Childcare and work!

[Tootsie22]

Hi all,

I’ve been a stay at home mum for 4 years and have just been offered a fab job. 25 hours a week 9-2 school hours which is ideal however what do I do about half terms?
My son is 4 soon to be 5. I am a single parent and have nobody that can look after my son in the half terms and holidays and I’m only entitled to 13 days holiday for the rest of the year and his half terms/summer hols equate to 42!!!

Has anyone ever found themselves in a similar situation? I really want this job so we have some money coming in but can’t begin to work out how I’ll make this work!

Thanks x

Holiday clubs, childminder?

I assume you would use holiday clubs and some of your own holiday when you can.

You start looking for holiday clubs as soon as you get his term dates.

You tap up every friend and neighbour to see if you can do childcare swaps. So you look after their child when you are on holiday and they look after yours. You also see if anyone can do the odd day.

There’s some fab holiday clubs around or childminders are often able to take extra kids for holidays

Also, you might find someone else in the same position who would be willing to do a reciprocal arrangement (you take both kids one day, she takes both another). Then your DS gets a playmate too

Make sure you look into support with childcare costs too - tax credits or tax free childcare

As above holiday clubs are the solution. Find one that is Ofsted registered then you can set up a tax free childcare account which you pay into monthly and the government tops up the account by 20%. That way it's a bit cheaper and you can spread the payment over the year rather than having a massive bill in July/august and on the 2 week holidays.

I can't help being bemused when someone asks this question on here.

If you don't have people to look after them then it's holiday clubs (attached at nurseries or at a gymnastics club lots of different places) or childminder

You use all your annual leave in the holidays.
Which leaves 29 days to pay for.
If you can afford it you can apply for parental leave, which is unpaid, everyone's entitled to apply. I have had three weeks to cover weeks childminder closed and I had no options.
You look for a childminder who does holiday care, as they will also do term time only, so have space.
You use clubs.
You see if the child's other parent will take them for a week, same your parents or the others. My parents don't do day to day childcare, but will do a week in the school holidays as part of their holiday.
Universal credit covers childcare, so you can use that, and if you're not entitled, tax free childcare as someone said above.
Some work places do childcare vouchers but this is being phased also chat with other mums at work, at school, etc and see if you can buddy up.
If it's a big enough employer, like mine, you can use flexi. My employers has a system where if you work extra hours you can take them back. So instead of finishing at 2, I'd finish at 3 each day, and then take the day or two back in the holidays.

Wow, thank you all so much for your quick replies. I’m going to search for holiday clubs. I did ask at the school but they looked at me blankly 😐. X

Holiday clubs
School may have a club
Childminder

Thank you for your passive aggressive comment, I hope you have a wonderful day

Check with your local sports centre as they may offer council subsidised kids activity clubs. It may be easier to use a cm this summer as 4/5 year olds may not be accommodated.

👍

We have a 9 week long summer holiday this year. It is stressful but I have sorted it out with annual leave, unpaid parental leave, different art, sports, and dance camps. I am lucky living in an area where there are lots of activities going on for kids, but I don't have any friends or family to help out so until the dates were released for things and I had bookings in place I was panicking a little. Costs a fortune though, arrghhh.

Firstly, congratulations on your job offer.

Sometimes companies use the school hall for their activities so sports club for a couple of weeks. What is good is your hours as lots of holiday clubs just cover school hours so you will be able to drop and collect. Lots of companies advertise using the school newsletter. If yours is on the school website depending on how far back they go you can look at last year's newsletters to see what clubs are mentioned. The children sometimes came out with flyers too. Also ask some other Mums in the playground.

Check with local childminders, ask in the playground if you can see who is a childminder. Even if you talk to one childminder and they don't have spaces they will usually know if another one does, they tend to look out for one another, or they do where I am anyway.

Start googling local holiday clubs and see what is available for summer. If you do take holidays see if you can do a swap play date, ie you have someone else's child on the day you are off and they reciprocate with having your child on a day you work.

It's really hard finding holiday childcare for young children where I live as most don't take young children. There is a local nursery who take children up to 11 in the school holidays but you need to book months in advance, you can use tax free childcare to help pay for it too.

Is the role wfh or office based?
Though not perfect, if wfh, it is manageable with a child at home for short bursts. I do this at times because a) my child wouldn't cope in such clubs b) I get better hours by doing so

Does your 13 days include bank Holidays or they're on top? That makes a difference. Also, check gGt the leave is calculated correctly, it's often better calculated in hours.

Is there any possibility that you could accrue flexi/toil by working say an extra 30 to 60 minutes a day to them take in school holidays? I too have done this as many parents do.

Could you also ask about condensing hours in school holidays so that you work less actual days? Maybe also consider looking at a babysitter then as it maybe cheaper and more convenient and I imagine there will be a young person/student looking for say 3 days work a week... Could you pal up with another parent and look after one another's child?