Vacation Holiday care is currently a big topic again, what to do with the children, especially if there are no grandparents around to look after them. Nine weeks of school and kindergarten holidays are a big challenge for young families. Now read some statements from affected mothers and fathers as well as from the point of view of grandmas and grandpas:

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays
asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Manuel Langgutt (Sales):

Our kids are about 6.5 and 3.5 years old. That’s a pretty good age to place her in holiday care. In our home community there is a correspondingly good offer for this and so our children spend about half of the vacation time there and the rest at home.

We coordinate our summer vacation with our employers so that we can then spend as much time as possible together. The remaining days (thanks to grandma and grandpa) can also be bridged quite easily. 

 

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Lisa Poiss (Accounting):

The care of our two daughters of kindergarten age (3 and 5 years) is a mix of holiday care offered by the kindergarten, the great support from grandma and grandpa, flexible working hours and various holiday offers. It is an organizational challenge every year and needs to be well thought out.

It’s also important to me to give the children as much free time as possible in the summer, although that’s not realistic over nine weeks and they have to fall back on the childcare options in the kindergarten.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Hans Jürgen-Wandl (plant engineering):

The children will use the care for a few more weeks of the holidays in the kindergarten. The rest of the vacation is organized with vacation and grandparents. When they are of school age and older, flexible working and home office can also be helpful tools to handle the care.

Of course, everyone would be best helped with holiday care in the company.

The future will show whether this will ever become established. It needs a pioneer in the region.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Nicole Decker (HR/Sales):

I have two children aged 10 and 12. Thanks to the support of grandmas and grandpas, the holiday care works very well.

A great support is also the possibility of flexible working hours.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Thomas Bauernfried (Head of Quality Management):

Due to the flexible working hours and the generous time model, it is possible to adapt to care needs in the best possible way. Personally, we have good childcare for our two sons (2 and 5 years old) in the family through the grandmothers and grandfathers, but it is reassuring to know that you can sometimes spread the working hours at short notice or take time off if the need arises . I really appreciate it!

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Rainer Baumgartner (Head of Research & Development):

Our daughter is still in kindergarten. That’s why we use the offer of continuous holiday care here in Weitra and only take individual weeks out to go on vacation together. 

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Nadine Haimböck (finish / plastics technician):

When I hear the word holiday care, I get queasy. Because it can happen that the children in the kindergarten are placed in different groups during the holidays and lose their familiar environment. This is not easy for many children. Of course, this also gives you the chance to make new friends. If it works! Unfortunately, that was not the case last year. For the reasons mentioned above, the children no longer wanted to go to kindergarten. There was a bit of drama every day and I drove to work with a stomach ache and only had one wish: that the holiday care would soon be over. The classic: If possible, in such situations, you simply give the children to grandma! However: If grandma lives further away or has passed away, then you have to look for an alternative and pay for the holiday offer. Conclusion: As nice as the holidays are, you have to plan everything carefully.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Verena Binder (machining / CNC specialist):

In the past eight years we have experienced many different forms of care with various ups and downs (see also Nadine Haimböck). It wasn’t always easy, especially in the early years. Bernd and Michael (11 and 9 years old) are now older and more independent, which makes it easier to combine work and family during the holiday season.

Above all, I am grateful for the great support from the aunts and uncles, the grandmothers and grandfathers, who give our children unforgettable holiday moments with the time they invest and the great activities and excursions.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Andreas (head of IT) and Karina (surface preparation) Kitzler: We live child care according to the „old school“. Since Karina does not work full-time and we can cover the long period of the summer holidays thanks to asma’s family-friendly working time model, the required time with overtime reduction, vacation or the possibility of flexible hourly scheduling, holiday care is not a very big issue for us.

We consider ourselves lucky that we can „experience“ our boys (14 years and the twins 11 years) to the fullest.

Childcare during the school holidays from the perspective of four grandparents:

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Ruth Marquart (Processing / partial retirement)

The children want a lot of programs and should always be kept busy. I was very fortunate myself that grandma and grandpa were available to take care when needed. I now love to do this with my four grandchildren aged 11, 9 and 2 years and 7 months.

They are very happy to be with us. We do a lot outdoors, go looking for mushrooms in the forest, swim in the pool or walk the dog. Baking cakes together is also great fun. We have a lot of fun together and don’t have to drive from one place to another.

 

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Monika Höllerer – mother of Nadine Haimböck (pensioner / specialist in natural medicinal herbs):

Whenever possible, I like to take the time to help my daughter with childcare. Two days a week during the school or kindergarten year or when the children are ill. However, I live 45 kilometers away. With their own large garden and household, as well as being employed in a wide variety of areas as pensioners, the offer for one day a week has to be accepted by the kindergarten, community and various institutions. That’s relatively expensive and if the children aren’t happy then you suffer too. In general, it is not easy for young families to take care of the children, especially during the holidays. The wave of inflation is putting additional pressure on the economy.

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Günter Tagwerker (acceptance of goods / semi-retirement):

As the proud grandfather of five-year-old Lisa, I’m looking forward to the holidays, we’ll take a boat trip on the lake, we’ll go out for ice cream and we’ll have fun swimming at home.

Our daughter works in the kindergarten herself, so more intensive care will only be necessary when our grandchild starts school and her mum only gets a few weeks‘ vacation during the holidays. 

asma plastics technology PUR - Family & Job - 9 week school holidays

Eva Brandeis (self-employed / photos, graphics and website at asma)

As a young family, we didn’t have fixed support from our grandparents. The summer holidays were always quite exhausting. At that time, my thought was more: “I won’t take care of my grandchildren for once.”

Fortunately, I now find it a great enrichment to deal with Paul and Ella (7.5 and 3 years old), so that I don’t mind the 1.5 hour drive (often weekly) to near Absdorf and back again and watching them is really fun. Fortunately, as a grandmother you have the privilege of not having to be primarily educational.