Summer vacation is manageable with camps and grandparents, but all the small term breaks and random holidays add up. Do you alternate leave, use activity camps, arrange playdates, or keep backup childcare?
We put school events and pickup commitments directly on both work calendars. Hiding them made last-minute conflicts worse, not better. We simplified the routine before spending money on more help. In our house, the practical routine mattered more than the ideal plan.
That is reassuring. We are trying to avoid making this a bigger issue than it needs to be. The system had to work on a bad workday, not only an ideal one. I would still test it for a short period before making a long commitment.