to wonder how people manage the school holidays

[Kafri]

as in, childcare wise.

DS is still in nursery but I quite often wonder how the heck I'll cover the school holidays once he gets to school.

Obviously dh and I can try to book holidays from work to cover as many as possible but what do you all do for the weeks you can't book as leave etc.

I know IABU to worry about this right now but I can't seem to help it.

Combination of:

• buy extra holiday at work
• doing overtime to build up time off in lieu
• work from home (and yes, I do work as DC are old enough to entertain themselves at home)
• have grandparents to visit for a few days (don't live locally)
• holiday clubs (Forest School, tennis camp, gymnastics club)
• playdates with friends (reciprocated, of course)

I am now self employed for this reason. I take a pay hut but save £6k a year in childcare costs. I now could not return to a "normal" job and earn enough to cover my current salary plus pay for childcare. I used to have a childminder who did two days a week after school and held a daily place open for ds in the hols. Ds does a football club which runs every day in the hols 9-4 for £14 a day. He does 2-3 days a week there so I can work in peace!
My neighbours use a mixture of school club and grandparents during term time. Normally they both take some holidays during the summer and then combine that with grandparents. They both started new jobs recently so don't have holidays to take. They're really struggling. I will help out a couple of days when ds is here as it gives him someone to play with while I work!

This is one area where being split up actually benefits - he has two weeks off and I have two weeks off, then the other two weeks she goes to clubs, friends, parents etc.

This has worked all years but this one where for various reasons I couldn't take any time off myself. It's been harder but if you plan in advance there are lots of cost effective options. Swaps with friends are good

Forgot to add, my childminder used to give me her holiday dates in January and I had to book them off work. It was a case of "even if you don't allow me the holidays I won't be here as I have no childcare" with work and they had to accept it. It always involved xmas so it was tough luck as I was a single parent with no family within a 50 mile radius!

It has always baffled me why working parents, who previously have paid for their DCs to attend private nursery or a childminder, don't seem to know what to do about school holidays (or indeed after school care) when, except for location, things will continue as they did when DCs were in private nursery surely? ie care is needed to cover working hrs.

Perhaps I'm lucky that DD's school offers a holiday club for all holidays except xmas for £24 a day, 8am-5.30pm for 3-11 year olds (and non pupils can go). Plus the local college offers one 8am-6pm for 5-14 yr olds.

So, as i put DD and now DS into private nursery, my needs during the holidays are similar as I work FT. I take very little holiday outside school hols, so I can take time off during school hols, but we go away for 2 weeks as a family in August. I have no other family, both my parents are dead, and MiL has one DC one day a week during the summer, alternating. So DD goes one Monday, DS the next Monday. Apart from that, DD spends 2 days over the summer with 2 different friends and that's it. Rest of the time she goes to holiday club.
It costs less than private nursery but we still have to budget for it, just like we did with nursery. I use childcare vouchers and we just have to suck it up.
She adores it and complains if I collect her early!

MrsArch - it's not always the cost it's the fact that in lots of areas there just aren't extended holiday clubs/cover available for school age children. Certainly where I live there would be no where to send a 9 or 10 year old that would cover a long working day. Childminders might take 6 or 7 year olds, but in a lot of rural areas there is honestly just nothing.

To have both a local school and a college offering extended day care for older children is a real bonus.

We're lucky to have grandparents helping out. I've also had 2 weeks off and managed to get most of the bank hol week off too. I've also found a sports club that only charge £14 per day. I have a spreadsheet to keep track of what days the kids are where and how much it's costing me in childcare.

We took first two weeks of holiday as a family and then are very fortunate to have a holiday club operated by the same people as our breakfast and after school club. It's open 8-6 and costs £18 per day. As they are a registered childcare provider I can use childcare vouchers to pay for it. We used that for 4-weeks. Back to school this week. I provide friend childcare with no obligation to have a return 'slot' am just delighted to be able to help. Our holiday club is amazing. Take the kids in ranger walks, to the beach and do all sorts of activities. You may find your school had something like that OP. Good luck when the time comes to use such things.

Mrs Arch the school after school club finishes at 5pm which is also when I finish work and the private nursery does after school club but not school holiday so nothing to do with cost but with availibility.

"It has always baffled me why working parents, who previously have paid for their DCs to attend private nursery or a childminder, don't seem to know what to do about school holidays (or indeed after school care) when, except for location, things will continue as they did when DCs were in private nursery surely? ie care is needed to cover working hrs."

Its not at all the same though is it. Private nursery is private nursery - its not holiday care. Holiday clubs vary in price and hours. You don't have children and immediately think 'oh - I wonder what I'll do with them in the school holidays'. You use a nursery, and when the time to start school approaches, its then you start looking into wraparound and holiday care - at which point, many people think 'Oh. Shit'. My school offers wraparound but you have to get in there quick i.e. before you even apply for your school place. They do the odd day of holiday care - only two weeks out of the summer holidays was offered this year.

Actually we are very lucky where I live though. We have a lot of options.
I hate putting them into the same venue every day during holidays so I try and vary it for them (although I can usually have them twice a week so its not EVERY day - plus DH takes time, and myself and a friend do child swaps)
Some clubs only do 9-3.30 i.e school hours, which is no good at all. Others finish slightly earlier than is useful (5.30pm i.e. when I finish work and I'm half an hour away) but I'm luckily to have an understanding manager who will let me take a short lunch so I can get away by 5pm.
Some charge ok fees until you realise that the add ons for extra hours are huge. Some turn out to be not so great and you don't want to leave your kids there.

We manage, but it takes a LOT of organisation (on my part - DH just blindly follows the timetable I have to put on the wall so I know where they are every day!)

I also changed career to become a TA in my children's school, and I love it! Of course it's not possible for everyone and not everyone's cuppa, but I knew (and when I became a teacher years ago, I think I also knew, despite being pre-children) that the stress of juggling wasn't me, and that working in school takes that away. Perhaps worth a thought? The two other TAs in my team were also in other, fairly high flying careers, before changing to a more child friendly option.

It's natural to worry. This is my first school summer hols for DS who is 5.
He is at the nearest school holiday club for 5 weeks.
Compared to nursery fees it is an absolute bargain.
About £600 a month.
Feels fabulous.
And then we have a weeks holiday in Devon at the end.

Its a mix of holiday clubs/annual leave/friends and Grandparents!

I was lucky to get 3 weeks off this summer holiday (which is a first in 9 years!) so dd had 2 weeks off holiday clubs and 1 week with my mum.

Its a juggle but life with kids is generally anyway!

My kids are a bit older now and so able to be left more but we manage by just taking one week of annual leave together for a family holiday. the rest of our annual leave is taken seperately to maximise time off to cover school hols. I ask my work if I can do mainly nights and weekends over the summer holidays and they are usually great at granting this. the downside is we never get any weekends off together over the whole summer. If I do have to work some days in the week, dh takes odd days of annual leave to cover. My youngest dd has also done some holidays clubs/ music clubs ( music week this year only cost £45 for 5 days 9-3). I also sometimes share childcare with my neighbour who has a dd a similar age. We have no grandparents or other relatives to rely on.

We live in a small town and there are lots of holiday clubs, the one my dd goes to is run by a local private school and is very outdoorsy/build dens/camp fires type club - my dd loves it!

Most of the local leisure centres also do clubs, so do some of the churches and some of the secondary schools.

I have always been able to find childcare when I have needed it, however some of the holiday clubs dd hasn't liked so there is an element trial and error.

MrsArch- The issue for parents who used nursery/ childminder when their children were pre schoolers isn't cost- it's availability. Many nurseries operate only up to school age, and some childminders only take pre schoolers as they can earn more that way. They are restricted to a quota of children and don't always want to take up a valuable place with an older child who will only need before/ after school and holiday care. If you are in an area which has provision for all school holidays, normal working hours (plus allowing for reasonable commute, so in other words open from about 7.30 am to 6pm, then you're very fortunate. Not everyone as access to this.

On the other hand, when we're talking about money, the only people I've ever heard Moan about childcare costs for school age children are people who were previously SAHP. Those of us who worked and paid all year round nursery fees may struggle to find suitable wraparound care once the kids start school, but you won't hear us complain about the cost because it's a fraction of what we're used to

It isn't so much the cost that's worrying me (by that I'm not saying I'm made of money but we've cut back enough to pay for nursery so can continue that in school), it's more the availability of holiday clubs if we can't book holidays given I don't have family to fall back on in an emergency.
Added to this is how awkward dh previous employer was when it came to time off (and assertiveness not being one of his strengths by any stretch of the imagination)
I've just got visions of getting myself into bother at work cos I end up needing the whole 13w off....
I know it's unlikely to end up like that but I just wanted some insight into what others do to cover them. There's been some really useful ideas so thanks for sharing your arrangements.

It is difficult.
I started a new job so this time we
Week 1 jobless.
Week 2 up to aunts for the week.
Week 3 mil came to stay for a week.
4 and 5 dh off. I get 5 and some of week 6. Friend covering 1 day of week 6.

First year too. Got one in reception, other in private nursery. Nightmare, cost a fortune, had loving family stay but was then also entertaining guests and feeding the 5000.....hubby got posted away for the first four weeks argh!!A more relevant conversation is do any of us have innovative employers offering great opportunities or flexibility around term times? I have seen a very and legal figure in my firm leave her job because of this and can't help but think there has to be a solution that does not discriminate or leave the business vulnerable or understaffed. London is practically empty in the city over summer, women and men share the same problems here imo.

Holiday club. Only time it doesn't cover is Xmas holidays which is a pain. Otherwise it works out cheaper than nursery.

I found it more of a worry leaving DD age 5 at clubs than at nursery though. First time using them, very much word of mouth and see how they are in practice. A lot of variety in how much info they give parents, how things are set up and type of staff and ratios.

DD has done a good variety of clubs and now age 9 on her 5th summer she (and I) are pros.

Although this summer seeing DD as one of the biggest ones has already started me thinking about age 11 plus holiday care

Those with grandparents are very, very lucky. We have never had that help due to only 2 grandparents still alive and both are elderly now.

We use a childminder, for our 2 children, most of the time. I work 3 days a week and DH is full time. I usually get 2 weeks off in the summer but they won't allow unpaid leave for any of the other weeks in the summer. My childminder also takes 2 weeks off in the summer...aarrghh! So, I end up having the same 2 weeks as her (annoying at times). DH gets fixed holidays and has had no time off in the summer school holidays since our son was born 11 years ago! Next year he has 3 weeks off together but the first week is the last week of term but, whoop whoop, he finally has 2 weeks off in the summer school holidays. I hope I get them too or there will be BIG trouble. It is very hard having the children alone in the hols and we can't go away either as a complete family. I am back at work tomorrow and I haven't had a rest iyswim.

Anyway, we also have holiday clubs but I can no longer use these as my job was moved last winter to 26 miles away and I can't get back in time to pick them up. Ah, it's all fun organising childcare in the school holidays. Mine are 11 and 7 now so I am well used to it but can't wait until I don't need childcare EVER again.

Dixie, my son is 11 and the childminder has already dropped hints she no longer wants him after this summer (he starts secondary next month). The holiday clubs only go up to 11! I can't leave an 11 year old at home for 10 hours a day by himself! Arrggghhh!

Why do childcare providers not realise that children aged 11-15 still need to be looked after (especially the younger aged children)?

I'm going to face the same problem (finding care for children 11 and older) next year and I really am dreading it. Term time is bad enough but holidays involve, as you say, no adult supervision between 8 and 6. I honestly don't know what to do.

Holiday clubs. There are loads. Miles cheaper than nursery - happy days