childcare for 11 yr olds and up?

pinkpig08

Hi

I know you said the childminders you looked at had very young children to care for - but would that be the same in the holidays? My childminder also cares for the young pre-schoolers in term time, but I find that there are older children there in the holidays as that's when the older children need the care. It ranges from 1 year olds to 13 year olds in the school holidays.

Spendless

You will be ok for this summer hols though when he is between Primary and Secondary, save your AL as much as you can and next summer hols he'll be 12, probably with a wider variety of friends and a year more mature. Quite possibly a typical day will be lay in till 10am (friends with older kids assure me that they do this.....so I do live in hope, mine's 10;)) up, get washed/dressed/make toast, friend calls at 10.30 to go swimming, catch bus get to swimming pool for 11, 1 hour or so swimming, get out, dried, dressed, got to McD's for lunch, catch bus home, back in for 1.30. That sort of scenario only leaves him alone in the house for a couple of hours. Obviously you will need to plan but things like this with other options you've been given on the thread will stop your son being alone all day every day whilst you work.

and ignore PBS s/he likes to wind people up!!!

samandona

merlin1 wrote: »

samandona - the being left to own devices wasnt meant to read as never ever at all! sorry if it came across that way. he has a house key and he is left alone now but for short periods and i'm within half an hour away should he call. personally i do feel 7.5 hours a day every day too much at 11 when i'm an hour away at work. he's an only child so no older sibling to keep an eye on him, and he's easily bored.

Dont apologise! It wasn't a critism! I was just curious as to why you felt that way, i found it intersting is all

I had a house key at 9 i think, I used to walk home from school from year 5... But that situation just worked for us - Im sure not everyone feels the same.

Loads of really good suggestions on here though. Hope you find soemthing that works out.

babyshoes

My immediate thoughts are residential camps and a stay with grandparents / other relatives or friends etc. Also, what type of job do you do? Would it be possible to take him in to work one or two days a week? If he likes reading he should be able to entertain himself for part of the day.

By the age of 12 I would occasionally go into work (hair salon) with my Mom and if everyone was busy I was quite able to answer the phone and book appointments or take messages. I would chat to the customers and read most of the time, as well as exploring the local area and running errands into town for people. By the time I got to about 15 I was able to wash the clients' hair and get them ready (cape on ,comb hair, tea/coffee order, make tea etc), and was trusted to take payments too, and actually got a job there to make a bit of pocket money for a while.

Do you speak to your neighbours much? Perhaps there is a retired person he could spend a day or two a week with in exchange for help doing stuff they might find difficult like shopping or DIY - you did say your son is good with his hands, didn't you? Also, on a similar note, maybe see if a local retirement home would accomodate him as a volunteer to chat to the residents, read to them etc?