I am a 75-year-old grandfather with a seven-year-old grandson. We try to assist our children by taking on the responsibility of getting our grandchild to school and back.
His parents both need to work to afford the high cost of living. They drop our grandson off at our home at 6:30 a.m. and he is taken to school by 8:40 a.m. Then he is picked up at 2:30 p.m. and brought home again to wait for his parents to pick him up at 4:30 p.m. – this adds up to 25 hours per week. Not only do we pick up our own grandchild, but to help others out, we are responsible for two other little girls until their parents arrive. This works out well until you read the school notice board telling of yet another pro-d day or half day.
My question is, when are the teachers in school? What with long vacations, pro-d days, half days, not to mention the regular strikes that are imposed upon us.
This time out is causing utter chaos, how single mothers cope is beyond me. There are five of us helping out to look after our grandchild. In my school days (which were in the last century) the teachers never had this time off. If there was a meeting it was in their own time, not the time allocated to teach students. And as for strikes, there was none. We went to school at 9 a.m. and left for home at 4 p.m. But in those days, mothers were home to look after their children, it is much different now.
We try to generate a program between the family that covers our grandchild going and returning home from school. But the panic these multiple days off causes is unimaginable, if me or my wife have made arrangements or have hospital appointments, we either have to change them or call his parents in from work to take care of the situation. And forget planning to take my wife on a vacation outside the school vacation times, school vacations are the most expensive times to try and plan, unlike what we used to do in September when all the little darlings are back in class. But this now has to change.
Agreed, the teachers are not officially babysitters, but do they really need to take so much time off? Especially right after Christmas they go straight into more days off.
The teachers are doing a great job when they are in the classroom, but keeping them there is a challenge.
I’ve outlaid my own problems in this letter and wonder how other people cope with this disruption of a vital service?
I vote that our taxes could be increased to pay for teachers overtime outside school hours. At my age I find it stressful enough, I would hate to be a young single mother trying to get through the days work and child care when the school decides to have a day out.
Paul Collins
Langford
