How do working parents manage in the school holidays?

[ADJ1151]

Question says it all ^^

I have two Dc. Now my eldest is settled into full time school (she went part time for the first term) I need to start thinking about going back to work...

My husband works and earns a comfortable wage, we do manage quite well on his income but some extra income would be nice.

I’ve been looking at jobs in school hours and also the option of breakfast and after school clubs.

My two children have additional needs which makes it harder I think.

But how do you manage in the school holidays?

My Facebook newsfeed is full of parents asking if others can help out with their children during half term..

The school holidays will me my biggest hurdle. Like I say both my children have additional needs, family either can’t or don’t want to help out. I’ve never expected them to.

My children’s school don’t have a holiday club.

There are two childminders in the area but they are full.. and I would be concerned because they are both fairly new childminders and probably haven’t dealt with children with autism before.

If my husbands hours stayed the same every week I would work around that but they don’t. He is on alternating shift but does overtime etc as well. He tries to book all of his holiday in school holiday time but often with half term he doesn’t always get it off because there’s a lot of other people working there who also want it off..

Aibu to think it’s really bloody hard? With the added difficulty of both my children having autism... making finding childcare harder.

What’s the other options? Working from home? working term time only? (what kind of jobs, don’t want to work in the school)

Help?

I became a teacher.

I had to get a job that fitted round school times and holidays. Not easy. 🤗

I became a teacher.
you still need wraparound childcare

Childminders, nanny or aupairs have worked for us as my dd with special needs could not attend clubs

Depending on where you live, there are special needs holiday playschemes, I used to work on one when I was younger.

When I go back my dh and I will have to take the majority of holiday seperately, use holiday clubs and a bit of grandparent help.

Being a support worker is a job that has flexible hours, they're zero hour contracts but you'll always get hours and people pick and choose what they can get. Your autism experience means you could work with adults with ASD, LD etc.

DH and i both worked part time when tne kids were primary age, and both took some time off in the school holidays. My job is flexible enough that i could do some extra hours before/ after the school holidays to enable time off in the holidays. Some of my colleagues who work full time have arranged a week or 2 of unpaid leave in addition to their usual leave allowance. We also used a holiday club connected with DH workplace, but if we hadn't done that there are lots of sports based holiday clubs available. Not all team sports, there are options for things like Dance or raft building. Once they started secondary school they prefered to be left home alone in the holidays rather than going to clubs, but i still try and have a day or 2 home with them each holiday.

Holiday club and annual leave. It’s really no big deal. Holiday club is £30 ish a day. We do 3 days of that (they’re only open 3 days) and then dh or I use AL depending on who is more able to take off that week for other 2 days. I get 28 days a year alone and can take off more unpaid if I needed, but it’s plenty between us to cover a couple days here and there.

I don't work as there is no suitable childcare. Can't leave him with family members now he is older as they won't cope. If there was suitable childcare it would be £30 a hour as he needs 2:1 care.

I'll be using every club I can from September when I begin studying again. Feel so guilty already but I'm a LP, have a selfish ex, no GP to help (other FT commitments) so I don't have a choice in it.

The clubs fill up really fast here too, (breakfast & after school fill up well in advance for example) so I've no idea what I'll do if I don't manage to secure places when I need them. OR when my boys get ill, which they will as they have health issues. Absolutely no idea, it's stressing me right out.

The only way I could work around DS2 who has ASD was to find a school job. I did an NVQ to become a qualified TA and worked part time as a 1:1 with a DC with ASD. I had to apply to many schools and worked my way up from 10 hours a week to 20 including 5 hours lunch time supervision. Probably harder if you are rural, I’m in a town so lots of schools fairly close.

When my exH left (very common with DC with SN) I managed to get a job as a school science technician which was longer hours (25) but actually a lower rate of pay, but slightly more money. I now work 37 hours a week, term time only, but DS can now manage a few hours on his own. The pay is very low anyway and as it’s term time only you get 85% of full time pay.

Holiday club and annual leave. It’s really no big deal.

Of course it isn't if you're in your personal situation.

Parents of kids with SN and single parents who have to arrange it all themselves (no other personal help) who also have kids with SN, find it massively stressful though.

My DS has autism and childcare has been a nightmare. Doing breakfast and after school club was too much for him. And the local holiday scheme for autistic kids runs for one week in the summer from 9-3. Being in childcare had a knock on effect with his behaviour and he got in trouble at school a lot more when I worked full time.

I ended up taking a much more junior role which allows me to work from home at times to suit me. It's boring and poorly paid, but dealing with childcare in my situation is so much worse.

Holiday club and annual leave. It’s really no big deal.

it is a huge deal and often an impossibility for parents of children with SN. It's a doddle with children that are fine but OP has 2 DC with SN. Totally different situation .

Wrap around and holiday care was the number one priority for us in choosing a school!

I wish that I could make wraparound and holiday care a priority when choosing schools, but if your child has significant SEN then it’s not possible to make that a priority - the priority is making sure the setting can meet their needs. We are arguing against the school the LA wants to name which does have a holiday club, for one that doesn’t, because that’s where they need to be.