If you work FT what do you do with kids in summer hols?

Soundbathfan · 2023-06-30T08:31:31+00:00

Hi all My husband and I are due our first in Dec and I am thinking ahead in terms of childcare. We intend to carry on working ideally FT but have no family particularly close :(. What on earth do people do for childcare during school years in summer hols?!

audweb · 30/06/2023 09:33

Used my childminder for the first few years, then the after school club as they run a holiday club. Booked my annual leave around the dates the child care was closed. I know other friends use holiday clubs and some childminders take kids on over the summer.

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 09:36

Combination of annual leave, unpaid parental leave and holiday clubs.

We both get 6 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays so we only usually use 2-3 weeks of holiday clubs

You might also find you can do some swaps with other parents.

Our area has loads of options but it varies around the country

Yoyooo · 30/06/2023 09:40

Childcare or annual leave.

treetwig · 30/06/2023 09:41

Dc clubs plus annual leave for me and dh separately

DontMakeMeShushYou · 30/06/2023 09:44

Nursery for the first few years. Once they were in school it was a combination of tag-teaming annual leave with DH and sending them to holiday club.

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 30/06/2023 09:44

Annual leave and holiday clubs. We do also have family. We arrange with other parents to share some childcare

Nordicrain · 30/06/2023 09:45

I wfh, and kids are 6 and 9. This year we have two weeks annual leave booked togher, and DH and I will both take a few days here any there, so that's probably another week. For the rest we will use a combination of childcare/ acitivities and the kids being at home while I work. It's not super ideal, but grandparents can't help this year for various reasons, and there is just not enough clubs etc available nearby to fill those 3 weeks, at least not without taking out a second mortgage!

neverbeenskiing · 30/06/2023 09:47

I work TTO now but previously used a mixture of holiday clubs (but most round here won't take under 5's), annual leave, unpaid leave, and grandparents.

rainylake · 30/06/2023 09:48

Holiday clubs when we can’t take leave. Fortunately there are lots in our area and DD is the kind of child who likes organised activities and genuinely benefits from going. Over the summer we try to use a range of different ones so she doesn’t get bored doing the same thing. It’s expensive though. Sometimes you can also organise reciprocal days with school friends.

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 09:50

This might just be our area but I don't find holiday clubs that much more expensive than wraparound.

Our wraparound is £25 a day and holiday clubs are £35 or so.

Gazelda · 30/06/2023 09:52

They were in childcare for the first few years. That was the easy part.

Once they started school, we used AL and holiday clubs.

The worst year was first year at school (Reception) as most holiday clubs won't take children until they're 5.

Nordicrain · 30/06/2023 09:53

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 09:50

This might just be our area but I don't find holiday clubs that much more expensive than wraparound.

Our wraparound is £25 a day and holiday clubs are £35 or so.

For us clubs are basically 9-3/4, so school hours which are free normally! But many at also £40-50 a day. Let's say you've got 4 weeks to fill for 2 kids, that's £2000.

BringOnSummerHolidays · 30/06/2023 09:54

Childminder and holiday club. We also use all our annual leave in school holidays to lower the cost of childcare.

tennesseewhiskey1 · 30/06/2023 09:55

Holiday clubs plus annual leave plus holiday.

ArtichokeAardvark · 30/06/2023 09:55

I've got 2 and my youngest is too young for holiday clubs, so we've taken 4 weeks annual leave between DH and I and hired a university student as a temp nanny for the other two weeks. I work from home so don't need someone with qualifications or nanny experience as I'm always there if there's a problem, just someone fun to build forts and play football with them. Cost is working out as equivalent to two kids at holiday camp.

Tofuislovely · 30/06/2023 09:55

Was suggesting to my DC who is on holiday from uni that they should offer this kind of babysitting service! I'm sure there are loads of uni students who would make excellent babysitters over the summer ( and I think it's quite easy to get a DBS check done).

holycannaloni · 30/06/2023 09:56

We hired a nanny for a couple of years, which worked out at an identical cost to holiday clubs, plus the children got to be at home more which was nice for them. Now they're a bit older so can entertain themselves at home whilst husband and/or I WFH, which I know is a real privilege. They still do a couple of weeks of holiday clubs that they're keen on/that friends are doing to break it up and we take annual leave.

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 09:58

Nordicrain · 30/06/2023 09:53

For us clubs are basically 9-3/4, so school hours which are free normally! But many at also £40-50 a day. Let's say you've got 4 weeks to fill for 2 kids, that's £2000.

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Do you get tax free childcare? For us that takes it down to a more reasonable figure.

But TBH it's all so much cheaper than nursery when they were under 3 that it doesn't feel so bad for us

Hazelnuttella · 30/06/2023 09:58

Don’t use a term time only nursery, and then you don’t need to worry about it for another 4 years. That’s my plan anyway…

TheChosenTwo · 30/06/2023 09:58

I have 4 weeks to fill; he is doing 2 Tuesdays and 2 Thursdays of football camp, will
hopefully see friends, 2 days of bike skills, mil will take him on a Monday, both his older siblings (who drive) will entertain him on a Wednesday, dh will take a few days to fill gaps, and I’m going to take a couple of Fridays off. I wfh every day except a Friday. He’s also old enough (11) that when he wakes up he’s able to just chill for an hour or two before coming to find breakfast or company so for the odd day that he may just be at home it’s not a problem but I want to have as much planned as possible as otherwise it’s just miserable doing nothing endlessly.
When I had 3 of school age I worked a term time only job.

brunettemic · 30/06/2023 09:59

DH is a teacher, problem solved. Although I do pretend to get grumpy when he has to go in for an inset day 😂

Nordicrain · 30/06/2023 10:00

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 09:58

Do you get tax free childcare? For us that takes it down to a more reasonable figure.

But TBH it's all so much cheaper than nursery when they were under 3 that it doesn't feel so bad for us

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No, we don't.

I mean sure, it's cheaper than nursery. But also less reliable, worse hours, etc.

I am not saying we can't afford it, but it's a huge chunk of money to spend on 9-3 childcare and it's easy to understand why it might be difficult for people already budgeting. Especially for multiple kids.

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 10:01

holycannaloni · 30/06/2023 09:56

We hired a nanny for a couple of years, which worked out at an identical cost to holiday clubs, plus the children got to be at home more which was nice for them. Now they're a bit older so can entertain themselves at home whilst husband and/or I WFH, which I know is a real privilege. They still do a couple of weeks of holiday clubs that they're keen on/that friends are doing to break it up and we take annual leave.

I have been trying to persuade my kids into this but DS1 is adamant that he wants to go to holiday club rather than have a babysitter or nanny... But I think the combination of tax free childcare often not being available for nannies and likely ending up paying for them to get out and about for some of the time makes it pretty similar in cost.

Grumpyfroghats · 30/06/2023 10:03

Nordicrain · 30/06/2023 10:00

No, we don't.

I mean sure, it's cheaper than nursery. But also less reliable, worse hours, etc.

I am not saying we can't afford it, but it's a huge chunk of money to spend on 9-3 childcare and it's easy to understand why it might be difficult for people already budgeting. Especially for multiple kids.

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Yeah I can see that, it's clearly different for everyone. I was just commenting that for us we have relatively cheap 8-5 holiday clubs available that actually aren't much more expensive than what we pay in termtime.

BreehyHinnyBrinnyHoohyHah · 30/06/2023 10:03

It's one of the reasons I'm still working 2.5 days instead of 5 days. It means that DH can take a week's worth of annual leave to cover two of my working weeks. As a result, we have just enough annual leave to cover almost all the holidays between us, with the use of holiday clubs for a couple of weeks in the summer holidays. We get one week off together for a family holiday.