How does your childminder cover school hols?

[PeachCobblerz]

What is most common booking system for school hols with childminders?

1. No set days, just booked on a first come first serve basis and you have to use family help or annual leave to cover school hol childcare combined with the random days the childminder can give you

OR

2. a set contract agreed in advance for specific days and hours every week during every school hol. Predictable and reliable.

I've experienced both, just wondering what the norm is?

Yes that would be fine if I could find one available. I've called every childminder within a workable distance taking into account commutes.

I don't really need people to tell me what to do. I've tried all options and I'm just going to have to turn down the job. I just wanted to see what other people's contracts were like and if this weird and unpredictable booking system is the new norm. Looks like it's 50/50 ish so far based on replies.

I took unpaid leave

No partner, no support and no childminder. Half term is going to be a bundle of fun. DS is going to have to come to uni every day with me for lectures and workshops

I've asked to book set days for the year and been refused by both my old childminder and this new one who is the only other available one in the area.

I really can't get my ahead around why this approach works for them from a business perspective, it's all very last minute and inefficient.

Is using another childminder just for holidays (i.e. one who may be generally full but has spaces as normal mindees are away) an option?

Or a babysitter/nanny. Students will be home from uni/off from college and would probably be happy to earn some extra cash. Nannies will often be off during holidays as their families are away and may be happy to pick up some extra work.

Okay then you need to see about getting someone in to cover the school holidays. Are you near a third level college, is there local facebook pages ?

Is there a parents Whatsapp - we cover each others for days - so on recent half days I took three children each time these in turn take mine - so six days covered. I know this is hard to initiate but needs must.

I can really see your point here - seems strange and somewhat infuriating. Is she somehow trying to put you off? Does someone else have first refusal?

No support at all and no local childminders available currently means I got a term time only job. Skint now, but it solved the issue.

My DC are anxious in one case and ND in the other. They can't cope with change and all the plans being different all the time (and they don't trust/like many people including other children), so as there is no guaranteed summer childcare here (with kids they like), term time it is.

Honestly this does seem ridiculous on the part of the CM. You’d think they would want to plan in advance.
Maybe they worry about booking so far in advance that when it comes to it you won’t use the place because things can change.
I wonder if offering a kind of
holding deposit might sway them to book you in. You may have tried this already though.
I do understand having no options. We have to travel quite a distance to our CM and have no family nearby. But I know we are very lucky to have such a great and flexible CM, as well as family who even though they aren’t close, will help out if we absolutely needed them to. I appreciate not everyone has that and it’s hard if you don’t.

There are a lot of jobs that are WFH now, many are flexible in as much as it doesn’t matter when you get the work done as long as it gets done, if you could find something like that then you could do the majority of your work on evenings when your partner is home. In my job I also get 33 days annual leave plus bank holidays and I can buy another 5 days. That would cover a lot of the school holidays.

If you commute to work, is there any childcare provision at the other end of the commute, closer to work rather than closer to home?

My childminder is set days and a contract all year round with the week off at Christmas. I’m sure if she goes on holiday she lets us know in advance but I’ve not had to experience this yet. She is great and albeit a little annoying having to pay for the days she don’t attend due to illness or what not it’s her income and my child’s place im paying fof

We had a all-year-round contract with a childminder, she took 4 weeks holidays each year, that was normally a week in Easter or February half-term (skier), 2 weeks in Summer and between Christmas and New Year. She gave us her dates when the school started in September so we could organise ourselves.

We could add hours to the wrap around ones we paid monthly and £2.5/day for extra food.

It worked in the first year but DD was fairly bored so we looked into holiday clubs and reduced the contract to term time only. The childminder moved to just term-time in Y4 as well as most parents went the club route.

We also have no help, family lives abroad, friends work and those who don't have no idea that I have to book clubs months in advance and can't just change things around with 3 days notice.

Maybe she doesn’t want to lock her holiday plans in this early?