Name:  Jo Middleton

Age: 32

Children: Bee (15) and Belle (8)

Lives: Somerset

Likes: Gin & Tonic, Colin Firth, talking to Grown-Ups

Dislikes: Housework, poor spelling, playing 'shops' with children

The new government has lost no time in driving home the importance of getting parents out to work, especially those like me who are bringing up children alone.

I am of course totally behind any schemes that help parents who want to work. The truth is that the majority of parents want to work, would love to have the support of a flexible working environment that allowed them to be both an employee and a parent, and that gave them the scope to earn enough money to support themselves and their children. But what it usually comes down to is one issue – childcare. It’s not the will that is lacking, it’s the way.

Which childcare option?

The lucky ones – of whom I must confess I am one – will have a close network of family and friends nearby, ready and willing to look after the kids so they can work or study. But for many families the only option is paid childcare.

I’ve not always had family able to help, and have had to experiment in the past with childminders and nurseries. The trade off you have to consider is this: childminders can supposedly offer more personal, consistent care, in a family environment and you don’t have the high staff turnover or the institutional feel of a nursery. But, childminders get sick with no notice, they have holidays, they are liable to feed your kids burnt pizza for every meal. (That last bit is possibly bad luck on my part, and not true of all childminders.) Also, you are actually preparing your children for ten years of school, college, university, and working life – maybe institutionalising them a bit isn’t such a bad idea.

Whatever you decide works best for you, just keep your fingers crossed your child is never ill…

The ultimate free childcare

When they get to school age you’d expect the burden to lessen, and it does financially – school is the ultimate free childcare after all – but it also brings other problems. For a start, it finishes at 3pm. Seriously, whose stupid idea was that? How many jobs finish at 3pm?? And, to make matters worse, they insist on giving the kids 13 weeks off a year. 13 weeks! As a working parent, you’re lucky to get five weeks annual leave a year, so even if you are in a couple, and are prepared to never take a holiday together as a family, you still don’t have enough time off between you to cover the holidays.

Don’t despair though – 18 years away is a light at the end of the tunnel, when they can supposedly look after themselves. Don’t get too comfy though, just when you are getting used to the idea of your children as independent adults, with lives of their own, they’ll turn up on the doorstep with a grandchild and expect you to look after that too.

Jo Middleton writes an award-winning blog about the ups and downs of parenting at slummysinglemummy.wordpress.com