4 days over 5?

[peachgreen]

Does anyone work 4 days over 5? How does it work for you?

I currently work 3 full days but once my daughter starts school the plan is to switch to doing 5 shorter days so I can avoid having to use childcare as much as possible (I'm a lone parent). I was thinking about taking the opportunity to also increase my hours but I'm not sure if working 4 days over 5 would essentially feel like doing full time, and I'd be better off just switching back to full time? But then I really don't want to have to use full time childcare if I can avoid it.

It's all further complicated by the fact that we're in NI and my daughter won't go to school 9-3 until she's in P4/Y3 (her school does 9-12 for the first year, then 9-1 for the second, then 9-2 for the third) so I'll still have to disturb my day to collect her and find something to do with her for the rest of the afternoon while I'm working. And her summer holidays are two full months so God knows what I do then...

Argh. It's a nightmare. I never expected to have this issue because the plan was always that I'd do mornings-only.

Are you serious with schools?! They don’t go full time until year 3?! 😱 how on earth do working parents cope with that?! Is there after school clubs you can use or nurseries?

I do the opposite to you, 5 days in 4! It’s longggg but I get Friday off & I do fully switch off on that day. I don’t do any work at all. In your circumstances with school hours, I’d do the 5 short days personally.. frees up time to look after your kiddo in the afternoon!

Yup. There's an after school club across the road but it only runs at 2-5pm so no good for the first 2 years anyway. And, in all honesty, at £18 for 3 hours it's not really affordable for me in the long term, especially when you factor in holiday care for the almost 4 months they get off on holiday in total!

Unfortunately where I live the schools seem to just assume that all kids will have either one parent who doesn't work or grandparents nearby. Not the case for my daughter, unfortunately. To be honest I'd love to move elsewhere so she's not such an outsider but I can't afford that either! So I'm a bit stuck.

Thanks for the advice. I think it's probably going to be my best bet, and I'll just have to keep the childminder on for the first couple of years until she's old enough to be at home while I'm working (childminder works out cheaper than after school club and holiday club over the course of a year).

I do 80% hours over 5 days...in theory. In practice I work much longer but do it after my DD goes to bed. It's very tiring but I do appreciate having afternoons with her after school. Depends on your job, though. I'm a lawyer so long hours go with the territory.

I currently work 3 full days and thinking to switch to 4 shorter days so I can do school run and homework etc. As @SarahWoodruff seems to have a similar situation, I don’t want to be really working in evenings when kids go to bed on 4 nights (my 3 working days are horrendous enough).