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Original poster

working full time and DC activity

23 replies

justbefuddleme · 03/09/2019 18:21

I'm wondering for those of you who changed to work ft from pt or sahp how do you manage your DC activities?
I need to go ft soon but it means both my DC will have to give up almost all the activities that they currently do, which doesn't seem fair.
How do you manage it? I have no one here who could do the pick ups and drop offs for me.
Do you work flexible hours or do they just not do as many activities anymore?

OP posts:

sleepismysuperpower1 · 03/09/2019 18:41

a friend is in a similar situation to you and she has just hired an afterschool nanny, who gives the kids their tea and takes them to their various activities

Original poster

justbefuddleme · 03/09/2019 19:14

Unfortunetly I can't afford anything like that.
It just seems unfair on the DC but the reason I'm going ft is so that we have more money for holidays and because activities cost a bit but just about doable right now. But it looks as though they won't be able to do those activities anymore anyway.

OP posts:

wendz86 · 03/09/2019 19:24

I work 4 days but my daughters do most activities on the weekend . My eldest is going to need extra ballet classes for a few weeks so going to have to work from home so I can get her there or finish early . Couldn’t do it permanently though .

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AJPTaylor · 03/09/2019 19:25

With dd3 She did brownies and swimming (swimming was weekend).
It is rubbish.

Lazypuppy · 03/09/2019 19:26

Can you not just swap to activities in evenings or weekends instead of just completely stopping?

How old are they?

Ronnie27 · 03/09/2019 19:27

This has just happened to me. Mine do rugby and swimming and athletics and all these wonderful things I wanted them to do but as I’ve recently gone back full time it falls to my husband or mother in law to do pick ups etc and neither of them value the dc’s activities as much as I do therefore they attend much less often. It’s a bit rubbish.

Aurorie11 · 03/09/2019 19:36

Full time kids have done beavers/cubs/scouts, martial art and football in evenings plus weekends. It’s a bit mad but don’t want them to miss out

blueshoes · 03/09/2019 19:55

This is one of the reasons I use independent schools - everything is on site after school. Life saver for working parents.

InDubiousBattle · 03/09/2019 19:58

How old are your dc op?

Wellandtrulyoutnumbered · 03/09/2019 20:01

We stopped and I do regret it.

We did scouting and guiding and I'd like my daughter to get back into it as the clubs are at least in evenings. We stopped as it became a moan and the group was in our old place of living.

Swimming was at weekends.

MsAwesomeDragon · 03/09/2019 20:10

My kids just haven't been able to do as many clubs. They've been at after school club (childcare) or with a childminder.

They both did rainbows followed by brownies, and both had swimming lessons at the weekend, but we couldn't fit anything else in while at primary school. At secondary dd1 did manage more things because they were at school, so she was in the choir, orchestra and did the school play, and she joined an extra orchestra in the evenings as she was older so could go to a later one after I was home from work.

I suppose it's slightly easier for those of us who've always worked ft, as our kids have grown up with the expectation that they don't have time for lots of extra curriculars.

anothermansmother · 03/09/2019 20:22

Work full time and a single parent and dc do 8 activities a week each. It's a stretch in the evenings, and you have to be really organised but it's doable. I'm currently sat watching ds doing climbing and I've taken dd to piano lessons before it. I prepare dinner whilst I eat breakfast, and then it's ready when we come in. We usually eat as soon as we get in and change and they go to activities.

Plasebeafleabite · 03/09/2019 20:25

If OP is having to go FT at work for extras I would suggest that the answer is unlikely to be independent schooling

For me it’s been coming to arrangements with parents of other children doing the activities. They do drop offs and I do pickups after I finish work.

itsabongthing · 03/09/2019 20:30

There’s an after school club at our school and they will collect children who are clubs/activities that take place at school eg. Judo, dance etc.
As they get older things tend to get a bit later, eg brownies here is 6-7.30 so it’s possible to arrange with a friend that one of us drops off (kindly takes dc from agter school club and one collects)
Many activities have a Saturday option
Music lessons can be taken within school time

It’s tough but it’s still possible for them to do extra stuff, just depends a lot what is on offer where you live and at the school.

itsabongthing · 03/09/2019 20:31

And then yes at secondary there is loads taking place at school, after school.

Applesandpears23 · 03/09/2019 20:33

Ask around at the activities. My childminder had kids in a local choir and so could take kids who wanted to do that activity.

berlinbabylon · 03/09/2019 20:35

We were able to cope because my husband worked flexi-hours and was home early twice a week and I worked from home once a week so we had three afternoons/evenings when one of us was around. I have since worked FT at home and now freelance so am around all the time.

But FT work would not have allowed for any hobbies, only at weekends. It depends where you work, we both had a commute.

ineedaholidaynow · 03/09/2019 20:38

Are there no other parents who can help? I would regularly pick up and drop off other children when transporting DS to his activities when he was in Primary School

ExpletiveDelighted · 03/09/2019 20:43

How old are they? By the time mine were at secondary school pretty well everything was either at school, at the weekend or after 6pm.

sleepymouse · 03/09/2019 20:44

I work full time and my children have activities 3-4 times a week. What works for us is getting another parent to drop off my DC when they take their DC. I can then do the pick up and drop their DC home in the evening. This takes a bit of coordination with different people, but I've always found that people are happy to help us out. DH has more flexibility than I do so he does 1 regular afternoon drop off to activity then pick up after

mindutopia · 03/09/2019 20:52

Mine only does one after school activity and actually it isn’t even every week. But we do work flexibly anyway because otherwise there would be no one to do the school run (childminders not an option around here, they just don’t do that sort of thing, you’d need a nanny). We each work long and short days. We do the school runs on our short days and work a bit on the evenings as needed.

Original poster

justbefuddleme · 03/09/2019 22:01

my job involves a commute so I'd be home at 6 which is when then activities start they need to be fed and have ubiforms and kits on beforehand which after school club don't do and then I would've been out of the house from 8 til 8 which doesn't give me time to make a proper dinner.
This would be 3 times a week
They can't do other activities as they are both on sports teams and doing very well, they are both very passionate about the sports they do and absolutely love it which is why I'm reluctant to look for something else for them to do.. they've tried many things tbh and these are the two that they're both talented in and actually love doing.
I could talk to other parents but a lot of them come from the next town over so I'm not sure that would work.
May be I'll see if it's possible to leave an hour early on those days and make it up but I doubt it.
Dinner I could actually batch cook so not a huge deal but I like the time I have cooking and the DC helping me out

OP posts:

Stompythedinosaur · 03/09/2019 22:06

Do and I both compressed our hours to allow us to take the dc to activities on different nights. We do some activities at weekends also.

I used to share lifts with another parent where she fetched the dc from school to the activity and I collect them am take both home.

We briefly looked at an au pair as a solution for getting dc to activities before realising we could get by without.

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