The way mothers with young children organise themselves between work and family life takes on various forms depending upon the families’ characteristics and the context in which they made their choices. Studying the reasons behind the types of childcare chosen as explained by the families leads to questioning the traditional economic analyses based upon financial arbitration: above all, the choices stem from a demand for quality childcare services in which the child will flourish and are often constrained by the offer (lack of room, unavailability of the service requested, refusal). Over 12% of families are unsatisfied with the type of care for which they settled. We notably demonstrate that working part time does not always facilitate reconciliation and can, on the contrary, make it more difficult when it is constrained, associated with atypical or irregular hours, and brings in a low level of income.