working mums - what do you do during half terms?

[juicychops]

i work mon and tues and my ds starts school in sept. i dont get the government funding during summer hols for his nursery so rather than pay £60 per week while im at work im putting ds in only mondays and will have to rely on people to help me out (which i HATE doing)and use all my days holidays etc.

then ds starts school in sept but only doing half days for the first half term!! so gotta juggle all my working hours around him being at school just few hours a day.

THEN its bloody half term so gotta find some arrangement for childcare during then when i work

THEN there is xmas, all other holidays, half terms etc and its so god damn hard i feel like just quiting my job which i just cant afford and id have to give my car up.

i HATE being a lone parent having to deeal with it all myself. i dont know what im meant to do. people have said 'oh, you will be ok, other parents from the school will help you out etc' but i dont want to 1. have to rely on other people, and 2. dont like the not knowing aspect! i dont like not having a plan for how im going to work this out. childcare is too expensive to put him into privately. i would literally be working for NOTHING

any practical advice? im getting so stressed its unbelievable. has anyone just had enough and quit their job?

[surreylady]

May not work for you - but I thought worth a mention. When my children started school I changed my working arrangements from 3 day week to a more term time based - so work longer (in my case full time) during term, have all the half terms off when childcare is hardest and then work a couple of days a week during the long holidays - christmas/easter/summer. I do ensure that I have dedicated weeks of holiday in the mix otherwise you end up working all year but this does give more time with the children and less childcare costs or favours to juggle. I hate asking too but there are some very kind people about. Do you know anyone else working PT - another approach would be to share childcare if you have differing days.

[nannynick]

Some local councils run holiday clubs. They may not be ideal (due to the times they run and cost) but may be worth a look.

Can Grandparents help out at all - could DS go to stay with them for a few days perhaps?

Does his father have any contact at all... perhaps he could care for DS for one of the days every now and then.

[skramble]

I don't work full time just now, but looking to the future I think I might make use of the local drama clubs workshops, they do an extra session before and after for a small amount for ealrier and later drop offs.

I have struggled to find work while kids were young and at school, as there were no childminders or after school club so no chance of me working full time.

You may have to call in some favours and find some way of doing something in return.

[juicychops]

Hi thanks for your replies. ds doesn't have any contact with his dad so no help there. also dont know anyone else with kids who works part time - well not yet anyway!!

im gunna bite the bullet and do my tax credits thing this week so that i know how much im going to be getting so that i can try and budget ahead

im sure it will work out, its just the not knowing that stresses me out. once ds is in school full time and settled im going to look for a school based office job which would be ideal as it would be term time