Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! There I feel a little better now!!!!

Lottie starts school in September . We need childcare before and after school on Mondays and Tuesdays. I have managed to have a jig around with my hours at work and with OHs shifts we have managed to work it out so that we only have get someone to look after her one Monday and Tuesday every 4 weeks for about an hour after school. OMG you will not believe how hard it is to find childcare for this!!!!

There is no after school club (only like gymnastics or football etc, but these are not to be used for childcare), so I have been ringing around some childminders. I appreciate they have to earn a living, but they all want to charge for the other 3 weeks they wont be having her (though some will only charge half). Also with most of them if I want to reserve a spot for her for September I have to pay a retainer fee, this mean I have to pay half of the fees from now until she starts!!! This on top of the fees we are paying for her to attend nursery until she starts school is just ridiculous!!!!

So now I'm stuck with either booking a childminder and paying the fees until September OR wait until nearer the time but risk not being able to find someone that can accommodate us. It really does get harder when they start school!!!

FFS it's getting so that now I can't afford to go to fluffing work!!

xx

no afterschool care at all? even at another school close by?

I dont know if thats just a scotland thing? but we have after school care which is just like a nursery but starts when school ends until 6pm?
and if the school your child is at doesnt run one then a minibus pick them up and takes them to one.

also most schools do a breakfast club too.

shame on those childminders. you would think they would be more understanding x

Hun I understand ur frustration. Me an oh work shifts and its only the odd 3 times a month he needs looking after but nothing accommodate s this. If we didn have grandparents I wouldn be able to work lol. X

If my Mum drove it would be so much easier, but sadly she doesn't and she lives too far away !!!!

I can understand paying a deposit, but to charge half rates for doing feck all just p*sses me off!!!

xx

I understand your frustration but I also get why thy do it. When it's a nursery there's loads of kids attending with loads of different patterns som handed are they can ensure they're busy pretty much all of the time, and if they have a quiet day they can Arrange staff shifts so that they're not overstaffed when they don't need to be.

With childminders there is only one of them and they're only allowed a certain number of kids at any one time so new requests that fit in with the kids they already have don't come as easily. (It's pretty unlikely that someone else will come along wanting 3 tuesdays in 4 to fit in perfectly with your 1 week, so you would essentially be blocking tuesdays even though you don't use the place every week).

The retainer is a sticky wicket but it's because they are holding a place open that they're pretty unlikely to fill on a temporary basis before you started. My mum got royally screwed over last year by a woman wanting full time care for her baby - mum held the place open for months but didn't charge a retainer because the baby hadn't been born yet (she was going back to work at 8 weeks, worked round the corner, wanted to pop back to BF 3'times a day - only a little bit unrealistic if you ask me!) - my mum turned down other work offers and then 3 weeks before baby was due to start the mum said her MIL was going to care for her instead. bit of an extreme example I know but that's why they do it.

Do you know any other mums who you could make an arrangement with? Like if you had theirs one day a week in exchange?

xx

Does she have any friends at nursery who will be going to the same school. Maybe you could come up with an arrangement with them x

does the nursery do afterschool clubs, some day nurseries do,

childcare is a nightmare for working moms, not sure what to suggest, i eventually had to go to a private after school for rich, because no one would accept him with his issues at the time, it cost but i always knew he was looked after well

good luck hun, i know its not easy

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Laura wrote:

Does she have any friends at nursery who will be going to the same school. Maybe you could come up with an arrangement with them x

Thats' the thing I don't know anybody at the school yet. Lottie didn't go to the nursery attached to the school, as she currently goes to a day care nursery 2 full days a week while I am at work. I may get to know some Mums and be able to arrange something after a while, but until then I'm stuck!

Em - I completely understand why childminders need to charge when they are not there etc, and what that lady did was out of order for your poor Mum. It wouldn't be so bad if I could pay a non returnable deposit if I didn't use the place. It just so hard when you need to work and it costs and much to pay for childcare as you earn!! LOL
xx

I know, when we have no2, there will be no point me working full time any more, might as well just spend more time with my kiddlies!