What do parents who work full time do when theres no school?

[Anonymous]

I'm going back to work full time after being a stay at home mom for 5 years. I'll be working from home full time while my kids are in school most of the day. My question is, how do two full time working parents make it work when a child is sick, or when school is closed? For example, I only get 3 weeks of vacation time and my husband has a pretty demanding job with not much time off. What happens during the two weeks in June and August when there is no school or camp, and during spring break? We have family near by, but they are an hour away and can't really help during the week. We also have a babysitter but she's in high school so is in school during the week. How do parents make it work when they're kids are out of school? My youngest is only 2 so still requires a lot of attention when he's at home. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

There are camps in late June and late August.

[Anonymous]

Nanny.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, their camp ends in mid August for some reason. I'd hate to spend my whole income on a nanny but I guess thats what we'll have to do.

[Anonymous]

Isn't your youngest going to be in daycare anyways while you are working?

[Anonymous]

In short, it sucks.

Cobble together care from after-care programs (which frequently run camps during spring break, etc), babysitters for the occasional day here and there, and camps.

Your two year-old is probably too young for camp, though, so I'd recommend getting that child in a full-day, full-year program. It's almost impossible to find camps for children under 3.

Good luck - you can do it!

[Anonymous]

Our twins are almost 3 so we haven't dealt with this yet, but I am sure it will be a challenge. We may have Gramma come visit some if she's able. I also saw a lot of college kids offering babysitting services on our neighborhood list over the summer. Perhaps you can find an experienced college student for the off weeks.

[Anonymous]

You are not doing enough research. There are camps during spring break and during the late weeks of August.

My kids attended full-day daycare until they started Kindergarten. The daycare was open during the entire Summer, and during school spring/winter breaks.

If your kid is unexpectedly sick, one of the parents needs to take the day off.

[Anonymous]

Struggle.

[Anonymous]

I have a master spreadsheet with each of my vacation days, DH's vacation days, and the days (and weeks) DS doesn't have school. First I fill in the weeks with camp, and then begin filling in 1 week for family vacation, and each parent taking 1 week vacation with the kid. Rest of each parent's vacation days are allocated to one of the kid's no-school days. That always leaves the first week of break in June and the last week of break in August with no coverage. I usually cobble that together - take kid to my parents to spend a couple nights, to his great aunt's to spend a couple nights, trade off babysitting with two other families. And we usually end up with at least "bring your child to work day."

For sick days...I take a "family sick" day. Glad my organization has that option!

[Anonymous]

Camps

[Anonymous]

Get the younger one into daycare. It runs all year long, all day.

[Anonymous]

One of you must have flexibility at work, or you must have sufficient income for nanny/ies. Period. Because American capitalism sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a master spreadsheet with each of my vacation days, DH's vacation days, and the days (and weeks) DS doesn't have school. First I fill in the weeks with camp, and then begin filling in 1 week for family vacation, and each parent taking 1 week vacation with the kid. Rest of each parent's vacation days are allocated to one of the kid's no-school days. That always leaves the first week of break in June and the last week of break in August with no coverage. I usually cobble that together - take kid to my parents to spend a couple nights, to his great aunt's to spend a couple nights, trade off babysitting with two other families. And we usually end up with at least "bring your child to work day."

For sick days...I take a "family sick" day. Glad my organization has that option!

This honestly sounds terrible. And you all have a lot of annual leave at work! Kudos to you for making this work as long as you have. We are going to use up all our annual and sick leave after maternity leave and have no clue what to do after. Won't have leave for years and have no local family.

[Anonymous]

i have a word file with every single teacher work day and holiday on it, and I look at my holiday schedule and her dad's to see who needs to cover which day. if my work is off, I take her. If only his is off, he takes her. If we both have to work, I usually take the hit because I can telework and he can't. There are camps some days.

There are camps every week during the summer - there are just fewer of them in late August. You just have to find them. (hint: YMCA in your area probably has camps every week; you just can't be picky about the subject matter in a couple of those weeks.) You have to start signing up for some of the popular camps as early as January. If you can, keep your child in a preschool with summer full-time coverage so you don't have to do camps until after the K year.

There are also spring break and winter break camps, and once your child is actually in elementary school, flyers will come home with your child from those camps. Some are better than others; some are more expensive than others.

It also helps if your workplace has a deal with Bright Horizons like mine does - they subsidize a nanny if I need coverage for a work day, but I've only used it a couple of times.

Most kids get sick less often once they're past the first couple of years of daycare; at least mine did. My daughter hasn't missed K or 1st grade at all due to illness. On teacher work days, I can typically telework with her at home. I get less than 8 hours of work done, but I can usually manage 6 hours, and my boss is ok with that a few times a year.