Part time childcare - any tips on what works best for you?

[nikki73]

I am going back to work in September and I am negotiating my work pattern. Up until two months before going on mat leave, I worked compressed hours with a friday off every two weeks. I altered my pattern a couple of months before EDD because i was getting tired with long days. Ideally I'd like to go back to Fridays off. My employer would like me to choose another day because of staffing issues, and preferably not Monday. This having been said no one knows as yet to which team I'll go back to. I suspect Wednesdays might be difficult too as this is the day most people come in and all staff events are held so I'd miss out on a lot of info/networking.

I was just wondering whether you have any views on which day to take off. My concern is that if i were to take tues (especially Tuesday) or thurs off it might be unsettling for my daughter because of the stop and start nature of the childcare i.e. she'd have to settle in to her nursery/minder on a Monday only to be taken out again the next day. I also get the impression a lot of childminders don't work Fridays. Another concern is that I'll end up having to work on my non working day if I take it mid week whereas on Fridays a lot of people are off. My daughter will be 11 months old in September.

Thanks in advance.

[Polly D]

I started back at work 4 days/week in Feb - when son turned 1 - and I take Wednesdays off which I am finding works brilliantly: I don't have the whole week looming on Monday morning, it's only 2 days at a time for my son at the childminder's (although he is v happy there anyway), I enjoy so much our midweek day together, and it breaks the working week up for me.

But, you did say you thought Wednesday was a fairly crucial day to be at work. I too was a bit worried about missing Weds from the work side of things - meetings etc - but it has not been a problem at all and my colleagues have been really supportive. But I guess you may find you mind less about 'missing out' on networking now that you have a child, and you can keep in the loop in other ways: I make sure I keep in touch about stuff, and I occasionally check emails from home during his nap time (my choice, I'm not expected to).

I'd say the majority of my part-time friends have Fridays off, and yes, it seems it's the day a lot of childminders choose not to work on. However, I also know parents who do all sorts of patterns (including the parents of the other children who my childminder looks after) and it might just be one of those things where you plump for one day and see how it goes, maybe work could agree to be a bit flexible? If you're happy and confident with your childcare, I'm sure the childminder would alleviate your fears about settling in etc.

Good luck!

[Fuschia]

It's much easier to get creche and nursery places for a friday, actually.

Over the last few years I have worked 3-4 days pw and have had every day off bar Monday,. I used to prefer doing Monday and Thursday, as it was split.. then I did Mon, Weds and Thurs. Now I do Mon/Tues and Thurs and Fri mornings (at home)

I think on balance it's easier to concentrate if your week is NOT split, but it's tiring doing a lot of days on the trot...

[The Nappy Lady]

Hi Nikki73,

Arggghhh, sounds like your employer isn't making it too easy for you.....Fridays off are good from the point of view of lots of other Mummy's being around to meet up with etc. as it is a popular day off, and I can see your point about Wednesdays, though that was my first thought as I was reading your post, to break the week up in a 'sensible' way.

I wouldn't worry too much about breaking the childcare days up - children are amazingly flexible and actually don't have much grasp on time/days/weeks etc. My little one has been going to a childminder since 10 months old (now 18 months), initially I was working Monday's and Thursday's but this has ramped up to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday now....she doesn't seem to care what she is doing on any given day - just as happy on the days she gets to go there and play with other little ones, as on the days she is hanging out with me at playgroup etc. so I would focus more on what is going to suit YOU best, and of course what the childminder you find and like can do - you may find this actually affects the final decision of which day you take off more than anything else if you find someone you love and she says she can only do - say Monday, Wed, Thurs, Fri (or whatever).

Would it be worth talking to your boss again to explain you don't want to take Wednesdays off due to group meetings, but feel concern that the week will be very broken up if you take Tueday or Thurday's off? Friday does seem to be the ideal option in your situation, but if not possible so be it. Also, can you delay settling on which day 100% pending finding the childminder, given comments in previous paragraph that would be the ideal - maybe with agreed option of it being either e.g. Tues or Thurs or whatever.

It is odd working a broken week, but I've got better at it, and just make sure I make lots of notes so I can always pick up where I left off quickly when I am back in.

Hope this helps...good luck with it all.

Molly

x

[alieh]

Hi,

I originally had Wed as my day off and it worked well for the reasons described above - broke up the working week, meant that I didn't end up at the weekend with a huge pile of laundry, no food in the fridge, etc.

But I have since changed my day to Friday because I was missing out on a lot of meetings being out of the office on Wed, whereas on Friday nothing much goes on at work. This is a good day to have off as well - more things to do, nice to have a long weekend, etc.

I think Tues would be not a great day off, but Wed, Thurs or Fri could all work well. Like Molly says, I wouldn't worry about the stop start nature of childcare - they are so adaptable with stuff like that. If it's a nursery day, my son jumps into his buggy excited about seeing the other kids, but if it is a day at home he equally loves just pottering around all morning.

From my research into childcare, Friday and Monday are the easiest days to find care. Wed the hardest. Not sure if this is a general picture, but that is what I found.

[Smiler]

If you work on Mondays, working time rules mean that you end up losing some of your annual leave. At most places, bank holidays, which fall on Mondays, are compulsory days off. The difference between your pro-rata entitlement to bank holidays (which won't cover all of the Mondays) and the total bank holidays is taken from your annual leave entitlement.

Conversely, having Monday as your non-working day means that you get extra annual leave, since you can't take the Mondays, so your pro-rata entitlement for bank holidays is added to your annual leave.

[nikki73]

Thanks for all those tips. I think I am going to stick to my guns tostart iff with and suggest Thursday as an alternative if all else fails. It's all quite complicated because my husband works shifts with no fixed day off but still hoping that he can do a day a week childcare. Oh big headache coming on...

[Fuschia]

Smiler Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you work on Mondays, working time rules mean

> that you end up losing some of your annual leave.

> At most places, bank holidays, which fall on

> Mondays, are compulsory days off. The difference

> between your pro-rata entitlement to bank holidays

> (which won't cover all of the Mondays) and the

> total bank holidays is taken from your annual

> leave entitlement.

>

> Conversely, having Monday as your non-working day

> means that you get extra annual leave, since you

> can't take the Mondays, so your pro-rata

> entitlement for bank holidays is added to your

> annual leave.

In my job, the policy for part timers is always to calculate the annual entitlement to annual leave plus bank hols then to prorata it and then those who work part time take theitr annual elave and bank hols from the days they receive.

[Smiler]

Sounds the same, but the result is that unless they let you work on bank holidays you use up more days of leave by working on Mondays.

Fuschia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Smiler Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > If you work on Mondays, working time rules mean

> > that you end up losing some of your annual

> leave.

> > At most places, bank holidays, which fall on

> > Mondays, are compulsory days off. The

> difference

> > between your pro-rata entitlement to bank

> holidays

> > (which won't cover all of the Mondays) and the

> > total bank holidays is taken from your annual

> > leave entitlement.

> >

> > Conversely, having Monday as your non-working

> day

> > means that you get extra annual leave, since

> you

> > can't take the Mondays, so your pro-rata

> > entitlement for bank holidays is added to your

> > annual leave.

>

> In my job, the policy for part timers is always to

> calculate the annual entitlement to annual leave

> plus bank hols then to prorata it and then those

> who work part time take theitr annual elave and

> bank hols from the days they receive.

[littleEDfamily]

Based on my experience with working with part-timers (although I was a part-timer of various kinds myself), I definitely think Fridays off is the least disruptive day. There's often a different 'vibe' in the office (ie lots of people on a go-slow anyway), which makes them more tolerant of people not being available. It shouldn't really matter what others think of you at work, but for all but the most thick skinned, it does!!

Don't have Mondays off - lots of the shops (like William Rose, Moxtons) are closed on Mondays - which is very irriating when it's your only day off in the week.

Good luck with it all xx

[nikki73]

I agree I don't think Mondays work. Used to take them off for a while before the baby. Ended up spending friday nights in the office till 9 or 10 trying to wrap everything up. Those days are over.

[sandy_rose]

Lots of local shops and most cafes are closed on Mondays - not sure if that is relevant to you or not ;)