So, how do people deal with school hours?

[cakeaddict]

DS1 is due to start school in September and I am driving myself half mad worrying about the logistics of dealing with school drop-offs and pick-ups and how to fit work around everything.

At the moment I work 3 days pw, but have an hour's commute each way. DH works from home 1 day pw, but the rest of the time has a longer commute than me and so isn't really able to help on the other 4 days. I also have a 1yo DS who will be in nursery, so whatever solution we decide the reality is that I will have 2 separate drop-offs/pick-ups for the next 3 years.

The 'simple' answer would be to make use of breakfast club / after school club - but this would basically mean that DS would be in school from 7.30am - 5.30pm on at least 2 days a week. I am very concerned that at just turned 4 years old this is going to be way too much for him whilst he settles into school. Not to add the stress of dropping DS1 at school, DS2 at nursery, driving for an hour, doing my work, driving home stressed I'm going to be late, picking up DS1 then picking up DS2. It sounds horrendous, although the upside would be I wouldn't be doing it every day.

What do other people do? Am I being a bit PFB in not wanting to put DS1 into out of school care for that long so young, or are my fears about how tired he will be etc justified?

The alternative is I look for a job closer to home to at least avoid the before-school care, but the reality is that that might well involve a drop in level/salary as it's quite difficult to get anything flexibly at my current level.

[Off out now, but will be back to this thread later!]

My DS (5) just started breakfast/after school club (2 days) and i felt so guilty about it, but he absolutely loves it, they do all sorts of fun things, much better than being home plonked in front of cbeebies while i struggle with breakfast/ cook tea etc etc.
So long as it isnt 5 days a wk then I've totally been converted. DD (2) is in nursery 2 days per wk too. Its only difficult on the days i have to wake either of them to go, then i feel bad, but ten mins later they r bright as a button and i doubt they feel too bad on the days they wake me at 2am!!

I think the breakfast clubs and after school clubs are generally kept quite light hearted and play based for the younger children. If he has been in full time nursery before hand, he won't notice that the hours are long.

Alternatively, you could move both children to a CM and the CM could do the school runs for you and cover all the holidays.

Yep we use the after school clubs or swap childcare for oen of the days with another parent who works a different pt day to you iyswim.

Could you alter your hours to spread them across 4 days instead of 2 so you can pick up or drop off at school.

Thanks for your comments.
Feelingsensitive It wouldn't really be worth my while to spread the days out as I'd then miss out on time with my youngest child, but also would increase the cost of travelling to work without any increase in salary. I'm almost working for nothing as it is!

I use a childminder for dd1 mornings 4 days a week and evenings 3 days a week, and after-school club one afternoon as childminder doesn't work. Dd2 is in nursery. Dh is no help whatsoever (long commute). It is stressful particularly when traffic is bad but dd1 loves her childminder (as do I, I'd quite like her to adopt me actually). She's less keen on afterschool club but I think that's cos she's only there one afternoon a week. I actually think the childminder has been a great experience for dd1, she is there with children of a variety of ages which almost gives her the experience of a big family and as the older kids have taken her under their wing she gets to experience being the 'little sister' which she doesn't get at home. I drop off at 8 and pick up at 6 by the way so also a long day but she had similar at nursery.

Hi
I used to do 3 days per week but changed to 4 shorter days when my youngest started school. I think it works best if you can split it so that the 2 longer days that your DS1 is at before/after school club are not consecutive when they are little. I found that it is good to have the opportunity to have contact with the school and out of school hours you can't often get to see people you need to at short notice, get things from the office, ask questions etc. and when they are little you cannot rely on them to remember things. I remember at one point my ds had left 2 coats and 3 lunchboxes at school in one week and I was running out of things to give him!

Our DSs were at school 8.30 - 5.30 from week 2 of Reception. They loved it and didnt want to come home.

Well remember DS1 laying on the floor and screaming at me 'Go away Daddy' when I went to pick him up from after school club.

A childminder is great both for after school and in the holidays or for Inset days. Not always easy to find though - good luck.

you do whatever works. b'fast club, after-school club, childminders. whatever you can.

i've known teachers have to give up work when their kids start school though. it's not easy.

I worked full-time (9am-5pm with one hour commute each way) when my two children were small. At that stage one was a baby and was at nursery half days. I couldn't find a childminder who could accommodate this and not charge me for the whole day for the child in nursery, so ended up employing a live-out nanny. It was pricey, but it was the best childcare option I've found so far. It was lovely to know that by the time I got home the kids would be in their own homes, bathed, fed and that I could spend that hour or so before bed time completely devoted to them. the cost was high, though, I'll admit, and not everyone would be able to afford it.

For various reasons (namely that my eldest has SEN and has quite a high level of need) I have now found a job in a local school. The pay drop has been pretty spectacular, and I still don't get to do school drop offs and pick-ups (my DH, mum and a neighbour help out), but the commute is 20 mins, I am home by 4.30pm and I get school holidays off, which is a Godsend.

There is no easy answer, I guess is what I am saying, just different (imperfect!) solutions to the age old problem.

...just to add, I am not a teacher. If I were, my hours would be much longer and I wouldn't necessarily get the epic holidays I do!