Childcare no easier at school stage

IN relation to your childcare articles last week, I would like to add my two cents. I am a mother of a four-year-old girl. I thought that when she started school, the childcare issue would get easier but it has actually got increasingly difficult.

The (privately run) school bus doesn’t service our area, we live 1.5 miles outside Carrick-On-Suir.

My own mother, who lives four miles away, looks after my daughter every day, bringing her to and from a designated spot in the town where she meets the school bus.

My daughter’s schedule involves getting up at 7.15am, and at 8.15am, we leave the house and she goes to my mum’s house. At 8.50am, my mum drives her to town, and at 9am, she gets on the school bus. On finishing school at 2pm, she again gets on the school bus and my mum collects her at 2.20pm and brings her to her house where I collect her anytime between 5.30 and 6pm. We get home after 6pm, if she hasn’t already fallen asleep with exhaustion, we try to do homework and dinner before trying to get her to bed for another early start.

My mum is moving away and I feel that my mother-in-law, who lives near us, would be the best person to look after my daughter. However, she doesn’t drive so cannot bring my daughter to and from the school bus. There are many people in the area who could provide a lift for her but because she’s in junior infants, she finishes school an hour earlier. My daughter gets tired being shifted from pillar to post all day. Much as I would love to give up working (temporarily), I cannot afford to. I am not working to pay the childminder, but to pay the mortgage.

I don’t have a high standard of living, I take home €400 a week. I would love to have another child but feel like I’m failing the child I already have.

Sinead

Carrick-on-Suir