How do you manage travel for work?

[Stealthsquiggle]

Looking for ideas!

H left late last year.

I work mostly from home but need to travel overnight/a few nights maybe once or twice a month on average. 13yo DC2 is currently at an independent prep school where boarding is an option. So far I have been able to juggle boarding nights to cover trips, since she refuses to stay with H.

Crunch time. She has to change schools this summer. The two options are a day school which is a 45 minute bus ride and the nearest stop is 3 miles away, or full boarding.

I just cannot see how the day option would work other than by forcing her to go to her father’s house whenever I was away, or even late enough back that I couldn’t meet the bus. The 3 miles from/to the bus is not on roads which are safe to walk.

Is there an approach I am missing here or is it going to have to be the boarding option?

My mum has DD overnight when I have to travel and drops her at breakfast club in the morning before school. Given DDs age could she maybe stay with a mate if family not an option? You can then take the friend for sleepovers when you're around? I'd help a fellow single mum in need by ages 13 as they're fairly self sufficient

I rely on school friends if I have to travel, even for occasional overnight (like 2 a year). My DD is only 6, but I have no choice if I want to keep the job.

Is an overnight babysitter an option? A friend of mine is in a similar situation and has a lovely local University student who comes and stays with her girls when she needs to travel (fully referenced, really responsible etc etc).

Is it weekly boarding and home at weekends? That might be easier than all that travelling every day?

We look after my single mum friend's DD when my friend travels for work. This is usually a couple of nights a month. She pays us a token gesture to cover food, petrol etc. The girl's father isn't on the scene though, and h GPs are too far away.

What does she want to do? Personally I think boarding at 13, if the child wants to do it, can be really beneficial. If she’s up for it and you can afford it then it’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned. If she’s not keen then you’ll have to make the day school work. I’m amazed that there aren’t any schools closer to you though. Where on earth do you live? If she went to a local school she’d have more chance of having local friends she could stay with on occasion. If she is self sufficient in terms of getting to and from school it also opens up opportunities in terms of finding someone local to do overnight stays - when I was at uni I had friends who would do this fairly regularly for extra cash.

Do they not offer flexi boarding?

Thanks, all.

DD has decided on the day school, so I guess I am going to have to find ways to make it work.

The only boarding school we/she liked is 2 hours away and very much full boarding. Ironically, I lived close to where we are now (except walking distance to bus stop) as a teenager and went to the same school she has chosen. Back then, there were still some boarders and the possibility of flexi/weekly boarding, but that is no longer the case.

Apart from the local comprehensive, which is ok by no means great, which is about 6 miles away, this is the most local option.

..so now I am going to have to cultivate some friends amongst the parents of her peers, somehow...

DD has also conceded that she could get off the bus a couple of stops earlier and walk to her GP’s if I was not going to make it in time to meet the bus. I really don’t want to have to rely on my parents as it’s not fair to them, but as an occasional option...

(To the where on earth do we live question - it’s actually about 13 miles to school, but the combination of bus speed/stops and traffic make that 45 minutes - it’s about 20 in a car without traffic!)

Can she cycle the 3 miles? Lock the bike to a lamp post at the bus stop during the day?

Or can you move 3 miles closer to the bus stop?

You need a “me”

Self employed, ad hoc nanny. Totally used to these situations 0 I simply take over where you leave off. Get y=to yours for just before ‘hometime’, leave after dropof the next morning.

Where. Are you in the country? I may be able to help...

Oh, I;m Ofsted registered too

I’d send her to the local comp and make use of the free school transport. With the money you save you can pay for occasional overnight babysitters.

Would your parents not be happy to help out and see their dgd? She's hardly a young child who needs lots of care. I thought from your previous posts that you had no family local. I would use grandparents over boarding if we're only talking a few nights a month and the occasional late night.

Could you try and find an occasional babysitter/companion - maybe a student or older teenager of family friend - that could do overnights? To get home from school, could she occasionally use a pre-booked taxi on nights when you are away?

However I also second asking another parent - I'd likely agree to this if asked by 13yo DC friend.

Or, if your parents live that close, could she not stay with them or have them over a couple of times a month?

Sorry, I should have mentioned my parents - it’s just that DD is nearly as averse to the concept of them “babysitting” as she is to going to her father’s

Xiaoxiong - moving may be the longer term solution but given current domestic upheaval and state of house it would take a while. Roads are fast winding country roads and I am not comfortable with her cycling along them, particularly in winter.

Ilove - I do indeed need a you! I will PM you but it’s pretty unlikely that you’re in the right part of the country.

Occasional taxis may well also be part of the solution, and tbh the difference in fees between this and the boarding school would fund plenty of them.