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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

Afterschool "childcare" for 11 and 13 year old - do you have any? What works?

35 replies

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 13:36

We are looking for ideas - the boys' nounou has resigned, the mother wants an au pair but wants us to find her, we aren't sure an au pair will work for such "old" children.

What do you do, if anything?

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HonoriaGlossop · 04/09/2008 11:23

It does sound a social nightmare - can imagine some of the kids in the city nearest me, and what they'd get up to if they were out of school and home alone at ten am...doesn't bear thinking about. What a weird set-up that does sound, I wonder how on earth that came about...obviously for the convenience of someone OTHER than working parents...

Original poster
Anna8888 · 04/09/2008 11:23

TheGirlwithGreenEyes - my daughter is at school all day with regular hours, and I work irregular hours within those hours, so there is no-one "free" to take care of him, and on Wednesdays my daughter is off school but has activities that I take her too. And there are no organised activities for 11 year olds within what might be school hours.

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Original poster
Anna8888 · 04/09/2008 11:21

The hours are a nightmare Honoria. The timetable is a fortnightly one (ie a ten-day cycle), so they don't even have the same variations week on week.

What it boils down to is the French government forcing parents to leave children aged just 11 at home alone for a large part of the week, on the assumption that most parents work and it is nigh on impossible to employ someone (even if you can afford to do so) to cover such variable hours in such a dull job.

Which I find shocking. But there are many things about state secondary school here I find very shocking, and my stepsons are in a very good state secondary school.

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TheGirlWithGreenEyes · 04/09/2008 11:20

I would have said an au pair/cleaner would have been ideal apart from the irregular hours thing.... are there any after-school activities on the days they finish especially early?

Could they come to your house on those days (or be looked after by your dc's carer if you are at work)?

HonoriaGlossop · 04/09/2008 11:16

blimey those hours do cause a problem don't they. I was just about to post that my brother and I took ourselves home at this age with no problem at all but we were only alone from about 3.30 - 5pm.

I would say I agree with the cleaner-plus-a-bit option. Perhaps if she's there for a few hours every afternoon that might be enough - then even if one of them is out of school at ten, he'd only have a couple of hours alone at the most.

And they'd have a very clean house.

Original poster
Anna8888 · 04/09/2008 11:07

imananny - I agree that they can cope a bit but the problem is their totally variable timetables - DSS2 (just 11) will get out of school at 10 am on Wednesdays and 1 pm on Fridays. Potentially a lot of time alone at home .

Anyway, we are working on the "mature cleaning lady" hypothesis. I don't think food preparation is necessary.

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imananny · 04/09/2008 10:41

as you need more care than just 3 hrs after school - I would go for an AP who can also clean/iron a little as well and prepare a meal for your children

though tbh most 11 and 13 should be able to cope for a few hours after school by theirselves - I was a latch key kid (as called those days) and came home,made myself a snack,watched tv and did homework

Original poster
Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 14:59

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Original poster
Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 14:01

MrsWobble - yes, my thoughts are going in the direction of a daily cleaner type person who would be a responsible adult and would know the house ground rules but not actually enforce them - just inform parents of whether they were being kept.

One of the major difficulties is that the boys have different and terribly irregular timetables - they start and finish at different times every day of the week. The school day can start at any time between 8 am and 11 am, and finish at any time between 10 am and 5 pm. There is no way that there is going to be a responsible adult around all the time they are at home unless they have a nanny. But they are too old for a nanny - which is why this one is resigning, really.

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MrsWobble · 03/09/2008 13:55

I'd start with thinking about what you want the person to do and then identify the right person for that spec.

My children are 13, 12 and 9 and we have a daily afternoon cleaner who also collects the youngest from school (a 10-15 minute walk) and gives them tea.

We worked out that our prime requirement was for a responsible adult to be in the house and that the children didn't need full on nanny care. This solution has worked for us so far (3 months).

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