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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think work is easier once your kids are at school??

83 replies

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:09

Finding decent before and after school care is a frickin nightmare. There’s a plethora of nurseries and childminders for babies - preschoolers but for school age children

OP posts:

Original poster

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:10

Sorry posted too soon!!
For school age children it’s just basically you have to take whatever you can find. :(

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Original poster

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:11

And my heading is even wrong too!!
Gahhhhh not my week!! Sorry but you get the gist!

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Muddlingalongalone · 02/02/2018 22:17

I am lucky that we have school run breakfast & asc on site but totally agree with you. 7:45-6 51 weeks a year (Don't use all the hours but the possibility is there) for nursery compared with 14 weeks of half terms/school hols/inset days/pop in for 1/2hr for x,y,z.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 02/02/2018 22:18

Why not a childminder for an after schooler?

Original poster

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:20

@georgie
Because they’re not easy to find. Most are full.

OP posts:

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:21

I agree with you!
My boys get shunted from school clubs to grandparents to babysitters. I hate it so much. I don't know why it's so hard. I pay a 17 year old £10 an hour to help me do the pick ups and drop offs, that's how desperate I am.

Nacknick · 02/02/2018 22:21

The childminder who'd looked after my son since he was 1 year old didn't collect from his primary school so that wasn't an option Georgie.

I agree with you OP

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:22

And I was on the waiting list for the after school club for over 2 years! Thank god my MIL has been mostly around and I have an understanding boss. I feel guilty pretty much all the time though.

PenelopeChipShop · 02/02/2018 22:23

I can’t figure this out either. I have one in school and a toddler and theoretically there should be solutions - a childminder is the obvious one. Except he didn’t get into the local school and I haven’t been able to find a CM who can do pickups from our school as most are committed to doing School runs in our actual town.

Or nursery with an after school club - his old nursery has one but again, it doesn’t do collections from our school. There are after school clubs but they finish by 4ish so still not late enough for a normal work day.

At the moment I just don’t work as much as I could do / would like to, and have some help from GPS.

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:24

I owe so many favours to so many parents, who've helped me out when I need to go to an early meeting and can't even manage to take them to school. It's so utterly and completely exhausting isn't it.

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:25

Penelope - a constant juggle!

Shenanagins · 02/02/2018 22:26

I’m lucky as we have on site wraparound care at the school. No idea how we’ll manage when they get to first year at high school as leaving dc at home alone for nearly 3 hours is not idea.

AmaraSas · 02/02/2018 22:26

Its ridiculous i have lost my childcarer twice, wrap around care is generally full, childminders sometimes take over eights but theres such a high demand its hard to find them. Nannys generally arent interested in just wrap around care. Theres this huge gap between 8year old and 12/13 when they start being sensible enough to leave at home. They want us to go back to work but the infrastructure isnt in place, and youre really stuck if you havent got the money to pay for childcare in the first place. Finally, add special needs into the mix.......

trilbydoll · 02/02/2018 22:27

There's no perfect solution for school wraparound care. Childminders have holidays and potentially sickness. After school club is okay but they don't give them a meal so then you're trying to feed knackered kids at 6pm. And holidays are cobbled together!

edwinbear · 02/02/2018 22:28

We have a great club just around the corner from school. They are open 7am-6.30pm, do school runs to about 4 or 5 of the local schools, then collect them after school (even go back later for then if they have an after school club or sports match).

They are then open the same hours in the holidays when they take them out every day on trips to local parks, bowling, cinema, museums etc. They are out there - my life wouldn't function without them. YADNBU.

hibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:28

It depends where you are and the availabiluty if school wraparound care and childminders.

It is certainly a lot cheaper once they start school!

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:29

EdwinBear ... Where do you live - we're moving there too!!!!

Oly5 · 02/02/2018 22:32

This is why I have an au pair!

Ummmmgogo · 02/02/2018 22:32

you forgot to mention the endless 'come into school to support your child' type requests. our school likes parents to come in once a week for 'stay and play' and then for assemblies, school plays and showing work a few times a term. and parents evening ends at 5!

Original poster

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:35

@hibbledibble
I disagree- preschool currently free due to 30 hours free. Childminder before /after school approx £5 / hour - costs more for school age.
Smaller babies then yes I do agree,

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Original poster

ibblebibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:37

Thank you you’ve all made me feel better that I’m not alone.
Lost my childcare and feeling really stressed right now 😭

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Believeitornot · 02/02/2018 22:37

Yanbu - I knew what you meantime even though the title was wrong.

It’s a fucking nightmare. I want to move to a lower paid job but can not get decent wraparound care because it doesn’t exist. After school club is off site and too far from the station I’d never make it there in time.

londonista · 02/02/2018 22:39

The only way I have been able to manage at all is to throw money at it, and even then it's hard. When they were very small Reception and Yr 2, i used to pay a nanny for a full day to pick them up at 3pm and take care of them when I got home from work at 7.30pm. Those 4.5 hours cost me £60 a day. It was the only way I could keep the nanny and the level of care I wanted. Now they're older this 17 year old across the road helps me out, thank god.

hibbledibble · 02/02/2018 22:41

Holiday care is a lot cheaper for school age. Around here playschemes are less than half the price of a day in nursery (which wouldn't be part funded by the free hours, due to funding being term time only).

While some get the 30 free hours at age 3, care before then is eye wateringly expensive, and the 30 free hours is very recent.

flightchecker · 02/02/2018 22:41

As a working, single parent with no family nearby, having decent wraparound care was the only way I could work. I have been very lucky to find something.

I'm coming to the end of needing it now and the relief is immense. I met our local head of chamber of commerce the other week and told him how lacking I think our area is in provision. He said he was aware and working on it. We'll see.

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