How do other working mums cope with school holidays?

onlyroz

My boy is 3 and attends a nursery 9-4, and I've agreed a working arrangement with my boss that I work in the office 9:45-3:15, and make up the rest of the hours at home. When he starts school I guess I'll have to ask to work from home for a few weeks in the summer. Hopefully they'll be OK with that, otherwise I'll have to figure something else out...

Engadine

Schools in Scotland broke up for summer holidays last Friday so already having to cope with it. My parents normally take my DD(7yrs) but they are on holiday and don't come back until Thursday. DH was off yesterday and today so he looked after her today, Wednesday and Thursday I am working from home.

I am lucky I work from home and work my diary to suit, parents are not away again until September and our schools go back in middle of August

Paparika

I spent a lot of the summer holidays working for agencies for years so i could not work for 6 weeks as i had no one to help with childcare and could not afford childminder.


thank god things have got better and tax credits started to help us out with money for childminders

penguin83

My son's nursery is open for the holidays so he is ok and my daughter will go to their holiday club from 8 - 6. Its the double nursery fees that are the killer though! £256.00 a week for 5 weeks (I have managed to get a week off work yeay!) for the 2 of them argh

x x x

loulou88

I,m sooooo lucky.
I work in a workshop at my bosses home, she has 5 children herself and lets me take mine along in the holidays if I have too.I am a single mum so without this I could not work. Tax credits dont help when your child is 11 years old. My daughter loves it at my works she plays in the house with the others or in the garden and sometimes even sleeps over. I have the best boss in the world. In the past I have used private nurseries and friends and sometimes she felt like it was a game of pass the parcel , not good. I'm sure it was better in the days when families lived near each other (dont want mine nearer) and all helped out. I live 650 miles form my family so I am lucky I have a great boss its a shame all works dont have a facility attatched a nursery or similar.

surreysaver

How do other working mums cope with school holidays?

By getting working Dads to do their share as well.

ailuro2

My hubby's hours go up in summer holidays when he isn't on holiday, as each shift has to cover the other shift that is off on holiday, so my DH can only do the odd day here and there, I work Mon to Fri, so no joy for me either.

Thankfully, we have a wonderful childminder who is happy to take our 9yo DD, and takes her own holidays in April and October. We'd be lost without her, we really would! We still pay her an hourly rate even though she wanted to charge us a bit less for the whole days , but I felt this was really unfair as she only has our DD and her own kids, not like she's looking after loads of other kids and making extra money from them.

Sparkkee

surreysaver wrote: »

How do other working mums cope with school holidays?

By getting working Dads to do their share as well.

:j

we cope by a mixture of both of us taking time off work, roping in as many friends and relatives as possible and then using the horrendously expensive kids clubs as a last resort.

normally we get away with using the clubs for less than three weeks out of six.

galvanizersbaby

inkie wrote: »

Mine just come to work with me - I make sure that my commitments are 'light' in the school holidays.

:rotfl: what do you do for a living inkie?

galvanizersbaby

The after school club my son attends runs a holiday club throughout the summer holidays (and in fact all holidays) - my daughter is still at nursery till September which is open through the school hols.
My son loves this holiday club (they have swimming facilities and loads to do there and I think it's quite reasonable at 22 pounds per day)
I take two weeks off annual leave in summer hols with the kids and so does my ex hubbie so we juggle it between us.

I'm confused by the posters that have pre school children - I thought the post was about school hols - surely if you don't have school age children then it is the same as any other time? - or do the nursery's/childminders not open/work the school summer hols?