Daycare shut for the whole Diwali week, university isn't

pebble_river_83711 Oct 2026

Got the circular today. Our daycare closes for the full Diwali week, which is fair, the staff deserve it. My university does not, and I have lectures on three of those days. No family nearby, partner can take maybe two days. Our daughter is 2, so bringing her to class would make for a very short lecture 😂 How do other working parents cover these festival closure weeks? Is there such a thing as a babysitter for 4-5 days that doesn't feel like handing her to a stranger?

3 comments

indigo_marigold_703411 Oct 2026
ours closes for diwali too. the plan, if you can call it that, is one day of leave each, one day wfh with a lot of cartoons, and hope. no clever answer sorry. curious about the babysitter part myself
sage_fern_549212 Oct 2026
Ask the daycare whether any of their own staff take private babysitting during the closure. When our daughter was in daycare, two of her teachers did this over the holidays. She already knew them, so it never felt like leaving her with a stranger. The centre didn't advertise it, but nobody minded us asking.
apricot_badminton_792512 Oct 2026
When my daughter was that age, we split closure weeks into half-days. One of us took mornings, the other afternoons, and both of us worked late in the evenings. It was tiring, but it was five days, not a month. If your lectures are fixed, build the split around them first and fill in the rest.
- sunny_notebook_934112 Oct 2026
  half days is what we do too. plus one day swapped with another family, they take ours, we take theirs later. kids think it's a holiday camp
- pebble_river_83713 Oct 2026
  Half-days around the lecture timetable, okay. Talked to my partner last night, so my partner takes the mornings that week, I'll do afternoons and mark papers after she sleeps. The swap idea is good too, if I can find a family brave enough 😄