Parenting is great! But it's not easy juggling parenting and work commitments.
I currently use before and after school care for my 12 year old son. I find that the before and after school care has been quite good but I really would like them to be more flexible with hours. It would be great if they could open earlier and close later so I could work more hours at my job. This also includes travel time to and from my job. Right now, I can’t take jobs outside the before/after hours. The before and after school care also charges fees if you are late picking up your child.
I find vacation care is the same, they need to open with longer hours as sometimes people's work hours can vary. Their programs are very stimulating though and engaging for the children and my son loves these places. He has learnt a lot.
School Holiday care isn't easy to get either, a lot of places get booked up fast and can get quite expensive. I work casually and don’t have paid leave or consistent work. So I tend not to work during school holidays due to the cost of care as I still have to pay for care even if I end up not having a shift.
Career wise, I find it very challenging to be a parent and have a career. I have to keep on taking time off work for caring responsibilities such as sickness and I had to take three months off due to homeschooling in the pandemic. Sometimes I miss important events in my son’s life due to work. I am very lucky to have a flexible employer and my workplace has flexible hours built into their contracts, and overall I find it very rewarding. But I still can’t work as many hours as I’d like because of before and after school care.
Bernadette Warbrick
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