Panicking school holidays!

[Hamster555]

Panicking about the school hols, there are about 13 wks of holidays in a year plus the inset days, I honestly thought there were about 10 wks not 13! 🤦‍♀️. We both work FTime but even with 10 wks combined leave it's still not a lot of time to cover and then it's the illnesses with stomach and other bugs. We lost my mum and Dad recently and have no other family help. We plan to use holiday clubs & wrap around clubs to manage this as well as our leave. Just feels already like it could be an abs nightmare, I'm sure it actually is and I'm now thinking working part time won't help either surely it would kind of make it harder with less leave! So then I started thinking not working at all seems like the best option! But we can't afford to do that either, crikey how does everyone balance it in the position I'm in? Feel so stupid for feeling like this but i just don't know how this is going to pan out and think I just know it's going to be a bit of a pita! I suppose my question is if you were us how would you do it??

Chill, I'm a lone parent and I manage, with two kids. Holiday clubs for any weeks you can't cover, what's the issue?

There will be 5 or 6 inset days on top of that as well. 😬

We kept our nanny on for this exact reason. I recognise the expenses though. Could you team up with any other families? Some nanny agencies do offer nannies just for the summer and you can share the cost with another family

For goodness sake do not give up your job. Sacrificing financial independence and relying on a man is madness.

Plus feeling bad for the fact she's going to be in the clubs or half the time off with her dad and only the other half
Of the time with me, just feel like I hate the fact I have to work full time as it's just so hard not hardly seeing her as it is this is going to be even harder. So difficult

@WaterBottle123 I thought I stated what the issue is was looking for friendly support! I don't have a clue clearly and I'm just starting to find my way in this and figure it all out feel like an ideot slightly now tbh by staying my issue and you asking me then what my issue is!

@TomHardyAndMe I know 😳x

You need to use unpaid parental leave in school holidays and save annual leave for odd sick days. I'm a low paid lone parent and losing a days pay wasn't much more than holiday club, which my youngest hated.

@Bringonspring This is something I've noticed others do and might be something we seriously will have to consider, OH isn't keen though he's worried about DD being with someone he doesn't know, he's ok in the larger settings like the clubs etc but loads of other people do this because they don't have much choice I think x

I’m having the same quandary! Can you

• renegotiate your and/or your partner’s contract to term time working? (this is niche, but definitely a thing)

• leave your job and set up as an independent consultant?

• draw on temp nannies for holidays? Could be difficult but worth checking out.

Good luck!

Is unpaid parental leave an option for you? You can each take 18 weeks per child before they are 18, a max of 3 weeks in anyone year www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement
Realistically if child is at school, you only got about 9 years to cover as mid teens won’t want parents around as much

I found a childminder a gentler option when mine were small. They had playmates and impromptu holiday activities in summer, a chance to flop after school, and apart from the CMs holiday dates, and ours, it was year round.

@WaterBottle123 giving up my job - def don't want to do this just feels like it could be so difficult to juggle with already a difficult boss and not having the energy to try and find another job with no guarantee they'll be more understanding. Getting time off now is already proving difficult and she's not at school as yet.

You can often do a Salary Sacrifice scheme for a tax break on registered childcare.

My daughter is 18 now she has done nursery wrap around & holiday clubs - she’s done ok :)

I have had to look for the right holiday club for her , when she was younger there wasn’t many children from her school that went to them. But now with my younger daughter there is a lot more choice & more working parents so we usually link up and they go together. She hates sport type ones but really enjoys the drama holiday clubs - more expensive but she gets a lot more out of them!

I would juggle your figures again and see if you could do part time OP. You get less A/L but it’s the same really because you will have more days off.

@megletthesecond parental leave i read somewhere else that some did this for school hols I'm just not sure my boss would suppor this she's not understanding at all but I can only request it in advance and see what she says. Yes need to save the leave for the odd sick days. Good to see that's it's doable. Thx

@Libelula21 it's so difficult isn't it! Thnx for the reply x

@Aurorie11 I need to check my policy I'm in a pickle with this one as I don't think I'd qualify until after I've been there for a year. I had to take a new job and only been there 7 months and sure this is only available once been there a year, I will check the policy though again but sure I didn't qualify but we could be ok if that's right as that's kick in when I need it, if they will agree also thohhh that is, thanks for the tip def worth considering this one! 🙏

@Hamster555

Ok so if your boss is difficult then don't juggle. You book your 5 weeks leave in advance and your DH does sick days, random days etc. Then for any weeks not covered by leave use holiday club. Honestly, it's fine. Don't feel guilty, you're working to provide for your child and setting an example.

Right to unpaid parental leave only kicks in after you've been employed somewhere for a year.

@Shouldbedoing the CM option seems a no brainer to me along with the unpaid parental leave, just convincing Oh on a CM he's really against it!! Annoys me as so many other people use them, he may change his mind when he realises how hard it'll be to juggle it all without one! X

@Todaytomorrowyesterday Thanks for this so reassuring! There seems to be a couple of clubs around here so hopefully if we did just do that it might be ok but suppose we'd just have to see how it pans out. Some other optokns others noted also worthy of consideration too! Thx a lot 👍

@WaterBottle123

Yes this will be the key bkg well ahead! Good point there. And yes sick days is gonna have to be a thing what else can you do! And yes use the hol club when there's no leave left and maybe also some of the unpaid parental leave too. Hoping to try and have a mum mate or two also that we can maybe swop share of kids at half term wks like I take there's for the wk with mine and next half term they take mine over to theirs! It's hard though isn't it having to work full time and hardly seeing them 😓just miss her so much some days but then also feel so knackered by the time the wknd comes round too! I think it's the right thing to do for me esp as I found mat leave for me difficult I couldn't keep her entertained she loves being full time in her setting and hopefully will be ok with school too c x

How old is your DC? you can use a private 50 week full time nursery until they start school?

It's easy when they can go to nursery. My eldest dc has just started school and it is more difficult as no holiday clubs are running atm! Hopefully they'll be back again for the summer!