced hours for mothers of children under school age.
"I was usually able to finish my work and get to the day care by 6:30," she says. "My husband got home around 10, just in time to have a bath with my daughter and put her to bed by 11."
The family's finely tuned routine was turned upside-down when their child entered first grade.