Teachers! How do you manage childcare?

[Leslienope]

So I have 3 children (1, 3 and 5). 5 yo is in reception, 3yo and 1yo at nursery. Am going back to work 3 days a week shortly.

I have to be at work by 7.30 (I'm a teacher) and it's a 30 min drive. DH works with Asia so has 8am meetings every day and a 1 hour commute to the office.

Has anyone got any other childcare solutions other than a nanny? I just don't know how to get them where they need to be and get myself to work as well...

Most teachers I know use childminders. More likely to do term time only than a nursery, you just need to find someone with an early start. 3 young kids does make it more difficult though!

I know someone who works shifts and cm covers her 6am - 2pm shift so some will accommodate early starts.
I do agree husband needs to rethink work - hour commute and 8am meeting daily isn’t family life compatible with 3 young children. Presumably he’s off by 6.30 am at latest so not there for dressing them/breakfast etc.

@SmolCat

Is there an older female lady around that you may be able to pay? This sounds like something Martin from Friday Night Dinner would say.

Was it just a random person? Not a registered childminder?

Haha I thought my wording did read a bit strange! More along the lines of nice neighbour or family friend who's known to the children.

So we used to use a childminder for DC2 (she started early) and DC1 went to the nursery attached to my school. DC2 can't go to that nursery because it's single sex and he is the wrong sex!! DC1 now in the local state primary.

I think we will look at a nanny and ill suck up the cost on the basis of a much easier life and staying in work. Otherwise I may consider a nursery close to work for DC2 and DC3.

There is an early morning club for DC1.

I also need to ask Dh to be more flexible and I'm sure he will be!

Thanks everyone.

Childminder.

@CoastalWave why should a huge proportion of the teaching workforce be restricted in their careers by the inflexibility of teaching??

Apologies if this is stating the obvious. I'm p1/2 so literacy and numeracy are very much laid out for you, but i start my lesson planning on Thursday , and have 5 zip lock folders of activities monday to Friday for the week ahead . When i leave work my soft start activities are on the tables, my days zip lock folder is on my desk and my visual timetable is done. When I come in i just need to power up the laptop and load up the register because my activities are already in the poly pocket for the day. I walk a big dog in the morning so often am not in work till 8.30.

I'm quite chaotic by nature but this system has me not stressing so much! No kids tho!

@mnahmnah

I haven’t heard of a school where you need to be in at 7.30. We have to be there for 8.50, many people with children fly in at last minute. It just means getting everything organised and set up the night before.

This!

Although I suspect we're both in Scotland mnahmnah? And that'll be me flying the door at 845/50 after dropping DS at 8am breakfast club. There's loads of us running in with the kids!

What is this fresh hell - briefing at 8:15am? My God.

@Downsize2021

Apologies if this is stating the obvious. I'm p1/2 so literacy and numeracy are very much laid out for you, but i start my lesson planning on Thursday , and have 5 zip lock folders of activities monday to Friday for the week ahead . When i leave work my soft start activities are on the tables, my days zip lock folder is on my desk and my visual timetable is done. When I come in i just need to power up the laptop and load up the register because my activities are already in the poly pocket for the day. I walk a big dog in the morning so often am not in work till 8.30.

You sound like Scotland too. I'm secondary but very similar- all lessons and resources are planned in advance, jotters home for marking and brought in by me at 845!!

Childminder. Opens 730. Was such a rush when I had to be at school for 8am in a different town ,very stressful.
Pick up by 515 since covid due to her needing extra cleaning time as it's her home

Must be Scotland? I've always worked in schools where 8.15 is the absolute latest and day starts 8.30.

Lots of Scottish schools start at 8.30/8.35

Also a teacher who works 3 days. I leave at 7, DH leaves at 7:30. We have a childminder and DH drops off LO at 7:30. When it’s time for F1 (LO is 2.5), will split the hours between childminder and nursery with childminder doing pick up and drop offs to the nursery.

I'm a teacher, single parent, work 3 days per week, had one in nursery and one in school until recently.

Dropped off at nursery at 7.30 and one off at school breakfast club. I sent mine to the school where I work. Not sure I could've managed any other way!

We employed a term time nanny who came through the door at 7am and took over at the breakfast table!

Either DH or I were back by 6pm.

To be honest, all my take home wages went on the nanny, but a) I would have gone mad as a FTM and b) I saw it as an investment to keep my career progressing.

For peace of mind, we had 2 permanent back ups for nanny illness - grand parents and a local child minder who was able to do 'one-offs'.

@KingscoteStaff

We employed a term time nanny who came through the door at 7am and took over at the breakfast table!

Either DH or I were back by 6pm.

To be honest, all my take home wages went on the nanny, but a) I would have gone mad as a FTM and b) I saw it as an investment to keep my career progressing.

For peace of mind, we had 2 permanent back ups for nanny illness - grand parents and a local child minder who was able to do 'one-offs'.

Did you find your nanny through an agency? I'm not sure where to look! Totally agree with both those reasons to keep working.

@Serafinaaa

I'm a teacher, single parent, work 3 days per week, had one in nursery and one in school until recently.

Dropped off at nursery at 7.30 and one off at school breakfast club. I sent mine to the school where I work. Not sure I could've managed any other way!

Ultimately I'll probably need to find a job a bit closer to home which is a shame as I like my job!

These suggestions to find morning-only nannys and wraparound childminders that do collect & drop-offs - nothing remotely like this in my area (Cambridgeshire) - these are total unicorn suggestions to me that I learned the hard way!

My kids are now both in primary and life is now easier. But I hired a nanny at the time (gobbled up my salary for two years), increased the rate so part time was a little more attractive and unfortunately had to increase the hours too even though I didn’t need them entirely. Eventually found someone -
Who then left because she got offered a full time role! I was screwed!!!!! Then Corona and lockdowns and here we are, kids are school age now!

@Leslienope We went through Gumtree. I specified that we were looking for a graduate with English as a first language rather than a specific childcare qualification.

We offered a wage that we paid weekly, however many hours they worked - so in the holidays we were paying for nothing, whereas in term time the actual hourly rate was probably slightly lower than average. This was negotiated with our nanny - who stayed with us for 5 years, so it clearly suited us both!

[quote Mistressiggi]Lots of Scottish schools start at 8.30/8.35[/quote]
I've never heard of them. I work in Glasgow, biggest council, and all Secondaries start at 8:50 and primaries 9am. All I need to do is be there for 8:50 and can leave at 3/ 3:45 (2 longer days). I take all my work home as that suits my family life. 2 days a week I don't work last period so I leave at 2:10pm to collect DS3 - again taking work home. Thank goodness we have this culture or I'd not be half as happy. The McCrone agreement means if you're not teaching you don't need to be there, you can work from home.

Morning briefings at 8:15 would kill me, breakfast club doesn't open until 8.

@Puffalicious

No, I’m England actually! All the schools in my area start at 9.00, teachers have to be there for briefing students 8.50 in my school. I have never heard of anywhere being earlier!

Loving hearing about colleagues whizzing in minutes before the bell! We have meetings that start at 8 a.m., some at 8.15 am. When I started teaching, before-school meetings were just for SLT and were once a week. Now we’re all at it, plus weekly two hour post-school training, plus weekly after-school dept meetings. None of us are any better at teaching - we’re just all more stressed with less time for marking and prep which would actually help the students to improve!

Anyway. Good luck with it, OP!

@Christmas1988

Another mum at school looking for an extra bit of pocket money might be your best bet.

What world do people live in?! A random parent at a school her child has just started in to watch her children?!

Childminder initially, now they're old enough breakfast club- starts 7:30am means I'm in by 8am.