My 4y/o will be in school from 7:30 till around 6pm

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I’ve just been offered a new job, i assumed it was 9-5 because online it says the office closes at 5pm. I had 3 interviews and at stupidly I never asked to double check.

Once I got contract to sign it said the hours were 9-6 or I can work 8-5 4 days a week. Fridays are a late start and early finish which is great. After school club finishes at 6pm so my only option is 8-5.

breakfast club opens at 7:30am and I don’t drive so unless I get taxis to work I need to get the bus for 6:40am. My sister lives round the corner and has offered to pick my son up at 6:30 and take him to breakfast club for 7:30am.

My son needs a little time to wake up in the morning before I get him dressed so I’d need to be waking him up at 5:30am.

5:30am - 6pm seems like such a long day for someone in reception but I don’t have much choice, it’s been a struggle to find a job let alone one that’s strictly 9-5 and no weekends.

I feel incredibly guilty, is there any other single mums that had to have a routine like this? Did you see any changes in your child’s behaviour? Anything you found that helps?

Thank you

I had a similar problem and ended up using a nanny. It cost me a fortune but meant that my child wasn’t out of the house for crazy long hours each day

My DD does breakfast and after school club four days a week, she’s just 4 (aug baby) and is fine with it so far. She just accepts that for us to have nice things we have to work, that means she needs to go to the club. You’d be surprised the amount of reception that do it.
She went to nursey full time from 6 months from 7.30-1730 so not a huge surprise

She’s a bit whiny in the AM but nothing we can’t deal with, bed times are earlier, but that’s just how it is

Could you find a childminder who does wraparound care for your school? Dd was at a childminder for the same hours as you're proposing, but I felt much happier her being in a home based environment. She's 9 now and her childminder is like her second mum, and me and her have become really good friends as well.

Seems way too early to wake a child for such a long day.
I wouldnt do it/look for alternatives

It is a long day, but young children are very adaptable and you will make up for it at the weekends. You are setting a good example by working and the stage where they are this young is short. Before long you will have a preteen who doesn’t want to know you. Also in my experience they have a blast at before and after school. Lots of time with friends to play.

You get your child up at 5.30am?

Don’t get him up at 5:30. Take him to your sister in a onesie with his clothes in a bag and let him get dressed etc there. Get him up ten mins before leaving and let him wake up properly at hers.

It is a long day, but young children are very adaptable and you will make up for it at the weekends

I think a 5.30am wake up goes way beyond a long day.

Have you double checked with school if there's space at the BC / ASC, many have a waiting list and it may not be possible to get a place.

I would also look into other options such as a childmilder / nanny as getting up at 5.30am every morning is really early, and I also wouldn't want to rely on a family member to have to collect on time every day so you can catch the bus.

My three year old is up between 5.30-6 and at nursery 7am-5pm.

And that’s with his dad doing pickup and drop off most days because I can’t get to work and back on time even with those hours.

But I’ve got to work so what else can I do. He’s three weeks into the new schedule and apoplectically tired by 6pm now, so I’m learning to shift bath and bed as early as humanly possible. Frankly I’ve been in bed by 7pm some nights too.

Up at 6:20 teeth brushed clothes on and breakfast at your sisters. Have you considered getting a moped? So you could walk to school for 7:30 then moped to work, repeat on the way back.

Would your sister mind getting him dressed? In which case you could wake him at 6.15? And hand him over with clothes…

Other than that, needs must. As long as he gets on with school and the clubs he’ll be on.

He’s going to have to go to bed early so try and get housework and batch cooking done then, so you can spend all the time together at weekends.

@GrazingSheep what should she do then? Be late for work or rely on benefits?

I’d also be concerned about relying on your sister to do this early morning every day. That sounds more like a stop gap than a long term plan. It’s a lot to ask of someone 5 mornings a week.

Often there are no alternatives

The OP has to work to pay bills

That is just life

They will survive

Generally I'm all for us parents doing what we need to in order to facilitate us having a decent job, but a 5:30am start to the day is excessively early.

I would look into all other options to sort the mornings. I'd be asking around for a local babysitter who can turn up at the point you need to leave in the mornings and then take your DS to school having had the sleep he needs and giving him a fair start to the day.

i would ask if you can do a 30 min lunch break instead of an hour and arrive 8.30

agree with pp is it possible to moped?

What do you do now op? This is a really long day for such a young child. I agree with pp about looking for a childminder, although they are like hens teeth where I live.

I’ve had a look they’re all a lot more expensive than my current childcare bill and he already knows the people at his breakfast/after school club as he went pre-school there so wary of having to settle him with a new person! I’ve only got a week until I start too lol

I already asked it’s not really an option unless I do 9-6 unfortunately!

I'll be very honest here what happens when your sister turns round and says I don't want to do it anymore because unless the women is a saint she is eventually going to get fed up of picking him up 5 days a week.

This sounds horrendous, poor child. I’d look for something else or get a nanny.

She wakes up at about 6am, so not much in it really!

I'm a single Mum who works full time and there is no way I would do this. Not only because my child would be knackered, but I would be too! You will soon burn out on those hours if you are doing it alone.