If you work FT where are your children during half term/holidays?

[27dresses]

I'm currently looking for full time work. I had DD (3) during university so I had no problems with childcare.

Just wondering where DD will go when it's the Easter/Summer and Xmas holidays. Do I need to fork out £££ to pay a childminder so I can continue to work?

Most people I know who work full time have a very finely tuned balancing act of annual leave between both parents (major drawback is not having much time off together) and paying for childcare

Annual leave / family and friends helping

Well, yes. Childminder or activity club, though those are easier to access from primary school age up. Family if they will. I teach and feel stuck with it while dc are small because for all its faults, being with the dc for holidays is great.

Yeah combination of annual leave (each partner taking different days) and summer camp type things. Occasionally reciprocal favours with friends. Grandparents sometimes do the odd day or two. It's usually a hotchpotch arrangement but we muddle through and it's usually an ok balance of time to spend with our kids, them doing some camps and getting to see friends etc.

I buy extra holiday and work from home a bit.

People do some combination of the following

• nursery (if your dc is young enough)
• childminder
• family help out
• share childcare with friends
• holiday club

Is your DC 3 now? Where does she go during term times, there may be some holiday care available?

Mine go to holiday club. £120 each for the week 😥

I was lucky, if you can call it that, as DH is medically retired so was around to see to dds. I only worked PT when they were younger though.

Mix of a Childminder, holiday club and well planned ‘play dates’!

This week I am off Monday/ Friday. They are with childminder tues/wed and their dad is looking after them Thurs. I am not with their dad and he works shifts so has some week days off which helps. Also some holidays my parents take them to stay at theirs for a couple of days.

We have. 4 yr old and use annual leave for bank holidays and 1 week holidays. The longer breaks like easter xmas and summer DD will be going back to nursery which is £42.50 a day. None of the holiday cl ubs round here take under 5s so looking forward to next year when theres more choice.

We have limited family and those we do have wo rk full time themselves.

She currently gets 15 hours with a childminder who is term time only.

I've got a part time job and seeking for full time as I'd like to get my career on the road.

I will ask DP about his annual leave

We're usually pretty lucky as I'm PT 5 days and DH is a shift worker so we can usually balance it, on the weeks we end up working on the same days they will go to the Grandparents if they are not away, if they are then I take annual leave.

Since he's been at school DS goes to the school holiday club. He's spent the odd week at his grandparents here and there, and we have used annual.leave when required.It's do able but can be pricey. However, significantly cheaper than full time day nursery!

No help from family so last summer we put DS into a holiday club but he had such a bad time there we took him out and lost £100. Luckily he can stay with his dad atm as he's not working but unless he can get a job in a school we'll have this shite all over again. Tax credits helped a bit with the cost but we ended up in debt so are scared of claiming again. Can't even consider another child due to my age and the cost of childcare so DS is an only.

We've always just used a child minder. They usually have four weeks off a year themselves and they're during school holidays but it matches your annual leave amount even if you only get 20 days statutory allowance.

Ask the child minder if you can pro rata it. For example, DD goes before school for an hour and after for 3.5 during term time and 8 to 6 during holidays. Its a static cost spread over the year rather than up and down and bank breaking during summer.

We pay 380 a month. 4 quid an hour. Childcare vouchers help but I believe they are closed now. Look into tax free childcare.

If your new workplace do them, get salary sacrifice childcare vouchers as they do save you some money and you can use them at any Ofsted registered childcare/holiday club.

Mine are with my parents, not near by. Both primary school. I'm really lucky though as my work has lots of hub offices and I'm able to go up there too and work in the nearest hun half the week. I've also worked at home at my parents or auntie so there's someone else "In charge" but I'm also there.

We are taking different half terms off, got a few holidays together, my mum is helping out for a few weeks and we will be using a holiday camp for a few weeks. It's a massive juggling act!

I have paid for holiday childcare lots of times in the past though. Also divorced so exh and I in theory split the time, meaning more annual leave to go around (as we aren't trying to take it together). Doesn't always happen in practice though!

I work 4 days a week and I'm a single parent. DS is primary school age. My exh works shifts including weekends so whenever he's off midweek in the holidays he has DS. I take all my annual leave in school holidays and then the rest of the time family and friends help out. I also have a very lovely flexible boss.

I've not had to use holiday clubs yet but I would if I needed to.

Op have you checked whether you could get 30 hours?

Annual leave
School promotes holiday clubs
Childcare share with other working parents

Grandparents, unpaid parental leave (two weeks a year), annual leave and holiday clubs. It's hard.
Juggle is real