how on earth do those of you who work FT mange in the school hols if you DON'T have free childcare eg. family help?

[ssd]

doesn't it cost a fortune if you have more than 1 child?

do you have to earn mega bucks to even consider it?

I have done a Very Brave Thing and organised an informal playscheme in my house (!!) We live in Poland so informal employment is a lot easier here from what I gather: we hired a childminder (a student, no formal qualifications but with tons of experience) and 5 of us have clubbed together to pay her (we agreed an hourly wage in advance, for anything up to 6 kids, aged 4-6), and she looks after the kids in our house. We have a big garden with swing and climbing frame so that helps, and a playground nearby.
I work from home, so can keep tabs on things, but she is amazing and I don't have to help her at all, I shut myself up in my office or go out to meet clients and she takes care of the kids.
We parents take it in turns to prepare dinners for them that are easy to heat up (in Poland the main meal is at lunchtime), so it works out we each only have to cook once a week (yay!) and snacks have just sort of sorted themselves out - we bring in fruit as and when, the odd packet of biscuits, bottles of water etc. The kids love it because they are with their mates, my two are quite shy so they don't adapt well in playschemes, and the childminder is amazing - they are never bored. In fact they don't want to go back to preschool...

I think we get a rough deal in the UK!

I agree there is a lot to be learned from other countries. And also, the over-regulation of everything here can be off putting for people who might otherwise want to childmind, run play schemes etc.

HOWEVER, I think it's important to acknowledge we are moving in the right direction. Tax credits, subsidised nurseries and increased maternity leave, plus the right to request flexible working (which however much people complain about it, actually has a good success rate for people achieving it when they request it) have made things a hell of a lot better than when those of us with teenage kids were giving birth.

When mine were are nursery, there were no tax credits, no free places, not even paternity leave!! Along with many others, I totally accepted that working when my children were pre-school age meant earning very little after nursery was paid for.

I'm not saying we want a return to that - far from it - but I think we need to keep a perspective here. Bottom line is - our children are the most precious thngs in our lives - why should we begrudge paying for good quality care? It's unrealistic to expect it all to be handed on a plate.

Have just spent £900 on a summer nanny. She's brilliant, but it's been an expensive summer. Next year dd2 will be at nursery and dd1 will be at day camp and holiday club (run by employer). Won't be as bad as only pay term time only for dd1. This year was on top of cost for dd2, so effectively paid £1400 for month of Aug, 3 days a week. I am broke!

My two go to childminder for three days a week. They are 9 and 7.

Usually in term time they just go there after school 4 days a week, but in summer holiday I try to get it to three times a week and less if I can wangle the working from home more often than usual.

We get inundated with sports course leaflets at end of term but they all seem to be 10-3ish which is pretty useless if you are working normal hours.