Helen is lucky with her nearby family but no more so than Will & Ed, Emmur, Pip and her parent's generation all of whom had just as much support and help as Helen
I guess that's kind of my point: with Emma, for example, we only hear her without the kids when she's working, apart from on very rare date nights (I think they've had one this year) or it's likely they're with Ed/at school. Same for Will and Pip - I may not like the characters much or their lifestyle choices, but they do seem to use family childcare for them to be able to work rather than go out and have fun without their children.
Helen has had two coffee dates with Ian and an argument/ tea with Peggy, her Mum, and Jennifer (when Henry was on a play date but Jack was nowhere in evidence) this week.
I suppose I'm just irritated by Helen because the examples of bad behaviour we've heard from Henry are all pretty standard from a 7 year old but she seems to be reacting as though he's turned into a major league criminal. The only thing he's done that really overstepped the mark into something shocking was back chatting Clarrie, and Helen seemed to overlook that as though it were less important than kicking a ball where he shouldn't.