To expect to find childcare to cover these hours?

[Notsure73]

We have 4 children, the eldest will start secondary school in September, the youngest will start primary school.
I am thinking about going back to work full time but am getting negative feedback about the hours I will need. Part time work is very rare in my field and I will most likely need to work from 8:30 until 7 pm, with one half day a week. It could take me up until an hour to get to work.
So we will need childcare for an hour in the morning, and then 5 hours in the afternoon, after school. My husband works long hours and may be home sooner some nights, but we can't rely on this.
We'd also need someone to work fulltime over the holidays.
I've spoken to childminders, and none work as late as this. No one has room for 4 children anyhow, and I've been told my eldest is too old? I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her to her own devices :(
Our school doesn't run after school childcare, so I'd have to be looking at a nanny.
The agencies I've spoken to have said that the hours are too much of a split and it's difficult to get someone to take on 4 children these days, even if we paid well-such as £15 an hour. They will look for us but sound a bit pessimistic.
Am I expecting too much? It would be a busy job as the kids do lots of classes and activities.
What do other people in this situation do?

Thing is it IS a long day. My first mindee arrives at 730am and so would mean a 13/14 hr day with the clearing up and paperwork once they've gone home.

Isn't it too late got your children to be up as well? Mine are all in bed by 7pm on a school night let alone arriving home from childcare at 8 pm.

What about an au pair?

That's a bit of a bummer. Hmm. Have you considered looking at childcare for the evenings only, and taking it in turns to do the morning? It's not just your problem to solve, after all -- there are two of you in this, and your DH should be able to ask for some flexibility. (This idea came as a rude shock to my DH, but he accepts the truth of it.)

You need to employ two separate people: a morning mother's help, who can do breakfast, school run and come back home and do the morning clean up (including some laundry); and an afternoon nanny.

Au pair or nanny or nanny share. tbh with 4 children nannies can be as cost effective as a childminder - although depends where you live.

Oh, and put your children in clubs/activities during the holidays, with the same mother's help/nanny arrangement.

Some childminders will do these hours, I care for a 12 year old and will have him for a while yet. Have you put a profile on childcare.co.uk? My friend is a nanny and works 4pm til 4am so some will work late.

I think you will not have much trouble getting someone to do the afterschool hours for you. 5 hours a day @ net £10ph (£250 a week) kind of range. Would be appealing for a part time nanny as she can get a morning job/ or study during the day etc. School holidays need to be considered though! Could work if she is studying and the hols match up?
I think you may need to consider using someone different to do the morning hour for you though....a mum from the school maybe looking to earn a bit of extra money? Would be tricky to find a nanny who would commit to come in just for an hour in the morning.
How about a full time mothers help/ housekeeper... FULL time wage obviously but in the lower range if a mothers help, but can cover all the hours and do a bit of housework too and sorts out the school holidays.

Good luck with your search, the agency is right they will be quite tricky hours to fill if you want it as split shifts but Im sure you will be able to find someone.

A friend of mine (single mother of three, including four year old twins) has her cleaning lady come in at 7am, make breakfast for mother and children and help the children get dressed and then takes the twins to school and comes back and cleans up. Sounds good to me!

Is a live in nanny/mothers help an option?

sorry to ask, but when will your children spend time with there parents?

What a helpful question bebanjo.

Presumably the OP has considered all that and decided the best thing for her family is for her to work. She is after advice on childcare, not your snide passive aggressive implications about what a poor parent she is. Why comment on the thread if you have nothing useful to add?

Those are long hours full time. I used to do early mornings and late nights for a shift worker when I was a childminder, but on a part time basis. Mum was knackered, kids were VERY tired out (dark circles around eyes, moody and sullen, poor behaviour, sad etc) , and no way could I have done those childcare hours full time. In this case mum had to work part time doing these hours, and I think wouldn't have considered them if she didn't have to as I know it was a very hard time for them all.

I think bonsoir's suggestion may be your best bet, being out the house that long a cleaner/mother's help in the morning may be very helpful anyway! How old are your dcs??

bebanjo that is SO not the point of this post - judgey mcjudge? you have no idea of the OPs circumstances. I agree it will be tricky but one thing that has occured to me about the school holidays - as teachers we don't need childcare in the holidays. We are very lucky and our CM does not require payment during those times because she takes school age kids, but this is often not the case - lots of my colleagues pay in the holidays. Could you do a nanny share with teachers so you pay the nanny in the holidays and they don't have to pay for the weeks they don't need it. If she was local enough she might be able to help you out in the morning bit during term time also.

Yep, you def need to get morning help and then the after school help. I imagine you will find a CM that would work till 7 (am sure mone used to) but I dont think you will get a CM willing to do all the after school clubs/activities although I could be wrong.

Babanjo - what a helpful comment - bet that has helped the OP out a lot!

Some good ideas here, thank you everyone. Live in not an option, unfortunately.

Oldest is 11 , turning 12 and youngest is just 4. Husband can work from home on one off 'sick days' etc, but really should be at work by 8. We don't want to take the piss unless we need to.
My hours will most likely non negotiable. I will have clients from 8:30-9am so will need to be there to see them.
The long hours were the reason I gave up to be at home with the kids for the last 11 years, but I want to fully consider my options now they will all be at school. It's not really going to be very cost effective anyhow, but I feel I need to explore all avenues. I haven't even got a job lined up, and just looking to see if it's possible.

Also good CM's are very booked up around here. I'd prefer to have them altogether, so keeping them in our home makes sense.

Where abouts are you op there might be nannies etc on here local to you?

I found a childminder willing to do those hours (her children were grown up) and she did overnights and weekends too. She was the exception though - everyone else did 8am - 6pm generally with 30 mins variation either side. Is there a coordinator for childminders in your area - she will know who can do your hours.

My DS was exhausted though (7:30am - 7pm) so we've now got a nanny. DS is less tired now and the good thing is if my train is late (a high number of fatalities recently) I don't have to worry as he is home already.

Agree with the others you may want to hire two different people. Maybe a childminder for the school drop but a nanny for after school.

Are there any pre schools near you - maybe ask around if someone is willing to do the after school pick up as that would work with their hours. Mornings will be difficult if you have 9am starts.

I think two separate forms of childcare is the way to go. I doubt you would find one person able to cover the morning and then the later shift, when there's such a long gap inbetween.
Also, remember that with one child almost 12, it won't be that long that you need four children looked after. Eldest will be perfectly capable of looking after herself before school and for an hour or so after school before long. I wouldn't want to leave a 12 year old alone until the evening every night after school, but I think a certain amount of independence will be good before long.

Quite aside from cost and availability of CM, I would have thought that the logistics and fatigue you would generate for the children by having them cared for outside your home for such long hours would be really trying.

You could get someone with more of a nanny-governess profile for the afternoons, so that she can do homework, while the morning person can do housework.

Agree with some of the other posters about needing 2 people
Can you get a childminder for the morning - who will take on the school run and then a 'mothers' help for the afternoon session who can pick up from school and then go back to your home
In the present economic climate would you consider some one for the afternoon who has mayble just lefy college/university with a child care/teaching based qualification who may not yet have found work