In what could turn out to be a very interesting experiment the Government has announced a range of child care flexibility trials which will see some child care providers offering extended opening hours and others offering overnight care.

The trials kick off in July this year and will involve around 500 families and more than 50 child care providers across the country.

A range of different types of child care services are involved in the trials including family day care, long day care and outside hours school care.

As part of the Government's experiment in flexibility:

• Family Day Care Australia will provide overnight and weekend care for police, nurses and paramedics who are shift workers
• Goodstart Early Learning trial extended weekday operating hours at six centres across the country for parents who struggle to make specified pick up times.
• Funding will be supplied to expand the out of school hours care service to more locations.

Would a more flexible child care system make it easier for you to manage your work and family life? Is the Government on the right track? How would you design a child care system?