So, that time of year is nearly upon us again and every year I ask myself the same question: “what am I going to do about childcare?” On this occasion it’s the summer holidays – and it’s six whole weeks!
Both sets of grandparents live locally, but as one set have health issues and one set are becoming increasingly older and frail, I only ever manage to secure childcare for one day per week. This in itself isn’t a problem, as most of my work can be shifted back to the evenings. However, I do have one client that I arrange a lot of meetings for and this inevitably involves making phone calls on her behalf. I may also need to visit other clients, so ideally I need another day of childcare to bring it up to two days. And as Company Secretary of my husband’s business, I need to try and set aside half a day for completing his work too – so what to do?
Being an only child limits my options further and so after weeks of irrational soul searching (what if my daughter doesn’t like it, can we afford it, am I emotionally scarring her for life, etc…) I have decided to send her to a local out of school club and have tied in with a friend in her class who will be going on the same day – result!
My situation got me thinking about professional childcare and how it seems to be an option that more and more parents are relying on, as their families often live far away in other parts of the country and how this is partially a result of modern life and families becoming fragmented.
Whenever I tell people that I have both sets of grandparents living locally, they often pipe up with “oooh, that must be so lovely, I bet you’re never stuck for babysitters like we are!” Well, errr… no, it doesn’t quite work like that for the reasons that I’ve outlined in paragraph two, above!
I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Are you a working Mum? What do you do about childcare in the school holidays and do you think we ever get the balance right?
Bailey Secretarial: Taking Care of Business 