Who is able to take care of your child when you go away for a weekend or holiday?

Nobody. We’ve had two (begrudging) nights off in 5 years and my parents can’t have them any more

I hope this is a wind up

When I go away for a weekend or holiday my child comes with me. Isn't that normal?

No one. I'm a LP.

I'm also confused? Are you seriously considering doing a google search or a post on a childcare forum for a TOTAL STRANGER to look after your child overnight so you can go away for a holiday?????

I can't imagine I'd find someone willing to give up so much time to look after my child that I would trust to have them so much. In fact I wouldn't know were to look. I haven't even been able to find a casual babysitter 🤷‍♀️ good luck though!

I can't imagine a 5 year old being willing to stay with a stranger tbh. In theory my BIL and SIL are willing to help out but there are only available once a year or so!

No one :( One of my children has autism who refuses to sleep anywhere else without me or hubby. In laws struggle with the three of them anyway. I do get very grass is greener when I see people having nights off. We get no respite at all x

My in laws have my kids maybe 4 weekends a year. And have them for a mon to fri once a year. They have their other grandchildren MUCH more frequently as one SIL is a single mother and the other SIL is a CF. My parents have the kids for about 3 hours once a year.

Getting anyone else to look after kids you either have to pay heavily OR exchange (ie you have their kids for a sleepover one time, they have your kids the next), BUT you have to match with kids ages expectations etc etc aced that definitely won't be more than once a month.

That sounds a LOT of time you're wanting away and to be covered. Even if you could find a service (maybe they exist?) I imagine it would be very, very expensive to have every other weekend and another four nights a month on top of that.

As someone said above, that's what you'd expect a parent who had moved out to have not a relative/friend etc.

I do still think people shouldn't judge without knowing the full facts though. I see how often people get hurt when something becomes a pile on 🤷‍♂️

Fair enough but it would help if she supplied the full facts, or otherwise explained.

They’re not. I remain deeply jealous of anyone with overnight childcare options, particularly those who qualify it with “oh, it’s not much, just once every couple of months or so” not understanding that it’s going to be at least ten years til that’s a possibility for me,.,

In point of fact she did say ”Who is able to take care of your child when you go away for a weekend or holiday?”. That’s the actual thread title.

Ok I stand corrected, I was reading the body of the thread not the title.

I do still think people shouldn't judge without knowing the full facts though. I see how often people get hurt when something becomes a pile on 🤷‍♂️

Some of the nanny agencies have the role, Weekend Nanny. This could be a feasible part time job for someone.
It would cost you about £500 a weekend, so about £1000 a month, £1200 a year. I’ve seen a few agencies with this sort of role advertised.

Why? Is it some kind of respite care ? Because that works differently.
Otherwise, I'm puzzled as to why you would want to leave your child so frequently.

Before this gets to be a pile on, can I just point out that OP hasn't said why she needs this? It could be work or illness related for example.

In point of fact she did say ”Who is able to take care of your child when you go away for a weekend or holiday?”. That’s the actual thread title.

It is a slightly surprising question for the parent of a five year old to ask.

Not many people would hire a stranger to look after their child for an extended period, and that’s really the only option for a one-off, unless there are friends or family available.

I want to work out a way of having my DD with someone trustworthy for a couple weekends a month

You are going to struggle to find someone who is willing to have your child every other weekend. That’s none resident parent territory. I’m really lucky that my PiL are willing to have mine overnight, but that’s about 3 times a year and I thought I was doing really well! Most people don’t have anyone to look after their children at that sort of level.

I suppose you could look at employing a nanny friday - Sunday and then only using them for the weekends you want but it will be really costly.

Ds is 4, weve only left him 3 times in 4 years. A week when we went on honeymoon that was with mil. The other 2 occasions were one night things for DH birthday and one for my birthday, both times my DM has stayed at our house with him.

My childminder offers overnights, but haven’t used it before - it would be quite expensive so would avoid it for that reason. I would happily leave DS with her for a few days and nights because he knows her and I obviously trust her, I couldn’t imagine having a virtual stranger taking him for numerous days and nights. I’m also not sure if a childminder would happily take a child they didn’t already know and look after under those circumstances - and you would still need someone as a back up to take him if there was an emergency. Sorry this is really tricky to get around. It’s a shame your family can’t help.

Before this gets to be a pile on, can I just point out that OP hasn't said why she needs this? It could be work or illness related for example.

You could split up with her dad, that would provide you with a couple of childfree weekends a month.

The way that other people do it is that they don't. I've had 3 weekends away without my children in 13 years. That's the downside of having kids - they completely put the kibosh on doing stuff without them

Occasional weekend away, or maybe even longer... as a nanny I have done that for families whom I know, so for whom I was already nanny or babysitter. It's costly (depending on the actual hours needed it could be £600+ for a weekend), so I don't find much call for it.

A couple weekends a month and maybe also one night a week is a lot more than an ad-hoc babysitter/nanny would typically be doing. Maybe look at having someone as an employee on that basis, cost wise it could be costing you £1000-£1500 a month, so not talking small amount.

You can find nannies and babysitters on Childcare.co.uk and other such sites. Contact people and ask them. They may want to start with doing occasional evenings, then doing the weekends later on once they know you and DD better.