School holidays once DC are in secondary school

[MinnieMountain]

Do secondary school aged DC need “proper” childcare in the school holidays?

DH and I have an 11yo. We both WFH, so am I right in thinking that we won’t need to worry so much about taking annual leave for childcare purposes once DS starts secondary school?

It depends really, some days DS will be out with his friends and he goes do go a holiday club for a couple of days that his sport club do. However the Easter holidays so off his friends were away so we took some days off with him so he wasn't bored on an o screen all day. Sometime we just take the afternoon off and he chills in a morning

Up until DD was 15/Y10 I tried to take at least a day off per week to be with her during the holidays. Yes there’s summer camps, hobbies, friends to hang around with etc but obviously not every day can be filled with an activity and as an only child she would often get lonely being home alone.

Technically no, but spending all day alone for 6 weeks probably won't be much fun. I'd probably try to find some activities to keep them busy, even if they sort themselves before and after. Our local leisure centre does sports activities for older kids in the holidays, they're only lightly supervised, so it doesn't cost much but gets them out of the house for a few hours. Or maybe see if they have any friends around to hang out with.

I should have said, I work 3 days a week and will do for the foreseeable future.

I see the point that we can’t suddenly expect DS to be off out with his friends the rest of the time. I see that it’s a gradual change.

3 days a week sounds like a nice balance and should work well.

No, most secondary school children don't need childcare and wouldn't be mortified at the prospect.

Sports clubs/classes are an option if your child like that kind of thing.

Mine tends to sleep late and then hang out with friend. We also take some annual leave and do some day trips and a family holiday.

It depends on the child. None of mine could have been left on their own aged 11 but a sensible child would probably be ok.

Whilst they don't necessarily need child care they almost certainly need entertaining. Don't assume their friends will be available to hang out all summer. My experience is dcs friends are often away on family holidays, enrolled in sports camps or sent to stay with grandparents will parents work.

I don't think you'll need to take AL to cover childcare, but I do think you'll need to ensure your 11 yo is occupied. I see you work 3 days a week and if you and your partner have some flexibility then it should be quite manageable.
I'm a lone parent, working full time from home. I booked DS2 into football camps (the proper ones run by football clubs, not the general kids club things that do sports). I shared drop off/collections with another parent.

TBH - I really struggled with the school holidays. We live rurally, as do most of the friends. You can't organise them getting together with their mates, but getting them to sort it out was often like drawing blood (he's 16 now so was 11/12 around covid and I missed out on the learning they do at the end of primary, beginning of secondary).
I was fortunate that the childminder we used during primary had a child close in age to DS2 so he did join them for some days out.

It depends on the child and how long they will be on their own. Dh and I largely work from home, so one of us is always around and can make sure dd doesn’t burn the house down.

I don’t know that I’d personally want to leave her unattended all day every day because I wouldn’t leave her without access to her phone so we could contact each other or she could ring for help in an emergency (we have neither a landline nor any neighbours within about a mile). But I wouldn’t normally just leave her to sit on her phone all day unsupervised.

But technically, yes, I was doing school holidays at home alone from 10/11 (and I never burnt the house down 😂 I was probably a lot more sensible than dd though).

It depends on the child and the year. Y7 and Y8 were still quite young to just be left on their own every day for 6 weeks so DH and I tended to work a few days from home each week and also help to organise sports clubs, activities, trips out with friends etc.

As DC got older they tended to make their own plans but I’d still check in to see what they were up to, did they need lifts anywhere etc.

One of mine would have happily spent 6 weeks in their room online and chatting to friends with a bit of cooking and some sport; the other needed company and would arrange a lot more stuff.

If you’re not going to be at home it’s also worth thinking about whether you are happy to be the house where everyone hangs out when you’re not there. We didn’t mind coming home to a group of teens in the kitchen eating the contents of the fridge but one of the DC hated it when they preferred peace and their sibling filled the house with people - we had to set some rules around who and when.

How good is your child at occupying himself? Will he have stuff he can do for a whole day if you are working? If he is happy, then yes, no childcare. If he will be bored and lonely, clubs where he will be busy and make friends.