to think I can get by without childcare in August because work is quiet?

NRFT

Depends on the job / your required hours.
Sometimes over the holidays I would work 6am-9am then spend the day with my children, day trips etc and log back on for a few hours at 6pm. I could also do a few hours on a Saturday if required.

I appreciate I'm fortunate.

It's not right to look after your kids when you are meant to be working. You wont be able to do either properly.

I don’t see why you need MN input.

awww lovely.

exceptional performance for what? Not doing your job? working an hour a day? skiving? parenting?

🤔

Mine does. Higher education. I get one email a day tops and everyone is off in August. I am doing research at the moment but if I didn’t have that in my contract (which many of my colleagues don’t) I’d have a relaxed three months between end of term and start of the new one.

NRFT

Depends on the job / your required hours.
Sometimes over the holidays I would work 6am-9am then spend the day with my children, day trips etc and log back on for a few hours at 6pm. I could also do a few hours on a Saturday if required.

I appreciate I'm fortunate.

It's not right to look after your kids when you are meant to be working. You wont be able to do either properly.

No you do sound jealous and resentful. She has told her employer who is fine with it. So what if she has a break without her kids? How is that anything to do with anyone else. Just because you like martyring yourself doesn’t mean everyone else has to do it too. She’s basically spending the whole summer with her kids. And if childcare is a full time job then why should she not have any time off from it?

i have a feeling this thread might be a wind up.

What company has nothing whatsoever to do for an employee for weeks and weeks?

Yeah how terrible. I’m sure they will be irreparably damaged by their mum answering an email during their trip to the zoo.

Yes one thing about being an adult is i know right from wrong i dont need to be told, and i especially dont need to use the childish 'Youse are just jealous' of 12 year olds

If she’s getting all her work done then how is she taking the piss? Sorry you have a crappy micromanaging employer but don’t take your frustration out on others.

Then that makes a difference.

Still think its very unfair on your kids not to take dedicated time off with them during the summer holidays though.

As someone who has recently been giving notice of having to be back in the office 4 days a week from January, I absolutely resent the people who take piss like this.

Not jealous. Just more self respect and respect for my employers than to lie to them.

What I cant get over is booking time off in September to have a lovely break from work and kids!

If you're so confident that you're doing nothing wrong, why don't you tell your 2 managers your plans and ask them if it's ok to have an extra month of holiday with the odd look at your emails?

People are presumably jealous because a) OP probably earns more than them b) doesn’t have to be chained to her laptop all day with a boss breathing down her neck c) is saving hundreds in childcare. Thats why all the sneery comments about being a shit worker and shit parent.

They obviously dont realise that you dont dedicate 100% of your work time to work and 100% of your child time to your children then do they.

Think what you could achieve if you were dedicated to both!

Ooo interesting. Would it be fraud in your industry if someone is getting all their work done? Is it considered fraud that they aren't where they stated they were going to be? could people work from coffee shops etc? I think you are totally right about the industry and it's so dependent on the role and type of contract.

I had a role in education (not school based) where there was a lot of inflexibility during terms time, and a lot of flexibility during holiday periods. It wasn't a traditional teaching role. The culture changed over the years and more inflexibility was introduced during the holiday periods which upset a lot of people who would have the sort of arrangement that OP is floating. I'm quite institutionalised to that industry so interested to see what other work cultures would expect.

So you book your annual leave for September when your kids are back at school and work is getting busy so you can have a nice rest.

You intend to entertain your kids whilst "working" during August. Your kids dont get a holiday as you are working. Your employer doesn't get much work out of you because you are entertaining your kids.

Most parents would book time off to look after their children in the summer holiday. Just like your managers who have taken time off in August to (I assume) spend time with their kids on holiday.

Talk about taking the piss. If you were that confident it didnt matter that you were working and looking after your children at the same time you would tell your company, rather than hiding it from them

I’m splitting my time working from home over the summer too OP.
in fact this afternoon I worked from a soft play place whilst I took my child and 2 of their friends to it- there was a handful of us in the cafe and it was deathly quiet.
what does it matter where you are as long as the work gets done! Good luck!!