To ask how the hell you make a career/job work with summer holidays

[Givemecoffeeplease]

I work in advertising in London but we plan to move to the Midlands in time for primary school. My media job won't really travel and I'm keen to do a job that allows me to be with the kids in the summer holidays, because we have no family to help and 6 weeks of summer camps seems too much and too expensive. I'm tempted by moving into teaching (primary or secondary) but suspect I'm naive about how hard it is. That said, it helps that I'll have the majority of holidays with my 2 DC. What do others do to allow them to make the most of work and family? Are there part time jobs /rewarding media sales jobs in more rural areas (Coventry, Warwick) that allow you to take the whole summer off?! Can't imagine it! So what do I do, and Aibu to ask how on earth you guys do it!???

Daily nanny for the younger children also had the older ones after school and in school holidays. Holiday clubs. 2 week family holiday. Then later we had someone who could do after school child care to 6pm in term time and full time in holidays - just put an ad in the paper - there are all kinds of old ladies and early retired people and students out there who are keen for casual work and brilliant with children.

Lots of parents here send to the school's holiday club - it is run by the same group that do the after school club in term time and they do a fantastic mix of activities. It isn't madly expensive, I think it was about £17 a day per child (open from 8:30 to 5:30 I think) with extra £5 for weekly trips away (to safari park, play centre, etc) although it is a few years since I used it. Children who don't attend the school can apply for a place if any left.
There are lots of sports summer camps but the times are not generally helpful to working parents.
I am self employed and don't work daytime during school hols but I realise this isn't an option for many.

It is 14 weeks in total. That's why I'm freelance.

We have 7 weeks off this year. DH and I are taking 2 weeks off each, overlapping by one for a family holiday,, so that covers 3 weeks. My mum is having them for a week. The other three weeks they are doing summer camps. Luckily at 8 and 5 they are old enough to start to have interests and we live in a city, so I have found things I think they will enjoy. It is a bit more expensive than going to the holiday club at nursery, but I think it's worth it.

I have 5 weeks leave per year, my fiancé has 5 weeks per year and my mum is covering 23 days through the year and he has 3 days in holiday club.

Our childminder has young teenagers of her own and a gaggle of kids who have grown up going to her house during the holidays. This has definitely helped them accept being in "childcare" even at the age of 10-11. They have a gang of peers to play with and spend long hours in the park/in front of a DVD. She is sensible enough not to try and organise them too much and lets them do the things that pre-teens want to do. She's also happy to be "on call" for my older daughter who wants to be at home, but needs an adult nearby in case of emergency.

I don't know how we are going to do it this year, it used to be me solely with them all summer. I have just started a new job and I used to love the summer holidays with the kids. Now I won't be seeing them. :( I should have waited until September. DH tells me to not worry about working and spend the time with the DCs. I think he is right.

If I do put them in summer camp it is £195 per week per child here. So that is my entire August salary gone on camps and lunches.

We live in an area where most of my friends have family nearby and the women mainly work part time, so use a combination of annual leave of both parents, extended family, out of school clubs and childminders. My one friend who works full time with no family close by has recently negotiated four weeks unpaid leave over the holidays.

I am now on dd3 who is 7. If you are planning what to from a clean sheet then it's simpler and you have to mentally adjust to having an annual childcare budget. I had no family help with my older 2 and there wasn't even any tax free element. With DD3 I calculate £40 per week term time for breakfast and afterschool club. She is off school for 13 weeks and I get (and buy a bit) 29 days leave plus bank holidays. Play schemes like super camps cost around £160 £170 for a full week. I save the max £240 per month in chilcare vouchers and this more or less covers it, with dh covering Xmas. You can't benefit from a full time wage without accepting that there is an annual childcare cost. I tried teaching, not for me and I am not willing to work for minimum wage. I have never found a proper part time, let alone term time job that actually pays anything near the jobs value. I have compromised my career by taking a job 20 mins up the road with 8.30-5 hours, that's a compromise I'm happy with but it took me ages to get to that point!

annual leave, grandparents, ex husband, holiday club, CM

lots of money and stress

Coventry, rural? Warwick, LeamSpa and Stratford maybe, but not " Cov"... I learnt that quite quickly moving to Warwick from Nottingham! Not helpful to your question, I know , just a little reminisce. (Although the triumvirate of Stratford , Leam and warwick great places to live ...regretting moving away)

Have you tried the University of Bham / University of Warwick for non academic jobs? I happened to look today and there are loads at Bham Uni

Regards media and sales in the Midlands you either want the Trinity Mirror Group (Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail) or the NEC Group.

There is also a large new venue opening at the NEC in Solihull called Resorts World - they've advertised loads around the city so they might have part time roles

Hope that helps!

Yes, years 7/8 look like being the tricky ones for us, we've never used a CM and most of the holiday clubs here only go up to age 11, but many seem to only have DCs up to about age 8 in which is a drag for older DCs. There are sports/performing arts camps but the days are shorter and they are only on on certain days/weeks, between them my two (9 and 11) are going to 4 different camps in the next fortnight, I haven't sorted the second half of the holidays yet, but the paperwork and general logistics of doing lots of short camps are hard, it would be impossible if I didn't have a car. If one of us worked in our home town I'd be happy to leave eldest DC for a few hours, knowing we could get home if necessary, but we are both >20 mins drive away so I'm not comfortable with that yet either.

Mix of annual leave and holiday camps. It's a juggle, and pricey. But we consider it just another part of the cost of being working parents.
Fortunately DD loves the holiday camp she goes to.

I have no family (or partner) to help and all my friends work, so no opportunities for help there. I've always had an annual childcare budget - it makes the summer holidays feel less daunting.

I used to take all the £240 vouchers and save them, now they are in secondary school they don't need breakfast and after school clubs so this has gone down to £100pm. I take the last week of the summer holidays off and the first week of January. I save the rest of my leave to use when they get sick. This covers two DC with me on FT hours.

The local university runs a holiday club up the the age of 15. My DC love it - they are entertained all day with activities, trips, theme days. I couldn't offer that level of enthusiasm for their amusement. The same group of children return each holiday, every year. They've become like family. There is a room for secondary school aged children, where they can watch 12 rating films, play rougher (organised) games or use their phones (camera phones are not permitted with the younger children). There's a quiet room too, which my younger DD likes to use, she gets a bit washed out with too much going on.

There have been some days where the DC have been exhausted from school and really struggled to get out in the morning, particularly when younger, but the playworkers are so considerate and caring that they were made comfortable. Now they are older they say how much they really love it.

There are a number of options.

1. be a teacher or LSA or marry one.

2. negotiate term-time only working in whatever role you have

3. Juggle with OH - take holidays separately, be part-time so you have fewer days to find, do a couple of weeks of holiday club, send the kids to grandparents for a week, do a swap with another mum ("I'll have them Tues and Thurs if you can do Mon and Weds").

The third is what we did for years but now we have gone for 1) :) not sure I recommend it tho.

Non academic jobs at a uni are no different to other office jobs - you still just get five weeks or however much annual leave. Unis are not closed in the holidays.

Also parental leave is only until the child is 5 (unless disabled I think) so that only works for a young child in reception.

Otherwise, like others have said, a combination of holiday clubs and annual leave. it's not ideal but what else can you do? I'm always amazed at the number of families who don't use any childcare at all in the summer.

Parental leave is up to age 18 now. Info a twww.gov.uk/parental-leave/overview

www.gov.uk/parental-leave/overview

It's difficult. I actually think working is more difficult when they go to school. Especially when during the last term when there are events every week. I spent an average of a day and half in school, every week for the last 4 weeks of this term. Meetings for dds move to secondary, meetings for ds starting in reception. Dds end of year play, dds leavers assembly, sports day, summer fayer etc.

It doesn't help that school are quite badly organised. The leavers assembly was on the website as the last Friday. Turned out that was wrong it was the Thursday. We got a text at 8am on the Thursday. But because I work for myself I could go. Would have missed it if I was employed. Our school even got the last day or term wrong and only corrected the week they finished.

When we just had dd, we did a mix of taking days holidays and my mum. Both me and dh now work from home running our own business and it makes life so much eaiser. Its so difficult.

One of the neighbours have a dd the same age as my dd and they both work ft, so we have her dd during the holidays if she needs help. I don't mind having her here and it helps them out a bit. But watching her juggle it, makes me grateful for the position I am in.

I live in that area to. (More rural ish than cov, but i wouldn't use rural per se). Unless you do move into a larger town the choice of schools particularly secondary is quite limited (obviously a bit soon yet). So we are now dreading a move into a specific area from the sweet village we live in.

It is the reason that I plan to continue being a teacher until DS finishes primary school. No idea what we would do otherwise...!

Don't go into teaching simply for the holidays; I am pretty sure there are plans afoot for reorganization of school holidays to help working parents, (apart from teachers of course). Not planned for the immediate future, but under consideration, nevertheless.
Teaching is great if you really want to teach; it is hell on earth if you don't or you are not properly trained, which I suspect is the reason why so many teachers are so stressed.

Coventry person here. Over the years I have worked term time only in our local university library (term time jobs tend not to come up now due to teaching going on all year round so people are holding on to their positions)
I have also used the university nursery (very competitively priced) and school wraparound care which also ran a holiday club. It's all been very piecemeal and a combination of careful planning, favours and good luck normally see you through.

I work part time and have accepted that I'll have to put up with being in a far more junior and poorly paid role than I should be, in return for lots of flexibility with my working hours. In the summer holidays I use a combination of annual leave/toil, DH's annual leave, grandparents, friends and holiday club (run by local council so cheap).

I have friends where both parents work full time (in well paid and fulfilling professional jobs) and they either pay for holiday clubs all the summer or send the kids to the grandparents. That wouldn't work for me but it does for many families. Unfortunately I did find I had to choose between my career and my family, you may be more fortunate though!