If you have to be in work before CM times start how do you manage it?

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I'm looking to go back to work but have 3DC 4 - 10. I'm thinking that I'll need to be in work by 8 am and most likely need to travel 40 mins so leaving at 7.20 ish. Most CMs start at 8 around here - don't have family and don't have reliable DH as he has to be away overnight quite a lot. I teach so realistically can't get in much later than 8 - am I being daft to think this is going to work for me?

Could you split the difference on the days your DH is away? Some CMs will agree to start, say, 20 minutes early - obviously you'll have to pay for it! A CM might agree to start 20 minutes early on the days when your DH is away. That would put you in school by 8.20am - but it would only be when he's on travel. School might be prepared to cut you a little slack as long as you were at your desk by the time the school day actually starts. If the school day starts at 8.45am, you'd be there and still have a little slack in the system for traffic etc. You'd need some good will, I admit, but don't give up before you even try! Talk to a CM or two - you may well be pleasantly surprised.

How much control does DH have over his travel, btw? Mine has some degree on control and is sometimes able to shift it forward or backward by a few weeks (i.e. into holidays). Also - how much is it worth to him to GET some control...?! I mean, your salary will be a considerable boost to household income both short and long term (think pension contributions) so he should be prepared to do a little re-jigging to make it work if he can.

DH does have some control as in occasionally he can say do a teleconference but he's based in three places and usually has to be there when others can make it too and a lot of what he does is face to face - if ages in advance say I have to have him at home for the odd day he can book it into his calendar but no reliability in terms of anything regular - he also leaves for work to catch train at 7.40 so would probably need to leave dc with CM same time as me anyway. Didn't think about this when we moved to the sticks - pretty fields though but not much use for me earning money!

Sounds like a nanny could be a better option OP - have you looked into cost vs 3 sets of CM fees? A lot will job share so finding one to fit round school hours could work?

I would check with the individual childminders. I was advised to have start times and finish times in my policies - I think it may have been an OFSTED "like to see" at one time - but in actual fact, I start when parents want me to and I finish when they collect their children.

I've started at 6am before now and finished at 10pm (not, I hasten to add, at the same time!).

Although not all childminders can be flexible, many are happy to vary their hours and it's worth checking with your local ones.

Thanks for replies its such a big thing - I'm just going to have to get out there and see what's available. Do you charge more for anti-social hours?

Any chance you could get a childminder near your school so drive the 40 minutes then drop off?