Working mums - Please tell me how you cover holidays.

[minko]

I have just landed a fab job working 9.30 - 4 which I am v. happy about but I am now anxious about holidays. I only get 20 days in my first year, DH gets 25, my parents have made it clear they aren't helping and my PIL live 200 miles away.

I know there are holiday clubs and stuff but how do your kids cope with them? I don't know many other working mums and being in a new area I don't have much to go on.

I know we will cope, but I could do with some reassurance... many thanks.

DS was in a private nursery till he started school. The reason we kept him there was cos it was open 50 weeks a year!

Now he's at school we use holiday clubs (run on the school site by the afterschool club provider) and the GPs who are 200 miles away - DP took him up on the train on Sunday and will collect him on Fri after work.

All works very well, DS is happy. But the thought of it beforehand was terrifying!

Its very difficult. We use holiday clubs, rely on grandparents and then split our holiday so that DH and I get very little together. Its the only way we can cover it

DH.

DH and I split most of the holidays between us. We also use holiday club. Sometimes other mums offer to swap days - so I will take their DCs one day and they will take mine another day. Also, I'm fortunate that my sister takes a week off in summer to cover some of the holidays, and sometimes teh DCS will go to the grandparents for a few days (200 miles away DH meets his dad halfway).

Overall, it's a bit of a juggling act, and it means DH and I don't get a lot of holiday time as a family.

holiday club (at the school) and dh and I taking days off.

yup combination of GP, also a bit of swapping - eg I will have yours that day if you have mine on that one, holiday clubs -
do your parents work - as mine will sometimes do drop and pick up for a say a sport clubs which might be shorter days
and AL of course. You could see if you could work some longer days in the holidays and then take say friday off

DS seems to like holidays clubs
another idea would be looking for a childminder as some will have spaces in the holidays

We do a mix of:

A/L, unpaid leave, my parents (a little), junior club and also working from home. The latter is not too bad if it is just one day and the children have lots of DVDs and crafts etc....mine are quite good like that if it's just the odd day.

We always try and mix and match so that the children feel like they are getting a holiday. For example this half term we've done: 3 days A/L, 1 day working from home with them watching DVDs etc, 1 day junior club. They seem happy with it. Having said that, in February they will be doing junior club for 3 days and I am sure they will be ok with that too.

They key for mine is that their friends are there and that they do not get to work!!!!

Holiday club, and us taking holiday separatly. DS loves holiday club though !

I am hoping that with a mix of leave and holiday club we will get through... The PIL are willing to help in the summer holiday, just a shame my parents have put a outright ban on it as they live down the road.

Am hoping my employer will be open to giving me 5 extra days of unpaid leave on top of my paltry 20 days...

I'm going to do unpaid leave. I've already spoken to my boss and I think I can juggle unpaid leave and my annual leave and some help from my mum. (hopefully!)

It sound as if you'll be in the Lucky position of not needing before- school care- but are 'you using a childminder for the after school sessions? She may be able to do holiday care too. Many cms do this.
Also, get to know some local 18-21 yr olds who are away at uni in term time but will be back and desperate to earn during holidays. Their holidays will be longer than school ones and should cover any holiday time easily. We did this for our kids and 'it worked great

Easy when DS not at school as had CM.
Now at school we use a combination of holiday club, swap days with friends and the CM next door ( more expensive but DS too exhausted to go to holiday club all the time)
My top tip is make sure you get your holiday request in asap once you know the school calendar, otherwise everyone else will nab those dates.

We have good local holiday camps - Supercamps, etc - DC love them.
Would your parents not even do the occasional day, or take the DC away for a short few days?
We also gain a few days by swapping with friends - have each other's DC for a few days during the school hols. Do your best to make friends with other families.
Some of DCs friends have sahms -I do weekend babysitting as a swap for school hol days.
Unpaid leave.

There is a good after school club at school where they'll be till 4.30 every day and thankfully I will be able to do the drop off. I was wondering about CMs in the holidays. Also like the 18-21 student idea, though don't know any. Or any I would trust...

I am worried about them getting exhausted Rookie... I think kids need their holidays to unwind...

We do a mix of our annual leave, holiday clubs and very, very occasionally (as in a few days a year) my mum comes down. I'm also fortunate in having parental leave at work, so I can take a few days a year with that.

Try some of the sports or theatre clubs that are often on in the holidays. We generally do a football one this time of year and a cricket one in the summer. With a bit of luck some of your dc's friends will be doing it too and you can share lifts - generally works for us and at around £45 per week 10-4 it's a bargain as childcare goes. My ds loves it - I've had annual leave this week and he's still been to football club all week!

You could also try to get a foreign student/au pair type through gumtree or speaking to people, or bite the bullet and try to get a nanny for the summer holiday through an agency. Expensive, but also less stressful for you than trying to rush to and from school every day in the summer.
My friend did this as she has 3 DCs, she felt the lady wasn't absolutely brilliant but this was counterbalanced by the DCs not having to get up early and being able to relax in their own home.

Also another thing you may be able to do is condense your hours to do 4 longer days for the holidays, our holiday club runs for longer hours than the school day, so I change to 3 longer days rather than my normal working hours.

Any suggested holiday footie or sports clubs in and around chiswick? looking for this week especially...anyone can help, grateful. Am a working mum and my son has a two week half term break - eeks! Thanks

Really - is there a right to paternal leave??? I am wondering what will happen when DCs are ill - ideally I'd take it as unpaid leave. But failing that would have to make the time up somehow, and that is gonna prove difficult.

At the end of the day the work needs to get done by a monthly deadline and I am conscientious enough to make sure that will happen...

Your statuatory holiday entitlement is 28 days if you work 5 days a week, though this can include bank holidays. Are you getting the bank holidays on top of your 20 days?

Parental leave is unpaid and is something you apply for in advance. Most organisations have a policy where they would grant emergency leave short term if child is sick and then you should be able to get unpaid if necessary.

If possible try to build up a bank of options, even through doing play dates etc so you can call in favours from other parents if required.

It will be fine though, honestly.

Thanks for the reassurance Rookie - I do need it at the moment!

I do get bank holidays off Ruddy - I guess that makes it up to about 28 days...

I'm going to have to see how it goes and stop fretting!