How do you fit work around 11+ age children during school holidays?

[LifeIsGr8]

Genuine question. If you have year 6 & older children how do you work your job around the 6 week holiday? Clubs aren't as widely available for that age group. More specifically the days you go in the office.

Gradual from age 11 to 17. Okay….

Short day camps that are sports or dance based that they can scoot or bus to independently.

Bigger trips out on my non working days plus a friend, and their friend’s mum does the same on one of my working days.

Visit grandparents (they can get there by tube).

Meet up with a friend (but lots go away all summer).

Spend a day at home by themselves, they’ll often cook us a nice dinner for after work.

I have two but often one is away on a school trip or busy, so they’ve both done all this by themselves since the end of Y7.

Mine did a sports camp at a local high school for y6 hols and then categorically refused to go.

The deal then became that when we were working, they had the equivalent budget (what i would have spent at sports camp) to 'do something' the other 3 days - ie not 11 hours of screen time!

Sometimes they would walk to the shops and buy ingredients to do some baking, maybe have a friend round to do it with. Take bikes to the park, kick a ball about. Cinema, bowling etc were more expensive and took 2 days 'budget'. They needed to make a plan each week and share it.

Sports clubs /drama clubs etc tend to go up to older ages. Mine get to pick what activity they would enjoy and they have had some fab summers.

Or I organise them to have a friend round when I am at home and then the friends parent often returns the favour

Mine would be ok on their own but I want them to have an interesting summer not just a simmer glued to screens

I'm sure a great agency could be set up here matching between year uni students with families for childcare over the summer. Win win.

I'm paying 16 year old cousin to be a presence for a week.

You pay for kids clubs and childcare.

Flexible working and clubs they agree to do - usually expensive ones.

Some people seem to think by age 11, they can save themselves the cost of clubs and tell themselves they are giving their children much needed independence . I think we all know the real reason whatever despite the claims saying otherwise. I think cost is the crux of it and when there is no other option, 11/12 is still too young imo. A friend of mine is a social worker and this would raise eyebrows if anything was to happen to the unsupervised children.

Move towards residential weeks away at that age. Summer camps, PGL, shipped off to relatives in boring places with no wifi so they are grateful when they come home.

I have so many great memories from residential camps as a teen! I learnt all kinds of sports and made friends I am still in touch with now.

We wfh so not really a childcare issue but I book them into some days an an outdoor ed centre for things like kayaking.

They've been away with scouts for a week already.

Then some time with cousins and grandparents

Apart from that they either go and 'hang' with friends or veg on the play station

2 weeks done already. Time is flying by.

Judging from the varying of the responses on this thread, I think this must be totally location dependent. I'm sat right now on a river bank watching the world go by in my lovely town and feeling enormously grateful for my, and thus my children's, location. There's groups of teenagers on bikes, helmets on on their way to the pump track in the forest, another pile of younger kids playing football in the park not a parent in sight, another group sat opposite me chatting away again alone eating ice creams. Our neighbourhood watch memo front page crime headlines would be stuff like 'has anyone seen Bobs flower pot, it's been moved.'
So, for the op, I'd go with whatever is the norm in your area.

@Username1010 you don't let your teens out?

Blimey our kids go out to play in the park from age 6/7 and at 13/14 they go into town on the bus to the cinema, shops, swimming pool (Scotland)

I'm always amazed at the cultural differences with (parts) of England

This sounds blissful.

I grew up in a location like this.

Now I live in a very built up
residential area, half an hour train journey outside a big city (rough city).

I'm a teacher so don't have the holiday issue but I'm surprised at the people who won't let their teens stay home alone. Maybe not for a full 6 weeks but for a few days most will be fine. My DD has spent full days home alone since she was 13 as she has EBSA and can't manage school every day. We work full-time as teachers and can't be at home. You need to start with half days and build up. Make sure they know what to do in an emergency.

What did you do when she was 12 and couldn’t manage school every day?

She wasn't so bad at 12, fortunately. The problems really ramped up in Year 8. Otherwise I'd have had to give up my job.

11 is a really tricky age for summer holidays, you have my sympathies. When my oldest was 11 there was a local holiday club that went up to their age but they didn't want to go anymore. That summer was a real pain but we did at least have an au pair at time, which helped. We tried a few different ones that were aimed at slightly older kids, but they didn't like any of those.

Luckily, they got very self organised after that and between a two-week residential camp and their own initiative, from age 12 they were able to sort themselves out.

I have struggled. DS2 is 15 now so I'm coming out of the tunnel.
I'm a lone parent, WFH full time, live rurally.

I paid for expensive football camps i.e the ones run by football clubs rather than the play scheme ones.
I take about 10 days leave.
I paid for him and his brother (then 23) to go away for a week.
Because of the rural location, and the fact he has a small group of very good friends, it wasn't just a case of him 'going out with friends' as some of them live equally rurally. Bus service is poor to very bad.
He spent days and days entertaining himself. Fine now and again, but for weeks on end.....I hate it.

This summer he will go to the gym. He can get the bus into town and I can collect him (major road is closed for months and the diversion adds 15 mins onto the round trip which is a pain - it's not just nipping up the road).

I am really hoping he will be offered the job he has applied for in the gym he goes to. Fingers crossed for him please.

I have chosen my job and I am very happy lone parent, but I have to remove myself from the whatsapp groups which are predominantly made up of people who don't work over the holidays or have partners or family to help otherwise I turn into a bitter person.

Maybe not for a full 6 weeks but for a few days most will be fine.

This is the issue for me.
DS2 is mature, sensible and independent. He is quite capable of being alone - and of course the odd day melting his brain on the x-box is fine, but when you're alone and they get 13 weeks a year it's more of a challenge.

I don’t think age 13 automatically means ok to be on their own.

I had to take a lower paid job with more flexibility due to childcare and school hours. I imagine a lot of us do.

It’s not so much saving the cost of the club as it is far fewer clubs being available for year 7/8 pupils vs the provision up until end of primary school

Work term time as not really fair to either kids or work otherwise

Reality is many 11+ year olds will be left home alone during the day.

Unless they are sporty and really want to do sports camps they aren't going there.

Holiday clubs don't really exist for this age group either.

I hope those mentioning Scout camps really really appreciate the leaders using a week of their annual leave to entertain your kids.