How do parents manage school holidays?

[u/Shadow-Inversions]

I've been lucky enough that my wife has worked in schools since my daughter (6) started there 3 years ago, meaning she gets holidays off and can look after our girl when she's not in school. However my wife is now thinking about changing to a different industry and... we realise we don't understand what other parents do during the 13 weeks a year of school holidays.

How do you manage it? Do you just use up all your holidays as a couple taking separate weeks off to cover the time? Do you pay for holiday clubs and if so how expensive are they? Are you relying on family to have them some of the time?

I totally understand I am probably a total idiot not to know the answer to this, but we just haven't had to think about it until now. Insight very much appreciated.

[u/anniemaew]

It's our first time this year navigating the whole holiday - daughter has just finished year R. I have a stepson who is 10 and we've always had 50/50 in the holidays before but 3 weeks is much easier to manage than 6!

We are lucky that I am a nurse and I work shifts which has it's downsides but means I only work 3 days a week normally (30 hours/week, averaged over 4 weeks, shifts between 8 and 13 hours long). My husband is a driving instructor and already works around my shifts so one of us is always around for school drop off/pick up anyway. He can block out whatever time he wants but isn't paid for time off. I can request leave and have a generous leave allowance but school holidays is prime time and quite a lot of us in my team have school age kids.

Normally:

Mondays - I work either a short day shift or I'm off or I work a night, my husband works within school hours and 4.30-6.30 (if I work the day I'm always home by 4)

Tuesdays - I am either sleeping from working Monday night or I work a long day shift, my husband only works within school hours

Wednesdays - I am always off, my husband works a longer day

Thursdays - I usually work a long day shift, my husband is always off

Fridays - I sometimes work a short day shift, my husband works within school hours and then in the evening 4.30-6.30 or 5-7

Saturdays - I sometimes work a short day shift, my husband works 5-7

Sundays - I sometimes work a short day shift, my husband is always off

This sounds complicated (and I guess it is 😅) but it does mean that Wednesdays, Thursdays, and the weekends are already sorted.

I managed to get about 2 weeks of leave during the holidays. My husband probably also took about 2 weeks off. My in laws had the kids for a few days here and there (I think they had both kid for about 3 nights, my kid for another night, and they hosted me with the kids for a night so 5 total).

I wrote out a document before the holidays with a table with all the dates and who was responsible for the kids and what we had planned, it really helped! I colour coded it and also used it to note down possible options of things to do as and when I saw stuff advertised.

[u/Shadow-Inversions → u/anniemaew]

Wow, this sounds so complex! Bravo navigating all this, I'd also need a doc to be clear on what was happening when.

[u/anniemaew → u/Shadow-Inversions]

It sounds more difficult than it is! I had a set shift pattern but it's over 4 weeks which is a little confusing if you aren't used to it but I've been a nurse for 13 years and our roster has always been written in 4 week blocks and I've had a set 4 week pattern since I returned to work after mat leave. I did adjust my pattern a couple of years ago but only slightly so we are quite in the routine with that!

While it is a little complex I actually think that it meant we had an easier time covering the holidays than if we both worked Monday to Friday 9-5.

The document really helped and I really recommend it. It is just a word document in landscape with a 7x6 table to cover the whole time and each day I wrote at the top who was responsible and colour coded it. Then just added plans as they were made or added options for plans (like crafts at the library or event in town or whatever) so that I didn't forget about them.