Working out childcare during the holidays!
Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant
The first and most important thing to say here is that preparation is key! Think ahead and have a plan of the weeks that you are looking to cover with childcare. Having a calendar is essential to provide a visual outline to see when and where you will need cover and have it available either online or somewhere visible for all family members to be able to refer to it if needed!
How you ensure that childcare works out for the holidays is very dependent on how you plan the cover. For example, are you looking for one consistent option such as a nursery which has a holiday club for the older children or are you going to need to use a variety of different options like play schemes, relatives and friends? If you have children of various ages try to look at options which mean that for the majority of time the children can all be in one place; this will help the children to settle as being in the same location means that they have each other, but it also means that it will be easier for you to have just one place to drop off and pick up from.
Whichever option you are looking at you need to ensure that you are contacting the relevant people well in advance to find out availability. Organised holiday schemes can get booked up months in advance so you do need to make sure that you are thinking ahead to avoid disappointment.
Once you know the availability of those people who will be supporting over the holiday period, add this to your calendar so that you are able to see where you have gaps or, indeed, overlaps of cover. Try and avoid making the plan too complicated by having more than one form of childcare in a day; having one person cover a morning and another covering the afternoon can make it more stressful for you and also for your child/ren. It also opens up the possibility that one or the other might fall through, which will leave you struggling to cover not only childcare, but also the issue of getting the children to and from the other location.
With this in mind, try to have a backup in place so that you are covered in the event of being let down by one of your options. Do you have people who can be called upon in an emergency, perhaps if your child is unwell and unable to attend the holiday club? If you have someone who is willing to be called upon at the last minute it will help reduce worry and stress on your behalf! In the event that you might not be able to find cover in case of being let down, it might help to be up front and honest with your employer so that they know you are having to cover the weeks with different people and that there might be times when this could fall through. This isn’t always going to be possible, but if your employer is fully aware then it might be easier to deal with if and when the issue might occur.
Another important factor is to make sure that your child/ren are clear and understand where they are going each day. For younger children this could be using photos to represent where they are going e.g. photos of the family member that will be looking after them or even a picture of nursery they are going to so that they are able to adjust and prepare for their day. Just because they are young, they still need the opportunity to prepare for where they are going to be. By preparing your child/ren it is likely to make the drop off and pick ups much smoother and easier which in turn means going off to work will be a smoother process for you.
If your children are going to various different people and settings over a week, it is important to recognise that this could be overwhelming for your children, which might then have an impact on how accepting they are of going to the places. If you are using different people you might find it helpful to have a notebook (contact book) which goes between the different carers for them to note any important information e.g. illness or behaviour which might be useful for others to be aware of, but also for you to know what is happening.
Thinking ahead and being prepared is the way to ensuring that holiday childcare is effective. Leaving it to the last minute can be highly stressful for all concerned!
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