After school care for teens
AR would like to canvass opinion on a very interesting issue – after school and holiday care for teenagers. “The [Federal] government has provided many solutions and benefits for mums of young children but what about mums with a teenager? My son can go to after school care and holiday programs within his primary school but there is nothing available for my 13-year-old daughter.
Most of her friends’ mothers work fulltime and I am shocked to hear what they get up to when mum is at work and they are left home alone for hours, every day for weeks. I would like to go back to work permanently with the stability of a guaranteed annual income but the thought of leaving my 13-year-old daughter home alone during school holidays scares me to death.
Not everyone has family that can watch their kids during these times and council-run programs are not long enough and basically not something my daughter would be interested in. Why don’t high schools have after school/holiday programs when really this is when they need to be supervised the most? My only option was to do temp work, which is not a stable way of trying to budget with a family when I am the only bread winner.
I am glad that mums with young children and babies have “won the fight” so to speak, but what about our teens?” Thanks AR. I’m not sure the mums with young bubs and children juggling work and home would consider that they have it easy but we know what you mean. Any thoughts dear readers?
I would love to hear from anyone that has found a good solution or if there are services out there, please let me know.
