Spot the difference
Anastasia De Waal, 16 July 2010
July 15, 2009 “As state schools prepare for their long recess, a report by the Daycare Trust reveals large regional fluctuations in the cost and capacity of childcare.”
July 14, 2010 “Research published today by the national childcare charity Daycare Trust, ahead of the school holidays, has uncovered a postcode lottery and patchwork of childcare availability.
This year, Daycare Trust researchers are one day ahead of the game and prefer their subordinate clauses mid-sentence, writes Annaliese Briggs.
In terms of content, there’s little in it. Either the Daycare Trust is nonchalantly recycling old data, or the lack of summer holiday childcare provision hasn’t been adequately addressed in the last 12 months.
As clouds gather, the temperature drops and parents anxiously read through their child’s annual report, the pre-summer holiday childcare panic ensues amongst working parents. “Tommy is easily distracted and needs to take responsibility for his actions in class” doesn’t inspire confidence in many and is a timely reminder that 9-year-olds shouldn’t be left to their own devices. Whilst commuters fast-forward their alarm clocks in anticipation of uncongested roads, parents sigh as the long summer ahead yawns into the distance.
What to do when most of your annual leave was spent nursing poorly children, hiding Easter eggs around the garden and providing endless, exhausting half-term break activities? This year’s Holiday Childcare Costs survey revealed that only 20% of local authority Family Information Services (FIS) have sufficient holiday childcare to meet parental demand, down 13% from last year. This is unlucky for some.
Private, voluntary or independent childcare? Up an unaffordable 16% from last year. Grandparents? Require supervising themselves. Older siblings? Provide a limited babysitting service, reluctantly—and only in exchange for an increase in pocket money. Unreturned favours? Over-worked and underpaid parents are more likely to owe them. An office fridge full of potato smilies and a desk littered with dirty fingerprints? Not if you want to maintain harmonious office relations. Sick leave? How long can I drag out a stomach bug…
The reality facing many cash-strapped working parents next week is bleak. For the lucky ones, diaries will be saturated with details of almost-affordable holiday schemes and numbers of kindly neighbours as they are forced to pick ‘n mix their childcare provision. Others will have to pin up a list of emergency contacts in the kitchen, hide the gin and hope for the best.
Unlike last year, there’s been little mention of the quality of childcare available. No talk of stimulating educational environments. No craft-based activities or organic, homemade lunches. With budgets slashed, time is of the essence. Childminders are more likely to be asked if wraparound childcare is provided, than whether Tommy will know how to make a medieval knight out of crepe paper by the end of the week.
Come next Friday, school’s out for summer. Short of increasing Local Authority childcare provision and increasing child tax credits over the next seven days, little can be done to relieve parents of the burden the summer months will bring. Looking towards the start of the new academic year, like so many parents I know, I hope the government prioritise this problem so families can enjoy spending time together, and the Daycare Trust can stop rolling out the same reports.