What do you do with your 10/11 year old who hates childcare?!

[sandysandsand]

DD is in P7 in Scotland and off to high school in August. She currently attends breakfast club 5 days a week and after care 3 days.

She really is not a complainer so I know she is really and truly fed up of after care. The problem is that nothing seems to replace it!

What do you do for a whole summer?!

Clubs. Family. Holidays.

Don't look for childcare. Look for activity weeks (ie for any sports, clubs or interests she has). Then mix and match activity / holidays / family / friend.

Agree with pp. last summer my dd did two weeks of watersports ( I was lucky to find a course a.m. only and I shared the lunchtime pickup with her friend’s parent and we organised a parent to work from home each day in the afternoon, so between 4 parents it didn’t really impact too much.

Then dd spent one week with her dp. I took vacation for two weeks. And the rest of the time she had play dates/hung around at home while I wfh.

I used to let mine go to the local museum who laid on activities each morning from 10-12, they had snacks, a sandwich and money for a hot chocolate plus £2 for the session. They weren't the only ones of a similar age. I worked 2 mins away.

Activity weeks. But it's 3 times the price at least. We used to discuss with DD what she wanted to do and if it was a special one, she was willing to put up with childcare for longer to get that week at the special activity. IYSWIM.

They're ok to be home alone for a few hours at that age. Can you find activities that she enjoys for the main part of the day? They often run 9am-3pm or similar.

You could look for a residential activity type thing for a week.

Could you WFH and let her entertain herself?

Family/friends.

At 11, I might be happy with couple of hours at home but not a whole day. My ds will be in holiday club easily to 12 yrs. Just something we all have to do to manage it. He'll be going to and from school by himself when he starts senior school but will only have a couple of hours at home alone and it wouldn't be every day as I work 4 days and dh is a shift worker. Ds will be attending wraparound care until he leaves primary.