Thoughts on changing hours to fit around school hours?

[pinkfongg]

I currently work 3 days a week with 2 nursery age children.
DS will start school next sept and I'm really trying to weigh up whether to go down to 5 short days a week, so I can see him both at drop off and pick up. Or to stick to 3 full days a week and use after school club..

My thinking is at 4 years old any amount of after school club is going to be really tiring. But at the same time he does long days at nursery already.

I want to be there for him as much as I can and I'm fortunate the money side of things won't be an issue (although we're far from rich).
But from a lifestyle point of view/what's best for the child - what is everyone's thoughts? What do you do?

What is your commute like? If say its 30mins each way, 1hr a day, then you will be commuting 3hrs a week vs 5hrs a week! That would likely sway it for me.

The trouble with working 5 days is that, if your child is off sick, you need to cover 5 days. Whereas if you’re working 3, you only need to cover 3.

I work from home about 1/3, so when I'm doing 3 days I wfh 1 day and if I did 5 days I think I'd be working from home 2/3 days - probably more likely 2 days.

Commute is about 20 mins, 30 on a bad day so not too bad.

Good point though because I hadn't thought about that too much.

I guess 3 days would be best from my point of view but I'd really like to know what's best for the kids, I guess it would be getting picked up at 3 every day?

Also school holidays… you’ll need to cover 5 days instead of 3.

I’m having similar thoughts myself for when DS starts school in a few years.

The thought of having some time alone at home when both DC are at school is very appealing…

What is your holiday childcare plan? It would definitely be in my children's best interests not to need after school club, as they are tired by the end of the day. Also I can facilitate after school activities of their choosing. However needing 5 days per week childcare in the holidays would be trickier.

Definitely 5 days during school hours. This will be much better when he is older too and at secondary when they really need you

Good point! I guess I might be able to swing working 3 days a week during school hols, and DH could take those 3 days off, then I can have the other 2 off without even using hol. So we'd be using 3 days holiday (for both of us) for a week off.

But as PP has said working 3 days allows me some time without DC on the other couple of days which is appealing not just for me to have a break but so I can actually get stuff done!

Very difficult.. really really conflicted!

I would go for the 3 days. That way you get 2 days at home which is brilliant when they are in school because you get 2 x 6 hour slots to get anything done you want, it is easier to cover for school sickness and school holidays as you are only looking to cover 3 days and not 5. My youngest is now 17 so I have seen all of this.

My friend runs the wrap around school club, yes children are tired at the end of the school day but childcare isn't working at the coal face. They can play quiet games or draw and colour in.

I do agree about the secondary school comment, however, that is 7 or 8 years away and anything could happen job wise before then. I'd cross that bridge when you come to it.

Could you do 2 long and 2 short days instead? Still get a day to yourself and then by mid week when they'll be tiring you can pick them up?

Do you work set days, or just X amount of hours per week?
I've seen threads where 'I think' people always recommend a Monday as their regular working day. You then get them off as bank holidays. I might have that the wrong way around, so hopefully someone part time can advise.

2 colleagues are part time, but they are only contracted X hrs per week. Our work is flexible, so they might work an extra day this week, and have the time off during school holidays. Would that be an option?

Slightly different to you - I choose 3 short days, 1 long and Fridays off. (27 hours) She went to BC everyday as the traffic around the school was a nightmare to then try to get to work! It was easier for all! It also meant during holidays I was always around one day a week & could move the day if there was a staff training or school closed.

She loved the one afternoon at ASC - and it meant for work emergencies she could be booked in on other days.

Once they started secondary I went back up to 4 ft days ( we both hybrid so usually one of us is here when she gets back)

But I noticed that after 8 years of PT work I hadn’t really had the uplift on salary - I think flexiblity was a priority and I think work took advantage of that! Which meant I was quite below the bench mark. I had no desire to go FT in that role due to pay , and I also now realise PT work and below pay has impacted my pension :(

Im now working in a new company and 5 full days - being paid fairly (& now trying to put in more into my pension) ! My youngest is now 14 and we are usually around when she gets home from school which is around 4ish.

I have worked both of the following patterns:

Option 1 - 3 full days with DS1 in afterschool club 3 nights and breakfast club two mornings. I worked from home one of those days. So the WFH day I took him to school at normal time. I liked having two days off and it did help with sick days, however, DS was exhausted after ASC and once he started getting homework it was even more exhausting.

Option 2 - I changed to working 3 days over 4, so I was working my hours but over four days instead. I was then in the office for two days and WFH for two days - this meant that DS1 (and by that point also DS2) only needed breakfast club for two days. I finished in time to pick them up from school - even when i was in the office.

Option 2 helped massively during covid as it meant that i only needed to cover 5-6 hours a day as opposed to over 7. So I could homeschool and pick up work here and there.

I stuck with Option 2 - I WFH most of the month now (in office for 2 days a month) so on my WFH days I can take DS2 into school and pick him up - DH takes him in on my office days (he works long hours - so can't do more than that) so we havent had any wrap around care since pre covid.

Bear in mind - sickness days arent actually that often, and not often enough to change your hours around.

School holidays - so I work 4 days a week - over the hols, each week I take one day off, DH takes one day off. DS2 then goes into holiday club for 2 days a week and my non working day is a Friday. He has done this since reception. He begs me to send him!! There are loads of holiday clubs for all activities and interests - DS2 at one point was going to both craft club and football club.

I hope this helps.

DS2 now also does football and basketball after school 2 days per week - this is slightly different to ASC in that he was at ASC until about 5.30pm but the activities finish at 4.30pm. This gives me a bit of time to wrap up loose ends at work or get tea started.

DS1 is in Secondary School now. When DS2 goes to Secondary then I will get my hours back up to 4 full days.

If you are able to work during school hours and do the drop offs and collections yourself, you will save a lot of money in wraparound care .

If you are driving to work and back at 9 and 245 there is less traffic on the road than at 8 am or 5 pm so your journey will be quicker too .

Some children prefer to go to a quieter homely environment away from stress of school you could look at a childminder. What will you do for the school holidays and training days ...14 weeks ...after school clubs don't run and holiday clubs are often school hours ..
Some after school clubs have a minimum age.

Check what the after school options are, sometimes they have clubs that your DC may really enjoy. Mine absolutely loves breakfast club on the days he goes to that - it's generally a smaller group of children, all play no learning, so quite a nice intro to the day, and he does do after school care (though ours are clubs) like cookery dance etc which he really enjoys.

Bear in mind that if you do 5 days of the week you'd get home and possibly be cooking etc while they're tired and ratty for a portion of the time, so if you do have an after school care who do a dinner/tea that is actually nice for children that age sometimes compared to if they go home arriving at same time as working parent who then needs to do the house stuff to get them fed etc

Definitely 3 full days.

The hole school holiday cover / juggling care is a big reason, but even without that, just the pure joy of not having the stress of arriving at work having got them up and out, then the stress of leaving dead on time and keeping everything cross your travel goes smoothly for two days a week, is lovely.

Plus, you will be invited in to various assemblies, workshops, Nativity Plays, sports days etc which are generally easy to get to on you NWDs, but you've lost that opportunity if you are working 5 x shorter - ie school hour - days.

He'll be fine in wrap around care, and you'll still be there 2 days a week. Plus, it is lovely to have a little bit of 1:1 time with your little one when the older one is at school 2x a week.

100% go for 3 full days (and, if you can choose, have Monday and Friday as your NWDs.

Consider a childminder for the wrap around. It’s a much more homely environment and often they get a proper tea as well. My childminder has some activities up her sleeves for them but often they just play outside, make up a game or curl up on the beanbags with a book. They can also go there in the holidays which takes the holiday club pressure. I do 3.5 days with the half day in school hours and that is by far my most stressful day. And the one DC like least as they have stressed mummy not relaxed childminder with friends!

3 full days its a no brained. The kids are always off, school holidays, inset days, snow and sick days. You would also have to cover 5 days in holiday camp and pay for a full day even though you work shorter hours.

Reception isn't difficult for the kids and by the time Y1 comes around your DC will have adjusted to school routine.

I found what worked best for my kids was me going in early (them doing breakfast club) but being home in time for pickup. They then got my undivided attention after school a day made it easier for doing after school clubs.

I've done both.

Personally I found 5 short days difficult with my particular job, 3 full days was much easier to manage.

I now do 4 days since my youngest started reception but one day is shorter (so the dcs only have 3 days of wrap around). My dcs enjoy their afterschool club and it means fewer days at holiday clubs (which they don't tend to enjoy as much). I'll probably be full time in 2/3 years. We live really close to the school and I can mostly Wfh (3 at home/2 in office if ft) which helps.