Time off?

[Vickster]

I only work, Tues,Thurs but do 10 hour days and am full on those days. Next year i am taking a week at Easter plus my 40th birthday off. May half term, 4 minding days in August, October half term and Christmas. My children are 4 and 8 and need time just with their Mummy.

[scottishlass]

I have only had one week off this year Soooo tired Angel xx

noooo!! I hope you have more holidays soon! Xx

[scottishlass]

I have only been minding since last nov but took 1 week in April and 2 in August and am having 2 weeks at Christmas - planning on same next year but adding a few extra days as eldest daughter will be leaving primary school so will have lots of different things happening for this! Xx

[littlemiss60561]

I'm rubbish at taking time off. I feel guilty. Silly isn't it. I also don't charge so can't afford to take time off. However, I've learnt that I can't afford not to anymore as I'm done in!and my family need some non minding time too. My last holiday bar bank hols and the odd day mindies were off/ my children were ill was 3 years ago! This Christmas I only have one parent in and she said I'm assuming your taking Xmas off ! I'll send him in if your open but I don't need cover. So I said yes lol woohoo I have 7 whole days! And I'm not going to do a single thing work related... Honest...

[Goatgirl]

Hi ,

I used to work before and after school and school runs monday to thursday plus fridays before school till drop off and all day tuesday and thursday. Plus had 5/6 weeks off during school hols and never worked bank holidays. It was wonderful ....

Couldn't fill my part time only spaces after a while though so when 2 schoolies' parents asked me to take on baby siblings I took the plunge and went full time.

At first it was great: manic days but lovely to have the babies and be earning plenty of money, and I quickly got them in to a routine where all lo's slept for 1 1/2 hours after lunch so I could sit down to do diaries, eat lunch and kind of recharge in the middle of the day. Plus I finished at 4pm. Did about 6 months before I realised I was getting more and more tired and not feeling as enthusiastic or having as many ideas, so would need more holiday to stay in good health and feel positive about my job so went down to term time only = 13 weeks holiday a year. Yay!

2 years on, I am still term time only, but unfortunately, only have 2 days where all mindees sleep after lunch, mindees' circumstances have changed so that I need to work till 5.30 and I am a transitional student with the OU so have to study a course each year to keep my fees from quadrupling
Basically I never get everything done that I need to, so spend all my weekends and 'holidays' frantically trying to catch up with one thing or another and failing miserably!

Ideally I would work very part time hours as I did when I started.
It still added up to 31 1/2 hours a week, not to mention paperwork, parent calls, meetings, shopping, researching etc, not to mention the cleaning tidying organising and setting up, so I bet in total it was more than 40 hours then!
...and I think if I worked both part time and term time only I would manage to get decent results in my OU degree courses.

Blimey, this post has definitely made me realise why I'm such a frazzled mess. Thanks for posting .

I'd advise everyone to take as much holiday as possible as this is a crazily demanding job both emotionally and physically and however much you try it will eat in to your family time. Be organised from the beginning, keep paperwork simple and to a minimum and take care of yourself well so that you can take the best care of everyone else

Not always as simple as that unfortunately, we need to pay our bills and be able to accommodate families needs to even get work.........

But good luck: when its balanced right, its the best job in the universe

[rickysmiths]

I take 25 days plus all the bank holidays (I am prepared to work them with notice at an enhanced fee).

I Usually take a week (4 days attached to Easter weekend) at Easter, 2 weeks in the summer holidays, 1 week in one of the 3 half terms and then I keep the other five days for the unexpected. I usually use them up by having long weekends if I get to Oct and have not used them. I have just told all the parents that I will be off on Friday 22 Nov and my daughter and I are going to the Christmas fairs in London.

I consider that I work very hard during the year and I have earned my time off. I really don't know how those of you that only take a week off cope or how your family copes. You won't sustain that pitch of work for very long and you will make yourself ill.

I have had only 2 days off sick in the last 3 years and I am sure if I didn't pace out my breaks off I would be off sick more often.

Oh I have been minding 19 years now.

[pinkellifun]

Thanks for all your replies.

I work 42.5 hours a week, Mon to Fri, all year round. I don't actually mind doing this (most of the time anyway!) because my son is an only child and he is always complaining when we DON'T have kids around. So far this year I have taken - oh my god, just worked it out! - 2 weeks and 2 days! with 3 days over Xmas to look forward to. I didn't realise how much i worked until I spoke to another minder.

I do need to work quite a bit, I feel, as I am a single parent and, as we all do, have bills to pay, presents to buy, etc. I'm starting to feel the strain now though as I've just been diagnosed with under-active thyroid as well. This has really opened my eyes about how poorly I actully was over the summer holidays and didn't realise it. I now need to find the right balance to my own well-being as well as work commitments and money.

I think that might be just as time-consuming as some of the childminding paperwork!

[tas]

I've been minding 9 years in that time i've had 2 days off sick and I take 4-5 weeks off a year as holiday but I do let the parents know at the beginning of January so they can make arrangements for the year (although one parent always forgets saying oh no I didn't realise )

[Mrs Scrubbit]

Listen to what your body is telling you. Many moons ago I worked a 50hr wk ,plus had 3 of my own, did sooooooooooooooo many school and pre-school runs ( without a car) after 7yrs I was completly worn out and very down in the dumps esp as 1 mindee had behaviour issues that his parents refused to acknowledge. When he finally started school (and left) I swore from that day on I would not work myself to a frazzle again and since then I have only worked with pre-schoolers on part-time contacts xx

[smurfette]

I am bad at taking time off too! It's hard when uou don't get paid time off so you feel guilty about the time off where you aren't available for parents but also not earning! I am though off approx 5 out of every 10 Fridays and the ones I do work I usually only have one little one all day or two in the morning and one goes home at lunch time. This makes a huge difference to my own kids.! I swore this year I would take their birthdays off but they fell on Wednesdays (my two older girls are exactly two years and two weeks apart) and they are my busiest day and we were broke so I couldn't afford it and didnt want to let everyone down mid week! I had a week in may and we went to Portugal. I would
Love Tto but can't afford that yet!

I will take a week at Christmas but I am planning on setting my dates off for the year in the new year ., how do you phrase it that you might take extra days? I give four weeks notice if I want a day off unless I am sick

Interesting thread thanks for the food for thought!!

[SandCastles]

I take 2 weeks over summer, and 2 weeks over Xmas and then all bank holidays and as most of my contracts are TTO I have a few days off during school holidays and some very busy days in the week as well. My working week during term time is erratic and even confuses me some days! I need to write down who is coming and at what time and double check often. I work Mon 11 hours, Tue 9 hours, Wed 10.5 hours, Thu 12.5 hours and Fri 9 hours = 52 hour week eek! I'm always behind with my paperwork and housework, my family's tea is often forgotten about or inedible & burnt and I'm forever yawning! Crikey I sound like a mess, writing this is an eye opener and reading other posts I realise I'm not alone.

[SJ35]

So far this year I have had 3 weeks off, and 4 sick days I am not off now until Christmas. I was going to take the whole 2 weeks off but cant afford to really so am just closing 24th-26th and then 1st and 2nd of Jan.

I work Tuesday-Fridays 7.30am - 6pm and occasional overnights and weekends.

Next year I have booked 2 days of Feb half term off and then one week at Easter and one in August, and October half term too. My own two kids need some time with just me to be able to go out without the tinies. I do take the occasional day off too for paperwork.

xx

[LauraS]

I work approx sixty hours a week over six days, Monday to Saturday and am nearly full (have an after school space and an ey space on two days only). Since registration in July 12 I have had three and a half weeks off plus one day closure for my child's illness (v&d). I am also taking two days at Christmas. The three and a half weeks was in a single chunk in August for a big family holiday, and used up a great deal of my parents holidays and family favours. I'm conscious that it's often tough for parents to find cover, so feel bad about taking any more Tbh.

Next year my holiday will be more sensibly spaced, with a week at half term in February or May, two weeks in the summer, a week in October and at least five long weekends through the year when we will book things to ensure we get away.

The following year we will undoubtedly be back to having a big family holiday in June summer, so will have to plod through.


I have found holidays really tough, not least because I previously worked for the local authority where I used to get almost nine weeks holiday a year including bonus days bank holidays and flexi days. I miss those days!

[The Juggler]

i used to take 1 week at xmas and 2 weeks mid summer holidays. however, I only worked part time in the school holidays anyway (either 2 or 3 days per week as most of my children were tto) so I had more time off anyway.

unless I had an emergency hospital etc I never took odd days off.