Christmas childcare!

[Christmaschildcare]

Before I had children, I thought parents wanted Christmas off because of the ‘magic’ of Christmas with children. I’m sure some do but I now realise it’s mostly because THERE’S NO FLIPPING CHILDCARE OPTIONS AVAILABLE

I have three children under six. Their school is (naturally) closed, their nursery is closed. There are no holiday clubs in our area open whatsoever. We have no one to ask - everyone either works or is in same boat as us so cannot look after THREE CHILDREN for us.

We need to find cover for two weeks. My dh can take a week, and I can take a week, so we’re lucky that we can plan to share.

but even that has been an issue for both employees. We’ve both been told we ‘need to do our part’ and ‘can’t expect to be off just because you’ve got kids’ and ‘well it needs to be fair to everyone’ etc etc.

while I agree with this in theory - in practice, what on Earth am I supposed to do for childcare? If my employer says I can’t take the week off - well, unfortunately, I will be, as I can’t leave three children at home. I’m not being difficult, I genuinely have nowhere and no one to send them to. I wish I did.

is there some magical Christmas childcare solution I’m missing? Please enlighten me 😩

Well of course. You can't leave the kids to fend for themselves. That's a basic.

Most of the childcare shuts around us at Xmas too. Luckily I'm very very part time, term time only in the family business so I can cover. However I have many friends who have to tag team.

One solution one of my friends used was searching for babysitters on our local FB. There are a few older teens/ childcare college students/ uni students who advertise their services. A lot only do the holidays as they live away or studying. She searched the posts and messaged them. She managed to secure a uni student who was studying teaching to cover some Christmas holiday days. She also has a childcare college student who does ad hoc babysitting that she found on FB, she started with having them do evening babysitting every so often and then asked them to cover a few school summer holiday days. Between the 2 of them she managed to cover most of the summer holidays this year and has already got the uni student lined up for a few days at xmas.

You need to throw money at it. Tell the nursery staff the days and hours you have to cover and offer an obscene amount of money. Someone will bite. It's the only way we've solved it. It's that or use a Nanny instead of nursery but that has its own headaches coordinating her leave with yours and then of course the nanny gets sick. There is no good solution.

I was lucky I could change jobs from the private sector to a local authority. Less pay and career progression is definitely harder as there are less roles in a cash strapped LA than the private sector but the flexibility is worth most of the negatives. They also don’t perpetuate the myth my former private sector firm did that working mums must work evenings/weekends and make sacrifices to progress.

The agencies I mentioned in my previous post are all national agencies and will be able to find someone at a significant cost and possible also requiring accommodation.

In countries where it is better to be a woman employers and employees understand there is a short time in employees' lives when they sometimes have to leave early or have holiday that matches the the school holidays. This helps staff retention and nurtures the future workforce.

Yes. But while it’s a short time for each employee, there will always be employees with young children - so the solution needs to mean that employees without children don’t always have to come second.

Also people are being arses on here. I’m sure OP was very much expecting to use holiday clubs. It’s unlikely that anyone thinking about having a baby will realise that provision for holiday clubs can be seasonal and different weeks are served better. Someone has already said that as a provider the demand isn’t necessarily there over the Christmas period so people do seem to get by.

What you do need do do though is save leave for this period in the future and plan for that very far in advance. Generally summer and Easter are the easiest to get childcare. Half terms then often a bit harder than Christmas the hardest.

Do you have a local Facebook group for your area?
Could ask on there what others are doing, know of any clubs etc

It’s so hard! My DH works in a job where he can’t take any leave in December (the whole company has that rule as it’s their busiest month of the year). We live 3 hours from any family. No friends nearby who can help. I can’t take the full 2 weeks as in my team we stagger it so everyone can have a few days off. We also make note of who had what (Xmas Eve/NYE etc) and so the next year someone else can have it to make it fair. I totally agree with that approach as until recently I was the employee who didn’t have kids and had my own reasons for wanting time off, such as travelling to spend Xmas with my mum and family. DS previous nursery only closed the week between Xmas and NY, so that really only meant we needed to find 2-3 days childcare because of bank hols. Whoever came to stay with us for Xmas usually did it and just stayed a bit longer. This year he’s at a new preschool and has the full 2 weeks off. They don’t run their holiday club. My MIL is coming for Xmas but can’t come until Xmas Eve afternoon. My parents can’t come at all before Xmas this year due to other family caring responsibilities, but they have managed to juggle things so they can come after and help. I asked for the time off the week of Xmas and was told we had no cover. I practically begged my boss. I literally was like I have absolutely no one to watch my son. It’s so difficult because I totally understand that everyone deserves time off over Xmas and I shouldn’t take priority.

Can one of you work mornings and one of you work afternoons/evenings rather than a week off each?

It can be difficult to juggle.

I work every Christmas as DH is off in shutdown so save my holidays for one of the many other weeks.

Was seen as the ideal solution back in the 80s when i was babysitting kids as a teen. Until Governments worked out there was more money to be made by monetizing babysitting

Are you ok @piccolorhinoceros ?

You seem disproportionately angry about this.

Nurseries etc already struggle for staff. I wouldn’t look after children for NMW(age dependent too).
I also wouldn’t look after 3 under 6 unless they were family. 3 children under 6 all day will be bloody hard work.
Where I work you go in the hat with everyone else.

Quite a few nurseries shut down over Xmas.

But tbh even if they are open they won’t be taking say an 8 year old.

Absolutely. I have no idea what else you can do.

I would actually do that for the full 2 weeks if you can afford it.

Save your actual holiday time.

Childcare always has been a problem for everyone at Christmas. I do think it is fair that employers treat everyone the same though and don't prioritise anyone.

You just need to use childminders and babysitters throughout the year so you have trusted contacts and a contingency plan, as you say nurseries close but more informal childcare is available.

Where are the grandparents and or aunties/uncles? We used to manage by a mish mash of whomever was free.

My suggestions would be:

Are there any relatives or friends who would either come to stay with you or who would take your dc for a few days?

Rather than taking a while week off, can you each take a couple of days each week? Are either of you doing work where you could work outside regular hours e.g. pick up evening, overnight or weekend shifts?

Have you tried approaching other parents from nursery to share childcare with? So, you each have each other's dc for a few days.

Have you tried hiring an emergency nanny or advertising (at a good rate of pay) to cover the days you need, maybe on one of the many online childcare finders?

Do you have any flexibility to work more hours on the week your DH is off to reduce the hours you need to work on the week you would like to be off?

If the childcare provision where you live is that poor, can you drive to a larger town or city and use the provisional there? I live rurally and used to have to drive an hour to the closest city for a holiday club.

I don't know who you're arguing with here. Who is suggesting you leave your children at home to fend for themselves?

@AegonT employers and employees understand there is a short time in employees' lives when they sometimes have to leave early or have holiday that matches the the school holidays

It's not really a short time, though, is it? Say a woman has two kids four years apart (not unusual). That's 15+ years of mat leave, leaving early or requesting school holidays. I don't think 15 years is a short time.

The vast majority of nurseries and holiday play scheme are open in all the school holidays APART from a complete shut down over the Christmas week.

I have been working full time and raised 2 children while using nursery and school aged childcare. Only the Christmas week was there a total shut down.

It seems childcare is really struggling to stay open if there are literally no options for OP for 2 whole weeks over Xmas, which I presume will mean 7 days annual leave (25th, 26th Dec and 1st Jan are BHs).

This may not help you for this Christmas but we have the kids’ friends over during the summer holidays for the days we’re off, and we call in the favour over the Christmas holidays.

Solidarity though, Christmas is the hardest one both to request leave or to find childcare for.

Have you considered enquiring at your nearest major hospital?
Ours has a 24/7 nursery and childcare set up, pricey though and I’m not sure whether they take non-staff children (I was staff when I needed to use the service) but ours was available both for longer term / ‘regular’ childcare as well as more ‘ad hoc’ / short term childcare (such as those on rotation, covering bank shifts, etc.)
🙂

Nobody, but won't somebody think of the children?! OP is being dramatic and hysterical.

@Christmaschildcare But if I can’t source childcare, despite my best efforts, I’m always going to choose the safety of my children over the principle of fairness- as I presume the vast majority would?

Your children's safety is not at risk here, come on. This isn't even an issue for this Christmas, by your own admission. In the lead up to next Christmas you can offer favours to colleagues in exchange for them covering you at Christmas. Maybe you cover an extra weekend, or an overnight, or New Year. Or you enable them to get their preferred week off in July. There are options within workplaces that don't rely on the employer mandating that parents get all holidays off.

please do read the thread.