3 weeks holiday at christmas.....

[thebody]

Hi, I am a cm whose beloved and dh left last Thursday to work in Australia for 9 months... Obviously its hard but we need the money and the contract is good so thats that.

anyway I had allready booked 2 weeks hols in August to spend with my dd who is 11 and missing her Dad and has to put up with me working full time as it is.. my boys are older and dont need my attention so much.

now here is the nub, I normally take 4 weeks annual leave, two in the summer and two at Christmas but we all want to go to Oz to see dh and I want to take 3 weeks off now over Christmas...

I stress that all of my parents are lovely and very supportive but I do feel a bit bad about this, havnt mentioned it to them yet though they know dh has gone..

really want to hear from other parents.. would you be pissed off with this amount of time off.. I dont charge for holidays and do cms think I should give parents the news now so they can make other arrangments for the extra week? WWYD..

I think they will understand. If you can tell them now, then it gives them plenty of time to try and arrange backup care for the time you are off. Can you ask around some local minders and see if anyone would have space for any of your children?

You have to give them as much notice as possible, yes. I would sympathise, and I would never, ever say anything to your face, but when I was a working parent I needed my cm to be available and there was no way on earth I could have accomodated three weeks leave without other arrangements in place. It's good that you don't charge for holidays though as at least your parents won't be paying twice

I would be fine with this if you also said, this childminder here has vacancies and you can just pay her what you would have paid me, etc.

If you don't personally know childminders with vacancies, you could get those in the area with vacancies and give them to the parents.

Basically, if you did everything you reasonable could to make it as easy as possible for the parents to have care, then I think they will understand.

Some people are a bit funny about leaving their kids with a carer they don't already. I'm not one of them. But, if some of yours are perhaps you could arrange for the parents to meet them or for the kids to also meet them, either with you or with the parents.

Could you see if any local childminders have spaces to accommodate the children you care for. If they can use an alternative minder this may soften the blow for the parents.

i agree with every one else try and help them find some1 to cover for you. i would imagine that if they already knew you were having 2 weeks off they will already have sorted cover for that so really its just one week that there having to sort care for

thanks for all the good advice and honesty. I
agree that giving plenty of notice is key.

love the 'not to your face' comment sparkle. woman after my own heart..