[Caroline]

So lately I'm getting the question:"how much does day nursery and after care cost?".

Like everything else it depends where in the UK you live and what kind of place you are looking at. The day rate can be anything between £20-£30 pr half day. A nice middle of the range day care such as Ringwood Day Nursery will cost you £27 for half day and £39.50 for full day. There are some more expensive places around but I had a look at 3 different places and they varied between £27-£30 for half day.

Baby sitters generally charge £6 pr hour unless you have a teenage girl next door who is prepared to babysit for less. There are websites such as findasitter which will help you to find a sitter in your area. You will need to do your own interviewing as they only do the introduction.

I haven't considered aftercare as such but I know that our boys schools have a some sort of after care club for parents who can only collect their kids at 5pm.

Holiday activities vary from £10-£20 pr day. Our kids have participated in Team Elite, AFC Bournemouth, Ringwood Health and Leisure holiday activities, New Forest activities at Moyles court, holiday club at David Lloyds (but you have to be member for David Lloyds) There's actually so many choices that I can't even remember all of them. The schools usually put pamphlets in the kids book bags so you will soon see what there is on offer in your area.

I found Team Elite to be real good value for money and the kids come home exhausted.