To ask how families with non teaching parents manage DCs during school holidays?

[Sheitgeist]

Just that, really.
I am an out of work primary teacher in an area where there are rarely any vacancies. If they do crop up, there can be in excess of 100 applicants. I'd gladly be a TA, but it seems impossible to get that job too!

I'm looking outside of education now, but if I get a basic admin - or indeed any other job - I'll likely get around 5 weeks holiday. DH gets 6. Our two school age children (still at primary) get 13!
If I put them in a holiday club it will cost around £250 per week; childminder (if I can find one for school age children) would be a bit over £300. More than I'm likely to be paid!

We have parents or inlaws to help out. I'm feeling pretty unemployable now. What do other working parents do?

*We have NO parents or inlaws...

Welcome to the world of many, many parents.

We find the cash somehow to pay for holiday clubs.
Or negotiate child swaps.
Or get a holiday au pair.

Or take time out of the workplace, because the demands of primary school are actually quite hostile to work/family life.

Yes, you have to save all year to cover the holiday costs and stagger holidays with DH so that you have to pay for as few weeks as possible. As always, childcare costs don't come only from your salary, it's a shared cost.

If your children have sports or drama type interests some of their clubs will put on holiday activities which seem a bit cheaper than outright childcare provision and there are often cheaper (or even free) holiday activities for a few hours a day, which can be possible if you and DH can manage flexible start and finish times.

One way is to cultivate a network of parents in the same boat and cover each other but that can bring it's own problems....

You can use childcare vouchers to pay for holiday clubs etc and save tax that way.

It's shit. I'm currently trying to see if any students from the local college, which has early childhood programs, wants a Summer job. Unsettling for DD, worrying for me, expensive. I use a lot of holiday, build up TOIL, still not enough.

Dd is still a baby so we've got a while to go yet but I imagine when it comes I will do what my own mum did, though luckily with a dp to share the burden.

She used all her holidays to tie in with school holidays and had childminders when we were younger, then a live in au pair when we got a bit older. Another option would be a nanny.

Ah, yes... I guess finding the money is going to be the most likely solution.
Not sure how I could go about the child swap option if I don't even have time off enough to look after my own!

I may investigate the summer au pair option, but one of my DDs is autistic, and quite hard to handle.

Own business may be a good option... perhaps providing holiday care for school age children!

Thanks for replies.

We use a holiday club run by the after school club at school. It's £25 for the whole day 8-6 which isn't too bad. It doesn't run for all the holidays though so we try to arrange a family holiday when it's not running.

Other than that we use all our annual leave to look after ds. We aren't able to take any leave at any other time so don't get any time off without a child in tow. That's the thing that makes me insanely jealous. People who use granny for all the holidays and then are able to take a week off here and there on their own.

You have to work out and then think of your childcare costs as spreads over 52 weeks, not think "during the school hols I'm working for next to nothing" there are usually eight bank holidays in those 13 weeks - that's a week and a half gone, assuming one of you doesn't work them. Then 2 weeks of your annual leave, two weeks of your partners, so you still have enough left for time off together, leaves less than 8 weeks childcare. if it's £250 a week, that's 2 grand over the year or a full 8 weeks childcare, I'm not saying that's nothing but thinking about it (and budgeting for it!) as £38 per week will make it easier to accept.

We stagger odd days between us but mostly we pay for holiday club at school or use YMCA or sports clubs which work out cheaper around £200 per week instead of £400, for two primary school children. We used to be able to save up excess childcare vouchers to help out but the cost of breakfast/afterschool has gone up so its a rare month when there's any left over.

We have no local network of help or parents close enough to help but that's the way it's been since they were born. TBH it still feels like a relief after full time nursery costs.

That's why child swaps can work OP. If, say you have 4 parents in the group, you only need to cover 1/4 of the school holidays, but you have to share your precious leave with a bunch of random children and you're at the mercy of the un reliability of the other parents.

This is going to sound more arsy than I mean it, but OP, what did you think your pupils families where parents work (and are not teachers) did?

You do that.

And remember this thread, when setting times for class assemblies, sports days, plays, concerts, bring your parent to do XYZ; or ask for volunteers for days out, or whatever. Because that all comes out of annual leave too.

And even if you have two parents (neither teachers) if you want to have enough leave to go on holiday all together, you cannot cover the school holidays, let alone half days to get in to other events.

Civil service often have the option to request term time working. I have six non working and unpaid weeks, which I use along with mine and DHs holiday allowance.

This allows us to cover school hols and even (whisper it) have a couple of weeks off TOGETHER as a family rather than as co-childcarers passing in the night.

We have no one around to help so to summer camp (holiday club) it is for mine. I did notice one place we lived quite a few families employed university students to 'nanny' for them over the summer. Could this be an idea for you?

I also tend to figure out how much the holiday care will be and put aside a bit each month to cover it. That, plus the fact I don't have to pay for out of school care makes it easier to pay for when the time comes.

We find it much easier than we expected tbh. I am v lucky and work 3 slightly short days with some flex, so 2 days a week are covered by my days off anyway. The trouble with a lot of hol clubs is they tend to be short hours eg 10-3.30, but with a bit of jiggling with other parents in similar circs, we can work round that occasionally.

Typically in a half term my parents will take DC 2 days (inc overnight- their preference, it doesn't make much diffeence to us) and one of us will take the Friday off, so the whole of half term just takes 1 day leave from 1 parent. Similar pattern in the hols, with my parents some weeks and hol club for those 2 days in other weeks. Plus a week or 2 off as a family. I think last summer my parents did 4 days, DC did 4 days at summer camps and DH and I covered the rest.

We only have holidays in the school hols as we don't have spare leave to cover a 14th week off!

Working PT but not Mondays also helps as I get to take some of my Bank hol allowance as effectively extra Annual Leave. And I do have more leave than you. But with a few days here and there of hol clubs it is honestly ok. Hol clubs vary hugely in price but I've paid £17ish a day for a really good one, and I think we'd probably want to send them just for fun occasionally anyway, so 8 days a year or so don't break the bank.

I imagine it would be v tough with 2 FT workers and no GPs though.

I'm a teacher who did a postgrad which gave me another non school based qualification in a field I was really interested in moving into. But however I looked at it, I couldn't work the holidays other than the baby. The one in school based nursery and the 2 at primary school made it seem impossible to me. We have no GPs to help and the few clubs around where we were then living didn't cater for a 4yr old in reception. They needed to be 5 for most things. It would have meant no summer holiday as a family as all holiday would have been used up for childcare. And still a shortfall. I just don't know how people do it with 4/5yr olds and no family. So I didn't apply for that dream job and stayed teaching.

Mixture of local student babysitter who takes my two boys out on local (cheap) trips and is fab.
School Holiday club paid with Childcare vouchers.
I don't work Fridays and I work flexi-time.
Some days off are bank holidays anyway.

It does work out, but dh gets more leave than some and is prepared to look after kids alone. We still manage two weeks a year off all four of us for a holiday away.

Lots to think about there, thanks all... I hadn't thought of childcare vouchers, or sports clubs that may be cheaper than regular holiday clubs.

Those, along with with staggering holidays with DH, press ganging our older DCs for a week or two and budgeting for the year I guess it'll be doable.

My, do I miss 16 weeks paid leave (private school) per year! Going to be on major payback now.

I work part time and M's dad is self employed so we can do a fair bit between us. In addition I tag on holiday clubs and do swops with friends mums which helps. It is easier being part time as I only work on three days and have flexible hours which helps but of course I only get part time wages!

Have older children and work part time! Glib but it won't be for ever. I didn't use my leave allowance this year
When you say you don't have family do you mean locally or at all? Because a day's leave+ 2 nights with gps + a days leave or toil for the other parent can cover a week. Also boxing and coxing with other parents, courses and holiday play schemes. One year I ended up working 3 weeks I'd planned taking as leave as all dcs were desperate to do a (very subsidised) course at £20/ week. Good luck- term time working is a big perk of teaching.

Viking, as a f/t teacher I never get to see my children's school plays or sports day.

I'm a single parent of 3 primary aged children. I can't afford to work and pay ridiculously high priced holiday childcare. Even the 'not bad' £25 a day clubs. I temp during term time and sign on in the holidays.

Ours get 17 weeks a year ;) (long continental holidays - we live abroad)

We do a mix of holiday clubs, sports activities (DS's gym club runs holiday courses) and residential trips. Mine are a bit older now so the childcare element is not really an issue but you have to occupy them somehow - DD 13 is doing 3 weeks with a music association (expensive) and DS will probably get put on a plane to go and stay with a friend's son for at least 2 weeks. You manage, but it's a big expense that you have to budget for.

Just a thought, don't know if it'sjust our school but a lot of TA jobs go to parents who are actively volunteering, and for more than an hour or so a week. If I were after a TA job I'd be putting in alot of volunteer hours while jobhunting elsewhere...

Ds2 is in reception but goes to daycare in the afternoon. We pay for a full time place (don't start me...) so he still goes there in holidays.

DS1 holiday clubs and annual leave. Clubs range from £80-£120 a week. This week it's £100.