To wonder what the hell i will do with DD in the summer holidays if i get a job.

[desperatenotstupid]

I have a job interview this week, im desperate to get the job, but the money isnt brilliant (long career break so dont expect more really). Child care not an issue during term time, the job is 24.5 hours a week. But HOW do you all cope in the holidays? Inset days etc?

My mum is 75 and i really don't think she will be able to cope with DD for that amount of time, even though she will insist she can, but i can't let her because i know it will be too much, and from a selfish point of view this will be worse than having to pay someone iysim. I need reliable childcare if im to do this, but i would consider letting her do one day a week, but i think that would be all i could commit her to. My DP is self employed but can't really turn work down as the way things are we are not in position to turn down work when its offered. Also my salary wont cover expenses if he is to have time off to do childcare in holidays. If it was, that would be ideal, the poor sod is working himself to an early grave

Would consider childminder but i would have issues with DD being taken in someone elses car i dont even let her travel alone in car with DP if i can avoid it. I dont drive - yeah, its irrational i know.

desperate - your future workplace has holiday clubs during summer. And the private school at the bottom of the hill has holiday club too. It's roughly £100/week 10-4pm. Good luck.

thanks Dr Crab!! heres hoping

I was looking at a holiday club - the hours were 10-4pm, hardly helpful if you work 9-5pm

Would you have flexible hours do you think? Could you work two long days a week in school hols? Or work five days a week and bank the time? Could help perhaps.

look around for clubs and try your local library. We use Fit 4 Sport and their normal day is 9.30 to 4.30 but you can extend to 8.30 to 5.30.

I wholeheartedly agree that it is 100x more difficult without family and friends to help out. That's why 4 out of 5 working mums use family and friends rather than professional childcare. However, that applies much more to those working when children are pre-school age, when there are a lot more hours to cover and sickness is much more prevalent and so requiring mothers (usually) to have a lot of time off that can often end up being incompatible with work. By the time the children have done their first year at school, however, child health isn't normally such a problem so the only issue is finding available and affordable childcare.

It can still be a problem. There are only 38 school weeks in a year, meaning that for 14 weeks you have to pay the equivalent of a pre-school parent - though obviously if you spread this out over the full year it works out a lot less. That does depend on how much your family income is, however. Those at the very bottom can do ok with the childcare element of WTC (though it's still very tight) and those on good incomes manage ok, but families on a middling income that don't qualify for any WTC will often find themselves with both parents working for a deficit even when averaged out over the year. The fact that you are only working part-time should mean this isn't the case for you though, and you have to balance it with the long-term advantages of re-entering the workplace and advancing your earning potential.

Whether you can find a part-time CM willing to work the hours you want is another matter, as many will insist you pay for a space all year round or for extra hours you don't actually use if your hours change on a weekly basis. That said, now we're in recession, many CMs are much more flexible as the profession has been hit quite hard by the number of women who are now out of work.

Good luck.

you'll muddle through like the rest of us.
dd1's summer holiday cover is currently a couple of weeks of my a/l and a couple of DH's, which only leave a fortnight to cover. DD1's mate's mum has made enthusiastic noises about us having each other's DC for a week, and we'll get some sort of club organised for the final one. covering things a week at a time makes it all seem more doable.

Find a CM who doesn't drive. We did; she walked everywhere with her little posse of children, it was great.

How many days do you work? If it is 24.5 hours is that 3 days? So if your mum could do one day a week, you might be able to take some time off during the holidays - and perhaps DH taking 2/3 days off over 6 weeks (I recognise he is self-employed but that might be doable?) For the rest of the time - holiday clubs, as many others have said. You have to get organised early though. Some will be free, and some not - but even if you have to pay something, it wont wipe out the positive financial effect of working the rest of the year. Some of them involve trips out (eg being driven in a people carrier/mini bus) and some wont. We have no family nearby at all and DH is in military and often away - and this year cannot take any leave during the summer holidays due to the Olympics so we always planning carefuly in advance.

BorntobeRiiiled (love the name by the way!) I am wondering about flexibility, but i don't know if its good form to be asking about it at the interview? They may of course just volunteer the info. I am currently working on a voluntary project of great interest to me, i really dont want to give it up, partly because it will mean letting a friend down :( But i need the job so if its 5 days a week i'll still have to accept it. My DP seems totally disinterested because its part-time, but part time is better than no time and it may lead to better things