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Original poster

Work full time - DC in summer hols??

85 replies

user1484167681 · 25/02/2023 08:32

If you work full time, what do you do with your children in the summer holidays? We have 8.5 weeks to fill this year (DC1 started reception in Sept 22) and I’m slightly aghast tbh…

OP posts:
SummerSazz · 25/02/2023 08:34

We used a mix of split AL, joint AL and holiday club at the local sports centre. Also did a few swaps with friends in the same boat.

We did only have 6 weeks mind you as state school so not quite so much to cover. Can you take any parental leave?

VogueDarling · 25/02/2023 08:36

1 dc age 7

Last year as an example- we were on holiday abroad for 10 days so that was a week sorted
I took annual leave on the last week alone
Dh toom annual leave another week alone
Then holiday club, odd days with my mum or mil and now she's a bit older we have allowed odd days where she is at home and we're wfh but that's genuinely 1 or 2 times as it's not fun.

Feb half term has just been there- dc went to a sports club 3 days (10-3 and £15 per day) my mum one day and mil the other

Is your summer holiday 8.5 weeks!! Thankfully ours is still at 6 I double checked this week ha

Girasoli · 25/02/2023 08:37

2-3 weeks holiday clubs, a mix of the slightly cheaper one run at his primary school, and a fancier one run by a private company.

2 weeks family holiday

1-2 weeks grandma's house.

(One slightly annoying thing about holiday clubs is that they tend to be slightly shorter hours than normal after school care so DH might WFH a few extra days in those cases so he can nip out to collect DD and then carry on working)

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Girasoli · 25/02/2023 08:38

(Oops he's actually DS)

RME578 · 25/02/2023 08:39

Hi ...we're in the same boat, I'm hoping to take 4 weeks parental leave if we can afford it. We've no family close by unfortunately!

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 25/02/2023 08:41

Holiday clubs with the added bonus of wfh for the drop offs and pick ups.

Original poster
user1484167681 · 25/02/2023 08:45

£15/day on holiday clubs… wow, where are you based roughly if you don’t mind me asking? We’re in NW London and I’ve been paying £45-60! DS didn’t like the last one much, so we’re going with one run by school at Easter plus AL one week, then probably AL and a bit of family help in May… but yes, 8.5 weeks to cover in the summer. We’ll take a 2 week holiday, but that still leaves over 6…

OP posts:
OneCup · 25/02/2023 08:45

If your eldest is only starting reception this September, you could still send them to nursery. Holiday camps may or may not accept children below 5.

Original poster
user1484167681 · 25/02/2023 08:46

No, sorry, he’s been at school for 6 months already.

OP posts:
sixfoot · 25/02/2023 08:49

Tag team our work schedules and holiday clubs

BiddyPop · 25/02/2023 08:49

Dd now 17 but we've had this all through primary.

Her after school club up to 3rd class was attached to a crèche so they ran summer camp all day with themed weeks all summer. We tried to limit that to 2-3 weeks per summer so she didn't hate going there during term. But it was a godsend the summer my DGM died for an extra 2 days cover.

I would take some weeks doing mornings only as most "summer camps" were 10 until 2, or maybe 9 until 2 if we were lucky, DH could often have enough flex to drop her and I'd take the afternoon s off. Local sports and activity camps.

She usually did at least 1 week in the sports camp in the Uni based in city centre near my office that ran to 4:30 and had aftercare to 5:30.

And she also started, aged 6, doing sailing and the local sailing school runs all day camps all summer so she gradually increased to up to 4 weeks sailing in the summer.

And we'd also take our summer holidays of 2 weeks, and some years she would also spend a week with her DGPs who are 2.5hours away. And some years I took some parental leave or extra annual leave if we hadn't needed too much for illness earlier in the year.

Our holidays are 8 weeks long. And actually, summer was easier because of camps than Easter and Christmas.

Ahhaiknow · 25/02/2023 08:50

Tag team annual leave, and holiday clubs. Me and DH don’t take annual leave together anymore unless we have booked to go away somewhere in holiday

CMOTDibbler · 25/02/2023 08:51

Organisation and research. Start a spreadsheet of all the summer holiday provision available around you, near to your work/ your dh's work (even if they aren't confirmed yet, look for what was on before) and map out what you could cover. Don't forget to check private schools (I found they didn't really advertise them but holiday clubs were mostly open to all and often very good as they used on site facilities), sports clubs, churches, drama clubs, leisure centre, and ask on your local FB groups for recommendations.
Then fit in using AL around that so you have a separate week off (might not be continuous, maybe there are weeks that you can get 3 days of coverage) each, a week off as a family and break up the summer a bit as well.

sashagabadon · 25/02/2023 08:52

Does your local council run summer holiday schemes? Check their website for previous years and see what happened. Mine runs all sort of things from cooking courses, film making courses , woodland courses etc
but you have to be quick as limited spaces. Like booking at one minute past midnight on day booking opens
also ask working parent friends and you might be able to tag team a week or so

Snoken · 25/02/2023 08:59

I took a 3 weeks off, flew with them to Sweden and they’d spend a week on their own with my parents, then holiday clubs. Check out Coram Fields, they were usually the cheapest around my area of London for holiday clubs.

FawnFrenchieMum · 25/02/2023 09:05

Lots of planning!
I would often split my leave into taking Thur / Fri off for four weeks plus a full week off for a break so that they were only in clubs 3 days a week instead of 5.
Id start a spreadsheet, find ad hoc sports camps that they wanted to attend at local clubs, football, gymnastics etc, then add in my days off and then find an actual childcare holiday club for the other days.
I may do exchanges with friends on one of my days off a week but like to try and keep one day of just me and the kids so I had spend some actual time with us.

familyissues12345 · 25/02/2023 09:21

My friends used to share it out between annual leave, a bit of flexi working, having friends over then it reciprocated, and I was a SAHM so I used to offer to have their daughter a good few days. Always seemed a logistical nightmare! She hated holiday clubs, and was on only child so didn't have a sibling to go with

Girasoli · 25/02/2023 09:22

I took a 3 weeks off, flew with them to Sweden and they’d spend a week on their own with my parents, then holiday clubs.

What age did you start doing this? We are thinking of doing this for the first time this year with DS1 (will be 7) - my parents and DS1 will spend 3 weeks in Italy visiting everyone and me, DH, and DS2 will join them for the last 2.

trilbydoll · 25/02/2023 09:26

I print off a grid for the whole holiday and put it up on the kitchen cupboards so we can see what we need to cover.

Last year we had a 2w family holiday and the rest was a mixture of holiday club, grandparents and working longer Mon-Thurs so we could have Friday off.

8.5 weeks sounds like private school, so you'll have to use their club for the weeks before state schools break up. I've always made it clear to dc they have to try stuff, and if they hate it, they don't have to go back next holiday. We've probably tried about 8 different clubs and there's 3 that they agree are the best ones!

Zippitydoodaa · 25/02/2023 09:29

Many , many years ago , I took 2 weeks holiday and the rest ,I paid a nanny ,gave her half my wage and that meant I was able to have the job the rest of the year.
When my mum retired , she helped out and I gave her the same money.
It helped her too as she only had her pension .

Kathsmum · 25/02/2023 09:32

Hi, sometimes schools have a list of childminders as a place to start? I needed childcare before and after school during term time but not the holidays as i work in school. That frees her place for others who only want holidays? Also great as a back up if no relatives near.

kindercup · 25/02/2023 09:33

I don't recall ever having such long summer holidays. Ours were always 6 weeks with the odd 7 weeker. There was some logic to that but I don't remember it!

I usually took 2 weeks and DH took a different 2 weeks. The rest of it we worked opposite shifts (I did a run of night shift) and we had the holiday club at school for the odd day here and there.

It was brutal I won't lie, but we are so far out the other end of it now and we survived.

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 25/02/2023 09:35

AL split between me and DP as we both get 6 weeks of annual leave a year so this covers most of the holidays. Use some holiday clubs as well, as its still cheaper than nursery was so we don't really notice the cost. Swap childcare days with other school mums.

But we've had a rough plan for this since last april when we found out which school DD would be going to school last Sep.

JoanThursday · 25/02/2023 09:42

My DCs are older than yours, but we roughly follow the same formula each year, which is:

Week 1: I take leave
Week 2: family hol and we all go away
Week 3: dh takes leave
Week 4: holiday club
Week 5: holiday club (and possibly gparents for a couple of days)
Week 6: usually around the late Bank Holiday so I try and take a long weekend

I have to be in work in late August because of A level results so my ability to take leave when I want is limited anyway.

It does mean we have to be ultra organised and book a hol months and months in advance to get the week we want. The upside is early booking discounts!

SummerSazz · 25/02/2023 09:49

Just remembered that they also used to go to Stagecoach for a week. This was every day and at the end of the week they put on a show. It was nice for them to achieve something they wouldn't normally do.