Part time working mums sharing childcare between each other

[mumof3mellymoo]

Hi Mum's 👋 I wanted too ask advice and opinions about something that I have been thinking of for a while now and not sure if it is already a thing. A parents group that want too go back to work part time but cannot afford the childcare. So I'm thinking of trying too set something up where parents come together and try and work out where they can share childcare. So if 1 mum for example works 2 days and the other mum works on opposite 2 days a week they share between them the childcare. Obviously there would need to be dbs checks ect background checks. My youngest is 7 months old and I would like to try and work atheist 16 hours a week. Just cannot see any profit in it if I have to pay for childcare.

@mumof3mellymoo

Some people on here are total stuck up knobheads divvy arseholes some of you

Wow.

No-one has personally insulted you, people have asked questions and told you their opinions on why what you want to do might not work.

@mumof3mellymoo Did you just want people to agree with you and to mot highlight the risks ? Lots of people don't have family and friends who could or would be willing to offer free childcare. Have you looked at all the available help towards childcare costs ?
It's also worth pointing out that even when childcare costs are reduced when children start school there are still school holidays to cover and an increase in costs for any extra curricular clubs.

That’s really rude OP. Everyone has just been giving advice. Well after that comment I certainly wouldn’t want you looking after my children that’s for sure.

I know two medics with kids same age, lived on same road who shared childcare for years. It worked for them. You need to be very like minded because disciplining someone else's kid, especially sorting out fights between your child and another, is hard.

I've also heard of nanny shares, where one nanny was engaged to care for two or three kids as a group.

I always wished this existed. I agree you'll probably do better finding someone informally - imagine ending up with someone who feels different from you about practically everything child-related (gazes around thread...) Put the word out locally.

I think it would either work straight away or not at all. You'd need to discuss reasons to stop doing it with the other parents.

To be fair there are plenty of divvy arse holes on this board. This threads been pretty tame though. Welcome to mumsnet OP!

It defeats object of going part time, my time off I want to spend with my own child.

I’d do it for my siblings as I know that they’d both reciprocate but also not get miffed when I’ve got annual leave! Wouldn’t do it for anyone else as there’s too much room for there to be a falling out.

@NuffSaidSam

'lots of tapestry reports'

They report the child's day in the form of tapestry? That really is exceptional!

Although presumably that takes a while and will split their focus from their childcare? Or do they have a designated weaving team?

Is that really that unbelievable? My dad’s nursery and then preschool (also used a CM ) used tapestry a lot. Her key worker used to keep it updated and we used it over lockdown with preschool. It didn’t seem to taxing (although I appreciate higher ratios would make it a massive task daily).

I know people who do this, but they were close friends first and trusted each other. I do this with friends during school holidays, and it works OK, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time.

It's very rare for two families to be close enough in their approach to parenting for it to work well. And looking after multiple dc that aren't yours is a real pain sometimes. What happens when the dc dislike each other or one starts picking on the other? What happens when one is a picky eater and the parents disagree on the approach? What happens when one goes through a spell of biting, or is potty training, or has a cold? Or when the parent is ill? The framework of paid childcare is really helpful in resolving this stuff.

@Cornettoninja exactly. It’s not time consuming to upload the odd photo. We get a few updates and then the more detailed quarterly review on development which is nice. Add some of our own updates too.

@Daisyandroses I’ve only just realised the joke @NuffSaidSam was making!

In my defence a ‘weaving team’ is a perfectly plausible name for early years to designate a group of people to upload reports!

great idea

I think that this is much more common as kids get older and are more self sufficient/ less work.

I do quite a few childcare swaps in the school holidays which reduces everyone’s childcare bills and is nice for the kids as they love play dates.

I wouldn’t want to commit to something really formal or every week- that would be a bit of a faff!