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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:
QforCucumber · 25/02/2023 11:16

I’ve already arranged this year -

week 1 - m w f at a local club 9-3 tues and thurs with mil
Week 2 - mon and Friday football club 9-3. Tues I’ll wfh, wed and thurs dh has put in as leave
week 3 I’m off
week 4 dh work from home Monday: tues and thurs holiday club. Wed and Friday with mil
week 5 dh off
week 6 bank hol Monday, I’m off Tuesday and Wednesday. Dh wfh Thursday and Friday

The holiday clubs are a mixture of a local football one at £20 a day. An art club run at a nearby community centre at £22 a day and one at ds2 nursery at £38 a day.

ds2 starts school in sept too and so will have 2 of them to cover from then!

Beamur · 25/02/2023 11:17

Lots of planning and juggling!
I usually took some unpaid leave. DD didn't like most holiday club, mixed sport she hated, tennis was worse, but she loved Forest School but these were usually only 2-3 days max which was enough for her.
Swaps with friends for the odd day here and there.
No grandparents to take her overnight - but Granny could look after her (but usually alongside a parent working from home) as Granny not in good health but very attentive and affectionate.

polkadotpolkadots · 25/02/2023 11:21

Also agree with others that the majority of them are so sports focussed with my dd hates. We are lucky to live in quite an arty/creative place so have a couple of other options but not much. There's a local art school but their holiday club is only 10-1pm which isn't very helpful!

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89ghud · 25/02/2023 11:22

@BannMan interesting, our (consistently very high performing) state secondary school only has 4 weeks off in the summer, they take 2 week breaks for all the other half terms so it is the same overall.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 25/02/2023 11:23

Contract with childminder that she covers term time wrap around care and full time holiday care (minus her own annual leave). Bill for the year split into 12 equal payments.

GoodbyeMrChips · 25/02/2023 11:26

The annual juggle! Our local councillor set up a local holiday club for three weeks each summer, 9.30-3.30. They just take the kids to the local parks (they all bring wheels) if dry or crafts in the community centre if wet. He runs it with a team of staff (he’s a teacher) and only charges £7 per day. He even has the local 12-16 year olds as volunteers, to play with the little ones and carry bikes/scooters and they are given a fiver a day ‘expenses’. It’s an amazing resource.

Other than that, AL.

FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 25/02/2023 11:30

I would say you are looking at 6 years of expensive nightmare. More so if dc are
A) not sporty
B) don't enjoy just rocking up with a different bunch of strangers each week.

LastNightWasEpic · 25/02/2023 11:33

Mine are a bit older but for the eldest (12) I am going to look at PGL this summer for a week. It's the expensive option but I don't like him just hanging around aimlessly at home.

For the younger 2, AL/ parental leave and favours from friends on the odd days.

Nightmare every year.

Gazelda · 25/02/2023 11:43

AL and holiday club.

Round here, the school and council run holiday clubs are generally shorter days, so absolutely no use for parents who work 9-5 with a commute. So we ended up paying £££ for commercially run clubs that open at 8 and finish at 6. We took turns to do the drop off and pick up.

DD enjoyed holiday club but we felt guilty that she spent so much time there, so used Tesco clubcard points etc to do theme parks, zoos etc every weekend for quality family adventures.

Bloody exhausting!

MumOf2workOptions · 25/02/2023 11:44

We have no family help so we take leave separately (apart from a week we're all off together, maybe 2!)
We both compress our hours so one has Monday off and one has Friday (that's only 3 days to cover not 5 which is loads easier and then use holiday clubs and I'll have friends kids and they'll have mine sometimes depending on what they're doing:

We use the tax free childcare to pay for holiday clubs it knocks 20% off it's still a fair whack but a bit of discount helps.

Gizlotsmum · 25/02/2023 11:44

As others have said split annual leave, we also had a childminder then when that stopped holiday clubs and we are very lucky that grandparents sometimes have them.

BrilliantUsername · 25/02/2023 12:14

I take 3 weeks off in the summer and dh takes 3 weeks off, then we split half terms and end of terms, Xmas, Easter and inset days some holiday and some unpaid.
Just make sure you save enough throughout the year to compensate.

Helpmesortit · 25/02/2023 12:25

We both buy an extra weeks holiday from work so we have over 5 weeks each
so we use a mix of separate annual leave, annual leave together and unpaid parental leave if needed. We also use clubs and grandparents.

reluctantbrit · 25/02/2023 12:39

2 weeks family holiday, the odd day off inbetween and lots of holiday clubs, mainly Barracudas as they were the most convenient.

Lots of clubs don't do 8-6 so we could only do the odd drama workshop or riding school club when DH had no meetings to do drop off and pick ups.

It got better when she was 10 and went with the Scouts for a week and a friend did PGL from 8 onwards.

Parental leave is impossible for me as we were 3 out of 4 with school children and had to divide AL between us as we couldn't have more than one of us off at the same time.

YellowDaffodillie · 25/02/2023 13:06

@BannMan Primary schools break up at the end of June usually and secondary around the third week in May. I think it was originally organised due to the need for children to help with the farming. Certainly, I remember one of DS’s friends taking time out in Primary school to help harvest potatoes only a couple of years ago. Most of the lads do quite a bit of farm work from about 15yrs and get their Tractor driving licences asap.

We live very rurally and nearest town is about 7 miles away so DS can’t easily go out to meet friends especially as he can’t ride a bike due to severe dyspraxia affecting his balance. Luckily, DS is absorbed with his music and gaming hobbies so doesn’t seem too isolated. It’s a shame there’s no groups for teens like the Scouts or similar, available either.

Girasoli · 25/02/2023 14:23

Snoken thanks! sounds like DS1 will probably be OK for a week by himself:)

Beautifulcoconuts · 25/02/2023 14:26

We have no grandparents here to help. Our holiday clubs in a 30 mile radius closed down during Covid and never reopened. Last summer I literally had to quit my job!

:(

Thankfully we are moving away so overall family life gets better (work, school, activities etc!!)

Crunchymum · 25/02/2023 14:32

Surely you knew about the longer holidays when you opted for private school?

Does the school itself offer anything?Most state schools offer holiday club for 4 of 6 weeks?

Theelephantinthecastle · 25/02/2023 14:39

2 weeks holiday, a week each of annual leave, 2 weeks holiday club.

Usually something like:

Week 1 DH leave
Week 2 holiday club
Weeks 3-4 holiday
Week 5 holiday club
Week 6 me leave

So that the kids get chill time immediately before and after school term and to break it up a bit.

TheChosenTwo · 25/02/2023 14:40

Just thinking back, my mum carted me and a sibling off to relatives (an hour away) for the whole 6 weeks many years! She would come up for a weekend or two but other than that we were out of her hair for 6 weeks free of charge!
My grandparents were amazing in all respects, I did miss being at home though and sad to not be near my friends but my mum worked multiple jobs round the year to put food on the table for us and I can see why it wasn’t an option for her to just stop working for 6 weeks.
MIL is wonderful but nearly 80, still very active and fit, still gets down on the floor and plays with her tiny great grandchildren and is so hands on, she volunteers to take DS a day a week and offers more but I think 1 day at her age (sounds patronising but I don’t mean it rudely, I hugely appreciate that she does it and loves it, and all her GC love spending time with her) is enough. They usually potter off to the allotment, make a cake and play chess for the day!

Yuja · 25/02/2023 14:42

1 week on holiday. A bit of AL from me, a bit of AL from DH, some days with grandmas, some days entertaining themselves a bit while a wfh. Job is quite flexible so can stop for an hour here and there to hang out with them then make it up later. DC are 7 and 10

gogohmm · 25/02/2023 14:48

Annual holiday (2 weeks) holiday clubs for 2 weeks then for a couple of weeks I started at 7am for 5 hours, then exh worked from 12.15 ( he dropped them at my work at midday for when I finished)

stopringingme · 25/02/2023 14:51

@user1484167681

Some nurseries run holiday clubs and can take children to age 11.

It is usually run to holidays set out by the LA.

Look at their websites it should give the information.

My DD goes to one it is £18 for 6 hours, but they offer all day.

Favouritefruits · 25/02/2023 15:02

I’m a SAHM and always have other people kids during the holidays, it’s a win win, my kids like having friends over, the friends have nobody to look after them and I’m usually gifted a nice voucher… everyone’s happy. I’d there a mum or Dad in your child class you could ask for a few days?

reluctantbrit · 25/02/2023 15:45

Favouritefruits · 25/02/2023 15:02

I’m a SAHM and always have other people kids during the holidays, it’s a win win, my kids like having friends over, the friends have nobody to look after them and I’m usually gifted a nice voucher… everyone’s happy. I’d there a mum or Dad in your child class you could ask for a few days?

Drawback of this is that parents may need to book holiday clubs months in advance if you need a 8-6 cover.

I also found it difficult to return the favour as I really didn't want to spend my AL on endless playdates, we were normally away for the 2 weeks I had.