Childcare-whats your setup?

continualdiamond

I'm currently pregnant with my 1st child and already know that help from family won't exist.

My husband is an only child and his parents both work full time and I'm from Australia so have no family here to help.

As it stands I would love to return to work 3 days a week when I go back next May. It would work in our favour if I worked Wed - Fri as my husband currently works on Saturdays which means in the week he has Thursdays off. So would mean only paying for childcare Wed and Fri. Though of course then does mean as a family we'd only get Sunday together.

Though I earn more than him as he's currently taken on a job that only pays minimum wage after being made redundant so then when you look at it like that it seems silly for me to drop to part time.

But next May is a long way off and whilst I have approached childcare centres and child minders to get an idea of prices a lot of things can change.

southoftheriver

barba wrote: »

Why do people have children then bung them off to a childminder / nursery full time?

Because funnily enough, the economic state means that people can't always afford to be at home full time. This is on top of the decline in the traditional nuclear family where you usually had elder relatives around to help.

Having children is not an altruistic act, people have them because they want to, but staying at home is not always possible, nor is it necessarily the best thing for parents and/or children.

What is your solution then?

LannieDuck

I'm in London with a 2yo and another on the way. My partner is a SAHD (we both earned similar salaries, but his was contract while mine was permanent). I didn't want DD in nursery full time (personal choice), although she goes two afternoons a week for socialisation (and loves it). Assuming we do the same with the second, money will be a bit tight, but we'll manage.

Family are too far away to help out unfortunately, but our mortgage is pretty much paid off which is a huge help.

For the earlier poster asking about when to register with a nursery - I registered while I was still pregnant and will do the same again this time round. It depends if your chosen nursery is popular.

Threebabes

I have 3 kids, 17, 13 & 9.

I have very recently returned to work after 7 years of being a SAHM. The first 10 years we used childminders/family by the time we had no. 3 my mother looked after them part time, that didnt work out though. I decided to leave work and manage on DH's wage.

I use a breakfast club now for DD who is 9. My sister has helped out during the holidays, DH has had holiday, Im having a week off, then DS who is nearly 18 has been watching her.

Again, I would save as much as you can, and the extortinate childcare costs done last forever.

Make-it-3

How others are set up is really irrelevant. Everyone's circumstances are different.

You say you plan to take a year off, so assume you have very good enhanced maternity benefits at your place of work ??

You can split maternity/paternity cover but again you need to look at what you and your partner's workplaces offer and how it works financially.

There's no doubt that professional childcare costs are expensive. So if you don't have friends/family helping out you need to be on a fairly decent salary to make it worthwhile. Or decide it is worth the sacrifice in the short term for long term career gain.

Once your child turns 3 they will get 15 hrs a week, for 38 weeks a year paid for by Government.

There are factors such as childcare vouchers and the new goverment scheme to help out with childcare costs to take into account and possible child tax credits.

But we can't do the math for you.

dizziblonde

an9i77 wrote: »

Reading all these makes me appreciate how lucky I am to be able to afford to have more than one child. Has anyone stopped at one child rather than have two due to the cost of childcare, or left a large gap between siblings for this reason?

Kind of but in reverse. It makes more sense for me to be out of employment for one short sharp burst of time and then to try to claw my way back into it if I so choose (I've got tentative plans to really try to build up the tutoring into a good business in the future).

Stopping at two kids because we can't afford to move up to a bigger house and it wouldn't be fair to overcrowd them (they have to share a bedroom but two can fit in there decently enough... three would be ridiculous).

notanewuser

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Once your child turns 3 they will get 15 hrs a week, for 38 weeks a year paid for by Government.

It's 10 hours a week in Wales.