How on earth do ppl work around school holidays?

[greenmagpie]

I have 2 young dc and school is a little way off for them yet. I work part-time and dh works full-time; we both have positions of fairly high responsibility. I'm getting worried about what we do when dc1 starts school and has 6 weeks summer holiday plus Easter and half-terms! Dc2 will be in nursery and I'll have to take all sorts of time off to cover sickness in the first year (as I did with dc1).

Annual leave won't cover it, and definitely not if me and dh want to take time off at the same time for a holiday. What do ppl normally do?!

Holiday clubs. Now I have a ds who can't attend clubs due to disability. Dh works zero hours so he can take the time off. It means no money coming in. Also friends and family.

Do holiday clubs run on all holidays? Are they actually suitable for 5-year-olds? I went to one as a kid (it's probably all changed now) and was a bit miserable as I was shy and didn't know anyone.

Thank God for my Mil! It's much easier now that my eldest is old enough to be left alone with the youngest.

•Plan annual leave a year in advance.
•holiday clubs
•team up with another pArt timer / freelancer and swap kids on different days
•take each week as a new week
•family if you have them
•summer camp as they get older

Sports centres often run holiday clubs for 5+ . My daughter did a day of dance and a day of gym. There's often drama groups and all sorts once you start looking.

Alternatively with a small child many nurserys offer holiday clubs with days out etc or choose a child minder for holiday care.

•forgot team up with another family and hire a childminder
•if you have very limited budget most councils run cheap holiday programmes for children
•send your child to holiday club with a school friend in the same boat

If it's more than the odd day I'd personally use a nursery or child minder that is geared to holiday care and going out etc so it doesn't feel too institutional !

I've used a mix of childminder and holiday clubs. Are you able to get childcare vouchers through your employer? They've been great for us. (They are changing from April). We save them up through the year and use them in school holidays as all of ours are school age now.

I've also used sports clubs - football, gymnastics, dance, tennis. They tend to be 9-3 or even 10-3 so I've used leave to pick up early.

You could use a local childmindeder if yours are a bit younger. I've done this too. I've also used the nursery that dd2 went to. She went back in the summer holiday after Reception. See if your DC's nursery offer this. It won't cover the whole summer though.

From 6yrs I've found Supercamps fantastic. Mine love it. This is primarily what we save childcare vouchers for. Mine loved the multi-activity camp when they were younger (DS still does). They also have other activities for older ones. My youngest will start at Easter.

It felt much harder to envisage when mine were little. But there are lots of options and you'll be able to put together a local package of what works for yours.

There is also unpaid parental leave

www.gov.uk/parental-leave

This was an interesting thread on it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/3183991-parental-leave-denied

A mixture of things

• holiday clubs. Some are better than others, but you tend to pay more for the better ones.

-stay with Grandparents or Aunts (had to stay over night as they don't leave close by)

• DH or I would take annual leave

It took some juggling but wasn't too bad.

Finding childcare for my disabled DS is impossible, and no relatives can look after him for any length of time as it's too physical (especially for grandparents) and he's too difficult. I now do term time working, which I appreciate I'm very lucky to get.

Where I live the summer holidays are 9 weeks for primary and 12 weeks for secondary with the usual term breaks. I’ve had to stop working as I couldn’t resolve the situation.
There are no after school or holiday clubs here either. They have the odd ‘activity camp’ in the summer but they’re usually for 5 days max and the hours are 10-2 or similar so you can’t easily work around them plus my DS hates anything sports based.

Mix of all the above and planning way in advance - 6 weeks holiday planning often includes a spread sheet!

I'm lucky and can switch my days to which days I can get cover for in holidays and do some home working if really struggling.

DGPs, friends and as a last resort holiday clubs.

lthanks everyone. Hadn't considered child minder for school age dc! My parents still work but hopefully GPs can help out for a bit.
My work is fairly family friendly (and I get childcare vouchers) so other ppl must manage ok. I just never understand how!

ninja where do you live?! That sounds crazy (great if you're a kid)

All of the above. Helps if you live somewhere with plenty of full day holiday clubs on offer (the 10-3 type ones are less useful for working parents).
Hol clubs are harder to find in the short half terms and at Christmas. Easter and Summer much easier.

Sharing childcare with other parents works if there are lots of SAHPs/part-time workers. Most of the parents I know will be like me during the school hols - either at work or if they're using precious annual leave, actually away on holiday - so sharing childcare is less practical.

The wrap around care (3-6pm) has been as much of a headache...

Annual leave for two of the half terms plus Christmas, then mostly holiday clubs for the rest. Thankfully DD1 is great at making friends!

I used a holiday club in the town adjacent to my office town.
It was great. Great price, great activities up to 11.
Either 9-3.30 which suited me, or 8-6pm.
I changed jobs and it no longer worked to use that place due to geography and timings.
It's harder at high school age. All there is round here is 9-15:30.
I leave for work at 08:10.
I've had a little help from gparents.

It's certainly not easy at the beginning. The things that help for us are: not taking annual leave at the same time as partner unless actually going away on holiday, so if you're at home one should be working while the other is off doing childcare. Accruing some flexi leave if possible so that not all days taken are deducted from leave. Pairing up with other parents who work and offering to swap days so you take their Dcs one day while they work and vice versa. My dd would never have done any play schemes on her own but planning in advance with her friends' parents ensured she would always attend with at least one other good friend which gave her more confidence to attend. The one option we have never used but many do is: childminder.

You could also consider summer au pair or uni student looking for summer job. The second option is not cheap but they can be flexible .

I mix between annual leave , my ex works shifts so has some week days off ,childminder and my parents . Lucky to have a few options .