How do you arrange picking up of kids from school when you work full time?

Gillyx

When I was primary school age I had a child minder, up until I was about 7, it was my aunt, who was a registered child minder and then after that it was a family friend who had grandchildren so I was always socialising. I loved my child minders and look back fondly on the time I had with them. If I could find the "right" person, I'd have no hesitation to leave my child with them for mornings and early evening after school.

penguin83

My 2 little 'uns are in different schools and my OH and I both work full time. We are lucky in that I can start work at 9.30/10.00 so I wait home for my son to be picked up by his school bus and OH takes our daughter to school. OH works nights so he grabs some sleep and then picks up daughter and races back to be home in time for our son being dropped off. OH then goes to work when I get home around 6.30pm and have about 90mins with them for baths/homework/cuddles or whatever.

I agree with others though - the school holidays are much harder to cover. I use my annual leave, my Dad is retired so can help out (luckily he is still relatively young!) and OH stays awake on the days that we can't cover. xx

meritaten

I dont know about where you are, but I know in my area lots of the childminders do the 'drop off' and 'pick up' kids from school. naturally they charge for this. Sadly, this is one of the factors which arise when you HAVE to work full time! after school clubs are great where they exist in schools - most kids realise that its NOT school and enjoy them! my 3 yr old granddaughter absolutely loves school and although she is only at nursery she insists on staying all day - called 'wraparound' which has to be paid for. IF the school had an after school club I am sure she would insist on staying for that too! her parents are considering boarding school for her!!! (joke)

ibelongtoguy

I am not saying by any means that there's anything wrong with using childminders or after school club; it's just that I am having a personal struggle with it and already miss out on so much time with her, I'd like to get a bit back.

LandyAndy

We used childminders from when our sons were very young. It isn't a cheap thing to do but you wouldn't be foolish enough to just have children without thinking about these things would you?

go_cat

We have just had this transition with my DS He started in September and both me and DH work full time. We use the breakfast school at school, and his old nursery pick him up after school.

It is a long day but it is all he has ever known ( at nursery from 6 months!) so is no different, it may be the case for your child.

The money lost for either me or my DH to reduce our hours not to mention finding a job that offers them far out weighes the cost of breakfast and after school clubs.

Concentrate on weekends being as fun packed as possible with time as a family

CH27

If your OH is doing the drop offs could you go into work very early & finish early?

esmy

Most after school clubs locally finish bang on 6pm and can't be flexible, so if you have a long commute and would be home later, I think a childminder might be your only option for after school. I had various combinations of childminder before and after school, then breakfast club in the mornings (cheaper than childminder!) with a minder after school, then a sort of reciprocal arrangement with a friend (worked best of all and cost us nothing). I'd agree with the comments in previous posts about the potential long day in a school setting - when mine started school they were shattered and just wanted to sit in front of the TV for a bit - youngest would often have a nap!

ibelongtoguy

LandyAndy - no I thought about it long and hard before we had her. MY DH job changed due to unforseen circumstances and so I returned to work full time...relunctantly. The reason we won't be having any more either as the whole situation is heartbreaking.

I already work slightly offset hours so that I get back in time to pick her up on nusery days, as it's still a year away I will wait a while before asking for more flxibility at work.

I really just wanted to understand how everyone else manages. I am the only full time working Mum I know (of kids this age) so it makes me feel quite envious of those who only work part time or not at all, they are all meeting for coffee in the week and going to soft play. Like I said, I am working hard to reduce outgoings so I can cut hours if needed next year.

Thanks for your replies; it is good to know that others do have to work these things out too.

CH27

Would it be an option to choose a school near your parents so they can pick up?