I work from home and this summer have been trying to combine looking after the kids with working, and it's been a total fricking nightmare. I am so, so stressed and unhappy, the kids have watched too much telly and my liver is going to explode from the amount of wine I've been necking in the evening from trying to wind down.
The trouble is, I really don't know who would look after ds. He's nearly seven, totally non-violent, bright and able bodied (though dsypraxic) but he's still really difficult. He has mood swings, can be hugely unreasonable, often cannot cope well with change (ie a change of plans) or transitions so will cry and resist, is stubborn, and just plain odd in that inimitable AS manner. Also he has to be watched like a hawk absolutely everywhere as he is hugely impulsive, does't really understand consequences that well, and has poor social skills, eg the other day when I was in the bank (ordeal!) just to pay in a cheque, I was ushering the kids out when without warning he ran over to a woman using the in-branch phone and started pressing the buttons! Or at a playground he will bump into other kids because of poor spatial awareness, or interact inappropriately (ie talk rubbish to them or go under the slide and bang on it as small kids go down, scaring them, or get picked on. You know, the endless stuff.
I just don't know who I could get to do part time holiday cover who can handle this, but I absolutely cannot have another school holiday like this. I am shattered and miserable and I have lost all patience with ds, which is so awful.
Please - what do you do, how much does it cost and how did you find someone?