How to manage childcare

[CJones11]

I am looking for some tips and advice from working families.

I was a teacher up until September 25, when my school closed and merged with another. I was offered another role at the 'new' school that I declined and opted for voluntary redundancy instead. This was largely due to me being on maternity leave after having twins and the new role not being close enough to my previous role.

My plan was to stay off until January, which would have been when my maternity leave ended and then start looking for work.

The New Year is here, and I have started to look for work, and I am struggling. Our main issue is that my husband is no longer self-employed and can no longer do school runs for our eldest two. I have looked for suitable childcare for them before/after school that does drop offs, and there is literally none in our area. The twins aren't the issue and can go to nursery during my working hours, it's organising something for our older two. I now feel like I'm trapped and limited in what's available and don't know where to turn.

There are a number of suitable jobs I have seen with local councils that I am keen to apply for, but I am anxiously anticipating how I could make it work. Does anyone have any advice?

We had no wrap around care either. It sucks. Some became available a few years later. Can your husband do drop off if you do pick up? You may be able to work slightly adjusted hours (you come in early finish late; he goes in slightly later and finishes later).

Breakfast club? or childminder?

Sorry I see you say there’s none in your area. Have you asked the other parents what they do? Simone may have an option?

Is there any flex at all in your husbands role hours wise?

Depending on what job you go for, especially if local council, you may have flexi so if his had some flex then between the two of you could you make that work? E.g. I work flexi and could choose to work 7-3 so I could do pick ups, my husband can then choose to work 9-5 so with breakfast club he could do drop off, or he could do 09:30-5:30 and do drop off

Apply for the local authority jobs, they will be flexible. Most are hybrid and will facilitate your work / life balance. Also check the civil service as it will be the same in terms of flex.

Both of you put in a flexible working request based on what you think might work. Here quite a lot of couples manage it so that one does drop off and starts work late and finishes late, the other starts work early and finishes early for school pick up. Because you haven’t started the job yet you can try to negotiate when you get the job offer.

I highly appreciate these responses. Sadly, there are no childminders in our area who do pick-ups from the school, which is a nightmare. I would have happily negotiated a possible later start/finish time to accommodate being able to take them to school and having the consistency of a childminder after school. My son is old enough for breakfast club, which begins at 8.15, but my daughter is not (yet).

I feel overwhelmed with this situation. Logically, I know I need to bite the bullet and apply for a bunch of jobs and go from there to see what actually is in reach. I am so ready to get back to working.

A lot of people around me rely on family members for school runs while they work. We sadly do not have that support system.

I would really love to see clear transparency on job adverts stating working hours and the exact flexibility they offer. It's all so generic.

Remember this is both your problems- is DH also trying to figure it out?

So you have 4 children? Two are at school and need wraparound care and 2 are in nursery?

The answer is a nanny surely? Consolidate all the childcare costs - full time nursery x 2 plus wraparound care x 2 and pay a nanny. Figure out the right balance of hours to make this work - eg she starts early but finishes early and/or works part time. She does school runs with all four children, has the twins alone during the day, and then is around for the first part of the afternoon with all four again.

Sounds like this would be the best option @CJones11 what do you think?

This sounds immensely brave - four kids including little ones, and two working adults. I am swooning at the thought of all that hard work

How important is a high salary here?

Could you look for jobs as a SENCO which might mean you could start later at 9.15am?

Could you appeal in class WhatsApp see if anyone wants to share pickup and drop off - perhaps it would open up some opportunities

I hadn't even considered a nanny. I've always assumed they were for quite affluent families. I will take a look at this as an option. Thank you!

If we could afford for me not to return to work, we 100% would. Our daughter has epilepsy too which impacts how well she is a lot of the time.
I am not looking to return to teaching but would consider other school based roles. I was working horrendous hours teaching and it wore me down and left me with nothing for homelife. The inflexibility and missing out on my own children's events and life was the tip of the iceberg for me.

High salary not completely necessary. I'm even considering some night shift work in residential homes as a stop gap for the time being.

I have four kids (including twins) and if I had the ages you have then I’d consider looking for a nanny. The cost of a nanny would likely be similar to the cost of two full time nursery places for your twins.

The added de-stressor of having a nanny come to your house rather than having to get all four out to two/three different places would also be life-changing.

My only concern would be that I would probably only want a nanny for the years until the twins started school, as I’d make after/before school clubs work from then. I don’t know how much it would cost to make a nanny redundant at the point I didn’t need her any more.

With the 30 free nursery hours starting at 9 months old I would be very surprised if you can get a nanny for the price of 2x nursery places. I am in a similar situation and nursery was still cheaper, by quite some way

What do all the other parents at the school do? Is there a childcare option you are not aware of?

Have you actually applied for any jobs yet? Surely you need to try and negotiate hours that would suit you. As above local councils are usually quite flexible

With one or two children, probably true. But if you're paying childcare costs for 4 children.... not so much. As the nanny cost is unlikely to be materially different based on more children. With 4, 2 of whom are twins, your pool of candidates might be smaller - as not every nanny would be open to this - and you might need to pay slightly more to attract the right person, but I'd still imagine it would be cheaper than the current total cost of childcare.

I should have added that we are in Wales, so no 30 hours at 9 months which is a kick in the teeth.

Other parents at the school either have family members to support them with childcare, their job hours fit in with school times, or they do alternative shifts i.e. night shifts wirh nhs!

I have started applying in the last 2 weeks. I guess I just need to cross that bridge if I'm offered a position. And ask question at interviews.