Working Parents - How do you cover childcare in the Holidays

[wonderings2]

Just as the title how do you cover the school holidays?

DD is 5 so this will be her first 6 week holiday. Myself and DH both work full time, mine is WFH all days. I have an amazing employer who is flexible - I have to be online at least some of the day and attend scheduled calls but as long as the work is done I'm not micromanaged and can log on whenever I want.

Grandparents have kindly offered to cover a few days (again I acknowledge how amazing this is) and I've booked a weeks annual leave.

That still leaves me around 15-20 days to cover, what do you do for these days, do DC go to clubs the whole time, do you let them roam free and hope for the best? What are these clubs and how do you find them?

I'm obviously in a very favorable position (Hats of to parents in the office full time - I don't know how you do it) and I still cant work out how to cover it all?

Husband and I pretty much use up our annual leave - taking alternate weeks off (no time together) :(.

No holiday clubs for us (eldest is autistic and may struggle with the unfamiliarity).

Mine are 11& 13 so older, and I also mainly WFH but have to go into the office 2x a week whereby my husband uses these as his non office days

I think we are lucky to be able to WFH and so I oversee my kids during the day, they often sleep in until at least 10am, then for an hour or so tidy their rooms, bathe and have breakfast

By around 11 am I try to get them to do some basic maths/ reading for a bit, then by 1ish, they have lunch and I use my lunchtime to take them somewhere local for the hour

I return to work in the afternoon while they watch tv, or play in the garden, then we make dinner etc

I think we put too much pressure on ourselves that the kids always have to be doing an activity every minute

We have no grandparent help and I don't use clubs. My DH and I take a joint week off near the end of the holidays and go somewhere in the UK with the kids

My kids understand we need to work and boredom never kills! If I want to take them to an activity that takes longer than my lunch break, eg cinema or to town or swimming for example, I do this after 5pm when I have logged off

I sometimes take 15mins break away from the screen during the day to do some simple baking with them eg mixing ingredients, then put mixture in oven and return to my work

I just think to myself if I was a SAHP I wouldn't be able to take them out to expensive things every day, and encourage them to amuse themselves with puzzles etc

Today we used my break to go to the local park and library so I have done my bit!

DH and I shelled out for sports camp for 5 year old DS. It cost an absolute bloody fortune, but he's having the time of his life.

We both WFH and the camp is close by, so even though it finishes at 4pm, we were able to pick him up without too much interruption to the work day.

OP I just want to say that you seem like a really nice person - you're considerate of so many people in your life, your parents/in-laws, your daughter, your employer, and I'm sorry your DH is being like this. It's a huge weight on you to sort out all the childcare plus a house move (especially when you're expected to do all the moving?!).

No advice, but as others have said, definitely get a company to do the full pack up and move and unpack option. It will be better being so close to your daughter's school.

Keep us updated how about how things are going at home.

Bloody hell OP. This isn't really about childcare at all, is it?! What a shit husband you have. You're moving house - buying or renting? I'd think very carefully indeed before signing all the paperwork for joint mortgage/deeds or a joint tenancy with him.

He’s breaking up the family by refusing to parent. You’re already a single parent, you just have a surplus dickhead hanging around the house too.

He needs to sign some sort of contract of how it's going to be if you move. How he will share things 50/50. What school runs. What holiday care. What chores. Not legally binding but maybe it would be psychologically impactful. He needs to understand that if he doesn't commit to it, you will not be moving and will be considering the future. I've heard of a card game called "fair play" - from what I heard maybe worth getting it to play with him.