I never thought juggling work and childcare would be easy but the last 12 months have been a challenge.
A year ago I was living in London. The local infant school offered 8am-6pm wrap-around care and had an on-site day nursery. This meant Big Girl (BG) and Little sister (LS) were dropped off and picked up together. Then, for a whole host of reasons, we decided to move out of the city to live in a town 40 miles away.
LS?s relocation was easy. She simply swapped nurseries within the same chain. BG?s new infant school offered an after-school club, run by an external company, and promised a new breakfast-club within weeks. The reality was different. Lack of support from the school meant that first the morning and then the afternoon setups closed. Thankfully the junior school offered an eleventh hour rescue by allowing Year 2 students to attend their after-school care.
This is why BG starting juniors has simplified things for me. She can be dropped off before school starts, to spend time in the playground with her friends. This means I’m on my way to work earlier. And she can attend post-school activities, such as choir and French club, and then make her own way to after-school club which is on-site. She’s happier so I’m happier. Although, supporting all these new hobbies seems to be costing me a small fortune!
