EDITOR'S NOTE: Cindy Krischer Goodman's weekly column on work and family issues begins today. She will explore the conflicting demands of career and personal life -- and how South Florida employees and employers are dealing with that perennial struggle.

If you have suggestions or column topics that you would like her to explore, contact her by e-mail at cgoodman@herald.com.

Sissy DeMaria, co-owner of a Coral Gables public relations firm, saw her stress level rise each weekday as 3 o'clock approached. That's when she needed to pick up her three daughters from elementary and middle school.

In January, DeMaria finally made a change. She hired a woman to pick her children up from school and bring them home.

''I feel guilty, but it's cut my stress in half,'' DeMaria says. ``No more three-o'clock panic.''

Working parents today are paying others to do things for our children that our parents did themselves. We're paying people to pick our children up from school, read to them, help them with homework, cook for our families and take our kids to baseball practice or dance class.

Some of us turn our worlds upside down to manage the responsibilities ourselves before we finally accept that we can't do it all and outsource some of it. We see it as a necessary expense to keep our jobs, reduce stress or get ahead in the workplace.

Clearly, family economics have changed dramatically. Labor statistics reveal that, in the last 15 years, the number of married mothers in the workforce has increased 55 percent. And, in the last year alone, the earning power of women has increased 3.9 percent, narrowing the gap between the sexes.

With both parents in the workforce and women making more money than in the past, families can afford to think about outsourcing. It's a simple equation of trading money for time.

It's also an expensive exchange.

Workers in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area averaged $16.50 per hour in 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's $660 for a 40-hour workweek.

Kidmover of Miami, a shuttle service between homes and schools, gets as much as $62.50 per child a week for round-trip carpooling, more for greater distances. That's nearly 10 percent of the average worker's salary.

Sunshine Aftercare, which operates in 14 Broward County public schools, gets $7 per child a day from working parents who want their children to attend activities and get help with homework after school each day. Recognizing the demand from working parents, these businesses are flourishing.

Stephanie Cortes, a 34-year-old mother of three, purchased Kidmover two weeks ago. She plans to double her fleet of seven minibuses, add new routes and double the company's revenue in the next 24 months.

''My niche is private schools with higher-end executives who are working long hours and need transportation for their children because they are busy and their children are busy, too,'' Cortes says. ``We have a late pickup at some of the schools that caters to the children who are in sports or drama. We're offering parents door-to-door service.''

For more personal services for your child, expect to pay more. A South Florida reading specialist gets $30 to $40 an hour to assist students individually at their homes on reading and writing.

Jill Nexon Berman, a Miami attorney, says she pays someone to coach her two sons in basketball, partly because she and her husband aren't home during daylight hours.

She has also employed a baby sitter, whom she pays to pick her sons up from school and shuttle them to basketball practice or doctors' appointments.

Berman makes a priority of the things she feels a mother should do, such as attending school functions and cheering on her kids at basketball games.

While Berman, whose husband is also an attorney, says she intentionally carries a lighter caseload, she concedes that she spends a lot on these services.

''I consider it the price of working; that's an OK price,'' Berman said. ``Guilt is not an OK price.''

At the same time that women are earning more, those in dual-career marriages must factor in their costs carefully.

DeMaria says the money she she spends to have her daughters picked up from school is well worth the peace of mind she gets from the arrangement. Those who can't afford it look to family and friends to pitch in.

''You can ask your friends and family for favors only so many times before you run out of chips,'' DeMaria says.

The money-versus-time equation has most of us spending whatever it takes to keep our children well cared for, physically and academically. It's simply the cost of being a working parent, an expense we're willing to pay.