to think I can get by without childcare in August because work is quiet?

[isitPeri1]

Every August, work slows down massively. It has always been this way. There is barely anything coming in, hardly any meetings or deadlines, and most of my team is off. My manager and her manager are both away for the whole of August, so it is very unlikely anything urgent will come up.

I have primary school-aged kids and I am thinking I might skip childcare this year. I usually only have about one to two hours of work a day in August, and some days there is literally nothing to do at all. Anything that does come up, I can usually fit around the kids early in the morning or after they have gone to bed. I have proper annual leave booked for September when they are back at school, so I will get a proper break then.

Has anyone else done this? Just managed without childcare when work was super quiet?

Or do you holiday while wfh?

Where did I lie?

What's wrong with taking a week off in September?

It feels like this is taking flexibility a bit too far to me. I understand adapting your hours to deal with things that arise. I understand taking time during quieter periods knowing you perhaps might do more than required during busy ones. I understand picking up emails in your phone if you need to pop out. But having children around at home will inevitably be a distraction at times, and trips out are choosing prioritising your personal life above work when you are being paid to work. How would it sound if a colleague who had no kids decided to just take days out and about because they wanted to and felt it was quiet enough. I think if you want to do this and feel it’s acceptable then you would discuss it with your manager. I feel from your messages you don’t want to do that, and suspect that means you are not actually sure they would be ok with it.

It sounds as though your quiet August offsets other much busier periods during the rest of year.
Sounds as though you very much just need to be on call during that time, rather than tied to your desk. My DH's work is a bit like that too over the summer - he often finds bits and bobs to do and usually have a really good tidy up of his home office!! But there is a limit to what he can find to do - he's no slacker and always goes the extra mile.....

Why is this a clear example of why employers are starting to call people back to the office? My employer no longer has the space to get everybody back in full time.

The children are on holiday now with DH. What's wrong with having a break in September on my own?

I think at 10 and 8 it’s absolutely fine. I have camps for my kids for 2 weeks 8am-6pm every day. Then a week with my partner looking after them, a week where we’re all off the. 2 other weeks where I’m planning on taking half days annual leave and half days wfh with the kids. We don’t have a garden and I can have a fair amount of meetings so keeping the kids cooped up all day feels a bit like child abuse and for my sanity we need to get out. But actually at 7 and 9 years old they mostly play nicely and I think time at home is good for them as usually they’re heavily scheduled. I try not to allow tv or screens tho as then behaviour plummets.

Interestingly I had a performance review with my senior leader today where I was asking for a big promotion in a FTSE 100 co. Video on. My kids came into me twice during the call… just came in, saw themselves on the screen, waved to my boss and walked out of the room again. I didn’t even break my chain of thought and carried on. I think the boss should recognise the room from other holidays that I’m at my parents house therefore he knows my mum is technically looking after the kids but I didn’t feel the need to explain. He trusts me to do my job. And in the past that has also included calls after 5pm so he sees my kids then anyway. Flexibility works both ways.

Thanks for this - this is why I'm really intrigued to see what role/industry OP has! Also to see what other workplaces expectations are as I feel my past role has lead to me easily feeling micromanaged, when I'm just being...managed.

In my old workplace the culture was so flexible for certain roles, not all, that if the work was done we wouldn't need to know or expect to be told where staff were. If I saw someone out and they hadn't replied to my emails in a week, only then would there be an issue. This would be totally different during terms time or core business need periods (enrolment week, etc).

OP has asked now and it's been approved straight away. I can imagine they have very little work as her manager AND her manager's manager are both off for the whole of August. I imagine she does work somewhere with a very laid back approach during these down periods and probably somewhere where they need someone to work for enquiries coming in, but where the majority of their business is closed. If both managers are off, it is also probably quite difficult to make too many improvements there without things being signed off.

I work in HR

Would your employer be ok if they knew this? In my experience most employers understand the juggle of summer holidays but would expect you to have childcare arranged.

Personally I think the odd day or half day is fine but not whole weeks. For me for example I’ve managed to agree to WFH so my DS can go to a camp 9-3, he can then watch his IPad for a couple hours til I finish. I’ve also bought extra annual leave so I can take the time off to spend with him. Will your children have to be home all the time or can you take them out and about. They’ll get sooo bored!

That is unbelievable.

The manager has said it is fine. I will be taking the children out every day so they will not get bored.

@Passportparanoia shock horror I also sometimes go to the gym during the working day so expect anyone with or without kids to be treated the same. So what, some people are paid for their brain not their number of keystrokes or minutes in front of a laptop.

Why?

Anyone who has looked after kids during the school holidays knows that’s not true

Yes, exactly this. It really is a quiet time for the whole team, not just me. When both my manager and their manager are away for the entire month, it reflects how little is expected to happen during this period. Things slow right down, and a lot of the usual work just cannot move forward without senior sign-off or input from other teams who are also away.

It’s not. It’s genius. Maybe they have a work policy where someone has to be on call so OP can’t get the leave approved. Or Maybe OP just knows this is what keeps her mental health good.

so many mums don’t prioritise themselves. Why berate the ones who do.

I would consider the optics if nothing else op. Everyone else is working or book me AL. You're doing a bit and doing a bit with the kids, then waiting until there's proper work to do and booking time off. The kids don't get a proper family holiday with both of you together, they don't get your full attention when they are with you - if anything arises you'll need to prioritise it so even if it's "only a, few minutes every hour" it's also your alertness to your work phone, to having to keep a degree of consciousness on checking in etc.

So no one gets your full attention and work know you're playing the system to avoid doing what everyone. esle is doing.

still, I don't understand why you posted. You clearly think you're right and entitled to do whatever suits you

That's a good result, you are obviously capable.

All these threads attract the job worth pearl clutching types. I mean it’s not ideal but what can you do when women have to do full time parenting and full time work. Some people think you should outsource your kids so they never get down time or home time. So you can appease your corporate overlords

‘Fun days out’. Ah yes I remember those type of holidays. Never quite worked out being that good. Not the same as having a week away somewhere. Parents did it for their own selfish reasons.

Loads of people do this, the question is here why do you need to seek the approval of the internet to just do what you know is best for you and your family? Why don’t you trust your own instincts/judgements?

Well Dad's took them on holiday so has booked his leave to suit his kids. Seems unfair to suggest this is because she has to do everything herself.

True I’m projecting

I find it unbelievable that you would ask and get approval to spend 4 weeks of August taking your children out every day, whilst being paid full time hours to work and just check emails via your phone.

Then to add to it, rather than use your annual leave to spend time properly with your DC and not pretend to work you book time off in September.

Take your leave in August (one day a week maybe)
Book some child care (one day a week maybe)
Don't take the piss out of your employer for the whole time.

Me too. But I work in a company where it is clear it is acceptable, and I don’t hide it. And I am in a position to not go out if something changes. I really don’t think that’s what the op was intending to do here. Taking the kids out for the day is not the same thing as popping to the gym. But if it was not clear from my post, it’s ultimately a business decision not a Mumsnet decision and I felt the op wasn’t prepared to check what was acceptable to her business. Now they have asked had had the ok then who am I to argue.