Holidays and childcare

[mrsericnorthmaniwish]

I have recently separated from stbxh, have three children, living with relatives atm(long story but he is in the family home:() I have been a sahm and now I am having to find work or I will in the future when I am able, not able to cope with it all just yet-despite what the job centre think:( I was just wondering how people manage in the holidays with childcare? I do have some help from family but they all work too and I can't expect them to help all the time:( any advice much appreciated :)

Friends, holiday clubs and my dd's Dad does some of it. Hope that helps. You can get some of the cost of holiday clubs back through tax credits.x

Thank you:) Their dad is waste of time - his work was one of the reasons I left. Where do you find out about the holiday clubs please??

I use a combination of annual leave, holiday clubs and dd going to friends for the day. We get notified of loads through leaflets from school, but our local sport centres also run them. I can't claim those from tax credits though as they aren't Ofsted registered, but they are so cheap and dd loves going that I'm happy to pay.

If you think your ex is going to be difficult or unreliable just don't even factor his help in .

Thank you, I will see what I can find out:) I have ruled him out, he cant comit to anything:(

Do you have working friends with similar aged children? You could take it in turns to look after each others' children.

Also, if there is an after school club at school, they should be able to tell you about holiday clubs. Other working parents at school too will know of course.

Once you are in work, you could negotiate extra leave to cover the holidays or offer to do longer days during term-time to build up some time off.

I wish you the best of luck, it's difficult enough to cover the holidays when you have an ex who's happy to do 50%.

Leisure centres run all day activitys, holiday clubs and friends and family.

Many thanks for your replies, sounds stupid now but I am starting from scratch and don't really know where to start - your ideas have sent me on a mission - thank you:)

It's not stupid at all. There are all sorts of things to think about when you separate and you have massive changes like you have.

Holiday clubs can be found in various places
schools
leisure centres like the YMCA
day nurseries, Busy Bees have several holiday playschemes attached to their nurseries
community centres
churches
private schools often have other providers who use the premises for holiday clubs

Fitforsport.co.uk has clubs all over
Look on council website for list of all providers

Sorry only just seen this, my dds school sends out leaflets for the holiday clubs in the area and also I listen to word of mouth, ones friends have used.x