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| Summer holiday countdown | ||||
| What are you doing with your kids this holiday? | ||||
 It's that time of year again. The next few weeks are going to fly by and suddenly we'll be into the long summer holidays. For those of you lucky enough to have children at child care centres that don't close in the school holidays, apart from the few days over Christmas and New Year, then lucky you. For those who aren't so lucky, getting organised now with alternative care is very important; because places for vacation care programs and services go FAST.With most working parents only getting the standard 4 weeks holiday per year, vacation care is a necessity, but often hard to come by. Make it easy on yourself by doing a Vacation Care Search now to find services nearest you that offer OOSH care and run vacation programs. Vacation Care at Out Of School Hour Care Centres If your child attends a school that has out of school hours care facilities, you may be lucky in that most of these services also offer Vacation Care. These services are usually open to children who don't go to that particular school in the term time, so it's worth making enquiries with out of school hour centres in surrounding suburbs. These centres are usually within a school's premises and are absolutely brilliant, and really good value, but generally only provide care for children who are school age. Other services to try are family day care services that stay open all year round and some long day care centres that take on extra children during the holidays. Spots in these centres are very popular though, particularly with siblings of existing children. Many working parents don't have family to fall back on, and if vacation care is hard to come by in your area, budgets are tight, or your job doesn't allow the flexibility you need then a great alternative can be to share with other parents. Sharing The Load These Holidays Make sure you talk to your children's friends' parents about the potential for sharing the duties over the summer holidays. Most parents are happy to entertain the idea whether it's for the whole holidays or just a portion of them to alleviate the need for unpaid leave or expensive vacation activities. Kids get to amuse each other and play with their friends all day and parents get to save some money on formal vacation care and save some of their leave entitlements. It's win-win, as long as you follow some key rules. Here are the seven steps to harmonious vacation care sharing:
You don't have to spend a fortune on entertaining the kids. There are loads of things you can do over the holidays that will keep them entertained. Try to remember all those things you used to do as a kid to occupy your time. There are loads of ideas on the web and you can also get some great books with ideas to keep the kids occupied. Simple activities can be things like:
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