Banish the childcare woes this summer with Childcare.co.uk

I’m actually incredibly lucky when it comes to childcare. I don’t have to worry as my mum lives with us, my children’s god parents are only 10 minutes away and my in laws are 20 minutes away. All of them are happy to chip in, help out and then there is school and preschool too.

It means that one aspect of the summer holiday isn’t sending me straight to the gin bottle… obviously the other aspects like what the hell to do with the sprogs when they are off after the first 45 minutes is giving me nightmares, but not the childcare.

That isn’t the same story for most of my friends, far from it in fact. Most of my friends are frantically trying to figure out how they are going to actually go to work (I will still be working, but my work is flexible, so I can do it around the kids or ask someone to have them as I mentioned) and still have the kids on holiday. What do you do in that scenario, a very real scenario that I can only imagine how many parents face?

I remember my own summer holidays, often spent in summer clubs or on the rare occasion she had no other option and I was 8-9 I would go and spend the afternoon in my mums staff room, reading books and playing with toys. She didn’t have any other option, no other family is nearby and she worked full time. It was that or leave me home alone… which is illegal, so ya know. I never minded, in fact I loved it. I thought it was so cool that I was able to come to my mum’s work and hang out – but it wasn’t really ideal was it? It certainly wouldn’t have worked if I wasn’t an only child.

Nowadays, with health and safety breathing down our necks like Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons (if you didn’t get that reference, get out) it just wouldn’t fly. So what do you do?

Enter Childcare.co.uk

Childcare.co.uk is a platform with allows you, the parents, to connect with every childcare professional, from babysitters to nurseries, nannies to schools. It is the largest community of parents in the UK, yet so many people don’t even know it is there. IT IS THERE PEOPLE. You name the childcare, they have it: childminders, baby sitters for that last minute event, Au Pairs, nurseries, nurses, maternity nurses for new mums, private tutors and even schools. I think the best thing is that you can actually interview the people yourself, so you aren’t just randomly sticking the kids with one of the school mums or your best mate’s cousin. These are professional people who you get to select after

I can’t tell you about the platform as someone who has browsed for childcare, that wouldn’t be honest and you should know by now I’m not one to bullshit. I can tell you, however, about private tutor browsing as this is something I have been doing for over the summer.

Reuben is *slightly* behind in his English and I will hold my hands up and say that I really just struggle to find the time to a.) battle with him into doing the homework and then b.) do the homework in a fun way because I’m also trying to fend off his siblings and do everything else. I thought perhaps over the holidays, if he had someone who wasn’t me, on top of doing fun activities with me and Adam (and grandparents too) to help him learn formation a bit better, then that would bring him on and allow him to go into his next class with a confidence boost.

So if you’re really struggling for childcare or you’re looking for recommendations for schools or private tutors, then I would totally recommend Childcare.co.uk.

 

H 🙂

*collaborative