I'd like to know experiences of parents with primary aged kids who WFH and what they do for childcare after school. Or if they bother at all?
I have two kids in primary and I WFH. We're currently paying for CM for after school pick up and in school holidays. I'm beginning to wonder if we can manage without CM. We live walking distance from school. The round trip in the mornings takes 15-20 minutes. DH has two weekdays off, so is able to do pick ups on those days. He doesn't currently and we are considering just dropping the two days. I do flexitime, so can log on and off anytime. Boss is not bothered about when hours are worked as long as I meet my core hours and do required amount of work. Actual job involves no client/customer facing and limited online meetings. I've had days when the kids have had to stay home with me (thanks to covid) and been able to do my usual work. I've also had to do the odd school pick up with no problems. My kids are generally happy to entertain themselves for an hour or two. Main thing I'd need to do is make tea, which I can work around. I could if necessary work for an hour or two in the evening.
The big issue I can see is the summer holidays. Between DH and I we do tend to book most school holidays off now anyway. But we do still need to send them to CM for a few days.
Am I being realistic in thinking we can manage without the CM? Am I setting myself up for too much stress? We would be saving an average £600 a month, so it would make a significant difference to our family income.
Please give me your experiences, good or bad and advice. Thanks.