To be worn out by the mismatch between annual leave & school provision

[Yellowlegobrick]

25 days. Like most people i get 25 days annual leave.

School holidays plus inset days needs 65 days cover.

There are sod all good options to cover it locally. There'll be a football camp 20 mins away for 3 days 9 - 2.30, a forest school doing an odd week 9-3. The bigger camps are massively oversubscribed, don't run for the whole holiday and you sometimes can't get a place.

Aibu to think there needs to be a formalised, centrally managed system to acknowledge the gap and provide better coverage?

Even if DH take all our annual leave separately, we can't cover it all, especially not when we lose at least a couple of days each per year of annual leave covering days the children are ill.

Its a constant annual stress, i find myself filled with dread when the letter comes from school: end of term, finish after lunch at 1.15.... there goes another half day 🙁

Appreciate for some their circumstances may change but does this not enter your mind before you choose to have children?

The average annual leave entitlement is 20-25 days plus bank holidays... It is what it is, you choose to have children, be prepared to knit your life around looking after them and stop expecting everyone else to share the burden...

We did a mix of annual leave, visits to relatives, holiday clubs.

Now that we wfh we stopped bothering with holiday clubs the last few years.

I'm a teacher and I agree.

To say it in front of other teachers is a crime but I think the summer is too long. I think it should be 4 weeks max and shorter school days to compensate. I always notice how exhausted teachers are at this time of year, the kids have had enough. If the days were shorter I think the kids might be better rested and teachers would have more time for school stuff.

Yanbu.
I don't miss those days at all. I ended up taking my max unpaid parental leave in the primary school days so I could stretch out my leave. My dc's hated holiday clubs and it was less hassle to lose a days pay than have DD having a meltdown.

Poor parents poor kids. My mum worked minimal hours when I was in primary school and thank god she did. She was never stressed, alway able to be there for us. It’s such a sad state of affairs that we’re in as a society when we’re constantly being put in positions that cause family stress. The least the government can do is come up with a plan to make it easier for parents to work.

You don't get 25 days holiday if they are taken up by the days your children aren't at school.

Thing is parents can't or don't want to spend money to cover childcare.

@Beneficialchampion2 I don't think that's a very helpful comment. Sen parents don't know that their child's care needs will be higher. Everyone was a child once.

My mum used to run council play schemes in the late 90s/early 2000s. They were linked to local youth services and were heavily subsidised and extremely cheap. They included some brilliant trips. She had a set number of free places she could provide too. Unsurprisingly, nothing like this exists in our town now!!

I was really surprised to find out that wraparound care/ holiday club provision varies so much. My two nearest schools both offer breakfast/ after school clubs and holiday clubs, which is vital as we have no family near to help, so I assumed it was the same at most schools - turns out that isn’t the case!

We wouldn’t manage without the school holiday club (runs 8-6), though we split our leave so we have a week off each and one week off together to reduce the cost over the summer. All planned out in May or June.

Being able to wfh helps as I’ve been able to book DD onto a couple of activity days that finish at 3, but now she’s older I can pick her up then log on again when we get home while she entertains herself.

It is frustrating to see the emphasis on reducing nursery costs but nothing supporting primary school provision.

I live in EU, but the local authority organises cheap holiday clubs based in the Primary school buildings during the holidays. Staffed by the teaching assistants and uni students.

To those with younger children. Hang in there and it gets much easier once they are older. Especially if you can WFH. By year 5 or 6, they don’t bother you at home. You can invite a friend over and let them play at home. (Mostly means video games). Or they will do the same with their siblings. We still split annual leave between DH and I, and we spread the days where we have to work during school holidays so they don’t get too bored. We are now getting away without paying for holiday childcare.

It was much tougher in KS1.

I definitely think there are less options post Covid. The local activity centre that is only place locally offering 8-6 is closing down soon.

Yeah but mine also worked minimal hours and she still spent her hours with us screaming, ranting and raving at us. Courses for horses, isn't it?

Parents could get together and pay a childcare org to run a club
Approach school governors
It s a local issue
Go to locsl authority and local counsellors
What should the govt do? Other than offer tax breaks etc for childcare ( there are tax credits already right?)

I used variety kids clubs simmer camps summer nannies shared student with another family as they got older etc etc

It’s shit isn’t it. We live in a large city and the provision is better than it’s ever been but we do have to watching timings as some camps are just 9-3. Others offer wrap around provision but it’s a lot extra per day.
we have in the past had to get very creative - sharing drop offs and pick ups with friends and neighbours so one of us starts early whilst they drop off and then we finish early to pick up Whilst they finish late. Partner starting work at 7 so he can finish at in time to pick up whilst Id start 9/10 and do drop off but that depends on flexibility of the employer. The occasional odd bit of wfh with the child in front of a tablet for the last hour of the day, but appreciate this only works if you can wft and the child is compliant. My manager is letting me accrue and carry over more than 16 hours of flexi to use on the condition it’s just odd hours here and there not whole days if possible. I think it is possible but a very organised calendar is needed and a sympathetic employer probably helps.

@Dixiechickonhols it has got less options because those of us who can WFH no longer need childcare once they are the age to understand to not bother you while working.

Previously we would still need holiday club even with our 12yo.

It's not even just as simple as saying take annual leave (even at separate times from a partner if you have one) as some companies are more restrictive than other on when you can take holiday.

This is it, it's not just a case of saving annual leave. My DH can't take time off during the summer holidays as it's his works busiest time and there are seven people in my office who could potentially want time off all at the same time.

Mine didn't work at all and still sent us to holiday clubs several weeks a year because
a) we got to try all kinds of new activities and experiences and make new friends
And
b) I think we otherwise drove her demented

I live in a city where there are tonnes of holiday activities but it seems to me there are clubs everywhere not ridiculously rural.

I book at Easter for summer and after Christmas for Easter.

You just have to be organised.

I only work part time because of this. My son needs 1:1 so school clubs are no use and I don't earn enough to make a nanny worthwhile.

Meant to add DD also gets 'holidays' to various family members. She does enjoy them though

@Mumtothreegirlies mine didn’t work when I was in primary and she spent her time screaming at us too. I don’t remember day outs during holidays. All I remember were my angry mum.

We got a nanny when mum returned to work and it was much better.

Not everyone has a mum like yours.

I've just paid out £900 for holiday clubs for 3 weeks. 1 week on holiday as a family. The remaining 2 weeks split between me, DH and grandparents. We have a spreadsheet.
It is expensive and stressful.

The school holidays needs to change to fit in with working parents. It's an archaic system that dates back to when typically one parent stayed at home. There was more community/family support and we had traditional seasons of weather. None of those apply now.

When I wasn't working shifts I would take leave at the beginning/end of my working day when D's was in sports camp 9-3 which meant I basically only used 1 day of leave to cover a week of school holidays. When I moved to shift work fortunately dh's employer was flexible so we tag teamed during holidays with him leaving as I came home and vice versa (same with school runs tbh).

It is a bit crap that there isn't better provision. It's like we all need to be working to keep households afloat, but school holidays are still massively based on having one non-working parent around.