‘Our rota crew have the best summer’: parents share how they get through the school holiday

As research suggests six weeks of childcare can cost £1,145, parents are relying on spreadsheets, savings and sharing the load The summer holidays are in full swing, bringing the annual challenge many parents face in balancing work and looking after school-age children. With children off school for about 13 weeks a year, but most employees entitled to far less annual leave, parents have told the Guardian that the sums simply do not add up. New research suggests arranging six weeks of holiday childcare can cost working parents up to £1,145 a child, while almost three-quarters of parents say the summer childcare juggle can damage their career. We spoke to parents about the creative, and sometimes costly, ways they are making it work. In Northern Ireland, Emma Willis, 35, relies on flexible working as a stock processor for a charity and her husband’s ability to work from home to get through the summer holidays with their three children, aged 15, 13 and 10. Willis, who works part-time on minimum wage, says if her husband lost the ability to work from home she would probably have to give up her job. “I long to work a better job with more hours to enhance all of our lives but right