Another childcare rant - how do people do it?!

When I had my children I was a single mother as my ex (separated) husband did absolutely nothing.
So, it all fell to me. Eldest went to wrap around care and it cost me £12 a day (school) and so £60 a week. Youngest was crippling nursery was £1600 a month I got no benefits and had a professional job - but literally in tears every month making ends meet. It was exhausting - I remember a treat was making a cup of tea at home and going to sit in a park and maybe buy an ice cream but nothing else.

Then my eldest wrap around care doubled overnight and I just couldn’t sleep.

When youngest was out of nursery it was a bit relief. Eldest collected him from primary but I still needed some wrap around care and it was £300 a month.

My children haven’t had children yet but if and when they do DH and I will offer to get them (if they are local) and we are saving now to offer them as much as we can for any nursery costs.

Aren’t the government subsiding nursery places . Yes i know it’s not all of it and only a small amount but many many parents before you had no financial help at all. Childcare industry is a mess and no one wants to work in such a difficult job for pennies anymore.

Goverment have put funding into breakfast clubs. Education is invested into. Nowhere near enough but that’s another thread. Parents do need to plan for when they have children not complain it’s the governments fault.

Also school hours referring to other posts aren’t the problem they are there enough hours for children to access an education not childcare. It’s work and flexibility that should be looked at. Some workplaces still push back when actually something could be worked out.

Yes that sounds like a lovely idea in theory but crazy in practise. We use paid after school club. They have breakfast club too and it’s virtually never cancelled

We worked opposite shifts. I worked evenings and Saturdays.

I moved to start at 7.30 and finish at 3, and DH switched a bit less dramatically to 9.30-6pm. So one did drop-off and one pick-up

We did the same. I’m surprised this is not more common as it was really a great setup. DH is in a high flying job so would log on from home around 7am and start working, then get the kids ready for school / drop off and continue his working day in the office.

The only way we could make it work was for one of us to work part time until they were older. We planned that before even getting pregnant as we always knew that childcare would be an issue.

We pay 3200 pounds a month for a mix of nursery, part-time nanny and Afty club 3 x a week. It’s completely unaffordable to be honest and not sustainable, but we’re self-employed with no family nearby.
We chose to have children, it’s a massive juggle, but it’s incredibly important to me to still have my career as I worked for years before having children, saved and self-funded both maternity leaves, and I try to get to as many school events I can. I work a lot of weekends.

Madness but fingers crossed it all settles down in time. We’re both in it. I’d not recommend having children unless the other parent is equally committed to juggling their work requirements to show up for them and share the load.

Same we live too far from any family for help. We paid a fortune to a child minder who did school pick up for us and kept DS until 5pm then she also had him in the school holidays in the days we couldn't. We were lucky that after lockdown neither of us had to go back to the office so we were then able to do the drop off and pick up. Unfortunately you sometimes just have to throw money at it if the help isn't there. My sons school didn't have any wrap around care at all.

Oh this is another option, my friend found an after school many via Koru Kids.

You'll pay more and have to employ them which is a lot of work in itself.

So surely you realised at least one of you needed to change jobs?

Join the committee and persuade two others who use the club to join as well. With three new joiners you'll lighten the load of the existing committee. Do it for a year while you look for another more flexible job. Miss a meeting or two if you need to (I think ours met twice a term and there wasn't actually that much to do in between).

I know you're saying you're time poor, but what are your options? This is the way.

What are they actually asking for?

Parent volunteers to actually be at after school club or parent volunteers to help the admin outside or the sessions?

If it's the admin/away from school stuff and as you desperately need the after school care so it seems likely you need to volunteer to keep it. Get involved and see what is required. You might be able to suggest different ways of working to make it more efficient where they could pay an admin a few hours a week or similar to lighten the load.

We used the school breakfast and after school clubs open from 7.30am - 6.30pm. Paid as part of the school fees.

This. Take control of it

join the committee and use your power to transform it into something more stable.

This. GPs helped 2 days a week after school but basically DH and I worked opposite shifts and only had one week off together for family holidays until DC were old enough to be left alone. We also used a lot of single day annual leave to cover inset/school closure days.

It’s bloody hard!

We ended up using private education because it was the only way to get them in School long enough so that we could work

Smug comments like this on these threads happen every single time. Ofc OP knew they'd need childcare around this time but she's struggling finding it and asking for advice. Bore off.

Do you live in a university town? We do and covering that gap of 2-3 hours is often a great job for a student, esp one who wants to go into primary school teaching. It's too small a window of time for a nanny.

I'd want more information on this from the school. You're paying for a service, not getting it for free. Why should volunteers matter?

How many posts on here from parents saying their child is exhausted at the end of the school day? Mine were with a childminder in a very homely environment when they were very little and used to go there and sleep until I picked them up at 5.30. When they were about 7 they moved to a private school which had lessons til 3.45 then aftercare. They managed but it wasn't as nice and they were more fractious once home. I do get the issue, but keeping very small children in a school like setting for an extra three hours every day for the parents' benefit is not prioritising their best interests. A huge increase in well trained and well paid / subsidised childminders would be the ideal answer.

I think you need to look differently at this opportunity. The time you put in at the monthly committee meeting plus a small hourly rate, you will get back tenfold, in local, low-cost, convenient childcare for 3-5 days per week every week.