Childcare for a 12 year old.

joeblack066

At the moment I work Mon - Fri, and have been lucky enough to have a family friend who doesn't work on two days of the week look after my 12 yo DD after school. One day I finish early, and on the other 2 days she goes to Grandma's. Grandma is 80 and loves having DD, but any more would be too much. From May, my friend will not be able to help any more, and I am struggling to find any childcare for a 12yo! She doesn't want to go to a Childminder whose priorities are the younger ones, there are no after school or holiday clubs where I live; I tried yhe Govt helpline, and they've emailed me a long list whick either goes up to 11 yo or are 20 miles away!
Any ideas what I can do guys? Thx!

KT1985

Where abouts are you based? County?

Pee

Would a taxi to piano lessons, riding lessons, swimming lessons etc be an option? Have you spoken to mothers of DD's friends? Is there anyone close by who is responsible but not employed, maybe a teenager, who would be able to supervise for a couple of hours for a small fee.

space_rider

What time do you get home from work. Mine have stopped going to childcare when they finished primary school but I would be home an hour after them. When it was school holidays they went to the local leisure centre where they had activities. It`s an inbetween age where they don`t want to go to child care but can`t really be left alone for too long. My eldest was ok on her own for the hour but when the next one was 11 they would argue too much so I didn`t like to leave them so did adjust my working hours so I finished same time as them and got home less than half an hour after.

joeblack066

Am in Derbyshire.
None of her friends parents work, but year after year I have askedfor help and I'm all out of asking! If it wewre reversed, I would offer, and all her friends come here at weekends, but the parents never offer to help so I just cannot ask any more! I think the idea of a teenager is the best, its what I did for my older boys (all grown up now!) as she is okay for an hour or so after school but its the holidays that are the big problem. Then, of course, its affording that! There's no help if its not an official care group or childminder. When the boys were younger I knew local teens but I don't know any now. Perhaps I should contact the college and see if there's someone doing childcare who would appreciate the opportunity of some paid work experience? Budgets are so tight tho, that it would just mean that I couldn't do anything with her myself over the hols. Needs must tho, I suppose! It's only for another year or so.

liney

Can she not stay at the library in school and do homework for an hour before making her way home? That way you would be home at similar times?

omelette451

Is she generally well-behaved and trustworthy? From the start of secondary school I had a key and used to occupy myself at home till my mum came home from work. I was fairly responsible so it wasn't a problem, but I would say that 12 is easily old enough to fend for herself for a couple of hours at a time. At the very least it will teach her independence. If you're not happy with that, I'd suggest finding a local library or asking her if she has any friends she can spend the time with - most 12-year-old girls would love to be told they can go to their friends' houses that often! 'Childcare' in the sense of a paid-for service at that age is unnecessary and actually quite embarrassing for the child.

joeblack066

Yes thats the sort of thing that I can do for after school, so thanks for that everyone! Now it's the hols I have to deal with! As I say, I think I'll try to find a local teenager.

bagby

I changed my hours of work when my 12 year old was on school holidays - I started earlier and I put in a half days holiday every day and finished at 11.00 a.m. My son would have only been out of bed a short while and being a boy was quite happy watching tv in his pyjamas while waiting for me to come home. My son goes out alone for the school bus at 7.30 each morning sometimes in the dark in winter and this causes me more concern than leaving him at home. I know I am lucky with my employers but just a thought.

perplexed.com

Hi there

It's so hard to find care for that age group as they're too old for child-minders and in some cases just a bit too young for staying alone all day. I was happy to leave my eldest for a couple of hours after school when she was 12 (she had a key round her neck ) and I asked the nieghbours who were around to keep an eye that she wasn't inviting friends round etc. I was a bit more wary of leaving my son at the same age ( much less responsible ) but it worked out ok. But holidays are more problematic aren't they?
This year where I work we are now entitled to parental leave ( 4 wks over the life of the child until they're 14 ) and will use some of this to cover summer holidays for my 11yr old but you may not have access to that. Could you ask the friends' parents to watch her in return for something you do for them when you can ( babysitting, grass-cutting etc )?

joeblack066

Just feel that I have asked so many times, that by now it would have been great if someone would offer! Can't change my working hours I'm afraid, and though the ideas are great, I think it'll have to be finding a reliable 16yr old who wants a bit of work in the hols.