How the hell are parents meant to work?

[worzelsnurzel123]

With this latest blow from schools and yet further delays, I predict employers will cease to be “ fair” and they will run out of the patience BJ vaguely muttered about hoping they’d have. So what are the options?

1. Resign from jobs? This could have massive impact on income, likely to affect women and the future of women’s’ rights and progress in the workplace, creation of mental health issues and socio economic problems
2. Will some parents be pushed in to feeling the have no choice but to leave kids home alone? Esp those who are borderline age group eg 8-12. Not ideal at all. Clearly this will impact on MH, safety, parental work performance.
3. Leave kids with grandparents who are likely to be over 70 in many cases, shielding or vulnerable. Risks of passing the virus on would lead to guilt , worry on both sides.
4. Wait for everything to fuck up work wise, scrabble for child care here there and everywhere, lose employers good will due to time off needed and eventually get dismissed for poor attendance, breach of conduct and or poor performance

This is a disgrace. An absolute disgrace

You will get a bunch of people who will say it's all about saving lies etc

But I'm with you

I go back to work in a week.i have mo idea what my colleagues with kids will do.

I.might be ok if hours stay the same as befire. If they change and theres an overlap between one of us getting home and the other having to leave then I'm a bit stuffed really.

People have already struggled on 80 percent and waiting for the SE grant and UC. Now they have no choice but to take unpaid leave for god knows how long.

Course women will take the burden in majority of cases with their careers.

Completely agree.

Yes my school as stopped nefore and after school clubs, making things difficult my oh has healthh issues meaning that when i go to work my 14 year old becomes the carer. It,s bad enough her having to do things for her dad I don,t want her doing things for her brother as well.

if schools really aren't opening, there should be far more support for home learning, i.e. a laptop for EVERY child.

10 years ago, there was an initiative to get cheap ($100) laptops for every child in India for education. If it was possible to do this 10 years ago, why can't it happen here and now? It should be possible to have a laptop and internet connection for every child in the UK so they can learn. That would take the pressure off the parents to supervise home-school.

And then there needs to be more flexible opening of schools for children of working parents

The women will be f**ked. I have a friend whose firm is going back in two weeks - all the men have said they will be in, all the women have asked to continue working from home. They'll be allowed to but I think that says it all about where the burden will fall and who will have the opportunities for promotion etc over the coming months.

No idea, I'm a single parent who can't do my job at home. I've been on furlough since March. Taking unpaid leave isn't an option as my wage is the only money coming in. Nor is using grandparents for childcare as my mum is 51 and still works full time herself. DS is just about to turn 7 so cannot be left home alone.

Looking like I'll end up unemployed and on benefits at this rate.

I've just asked my msp this. Apparently he'll be bringing it up with sturgeon at the next sitting as he's had thousands of emails. My job can't be done from home and I'm a lone parent. My employer said they'd be flexible but have just rejected my request for my furlough to be extended so I'm back on 1st July. Can't do my job from home, no point sturgeon or Boris asking employers to be flexible when most can't or won't. So yes my 11 year old will be home alone all summer and when our schools go back in August part time. They're calling it blended learning but what they mean is part time learning. And we all know it'll be mainly women who are affected.

I hear you OP. Been doing this shit since the schools closed with pre-schoolers and working FT and having a key worker DH. I absolutely understand that we are lucky to have to 2 salaries and job security but I am on my knees. Work is so stressful and busy. I can barely cope. I can not multitask anything because my multitasking is work/ make snacks/ empty dishwasher/ break up bickering. I’m exhausted. Boss is understanding but the work needs done. Trying to take an hour or so off during the day to play with the children but I’m exhausted.
It is the careers of women that will suffer.

I absolutely agree that it is an impossible situation but as someone that works in a school it is absolutely not safe for children to return.
Last week we spent four days organising all the classrooms ready to accommodate reception, year one and six safely. Small ‘bubbles’ of children and staff that would never mix so that if someone from one bubble showed symptoms they would isolate but the rest of the school could remain open, One way systems around the building, hand sanitising stations all around school, phased break/lunch/playtimes in separate areas of the playground, hand washing for all children every 45 minutes, resources for each child etc. We were ready to welcome the children back and all (including the male head and deputy head) cried about how different it would be for our children and ourselves but we were ready.
The rate of infection in our area is above 1, we have staff, their families, children and their families that are in the ‘at risk’ group and our head make the difficult decision that the risk of opening the school was far too high.

School staff are not having an extended holiday, our SLT have not had a day off since the 23rd March - including school holidays and bank holidays and weekends are spent reading policies and making decisions. Teachers have been teaching their class remotely (I know this isn’t the case in every school but most good schools have) and all school staff have been working most days either from home (whilst looking after/teaching their own children) or in school caring for the children of essential workers so they can continue working.

I don’t know what the solution is, I wish I did, but the children returning to school isn’t safe for children or staff, with the best will in the world we cannot social distance safely like people in other jobs can.

Agreed, although you'll probably get a host of posters (and I could probably name them) here telling you it won't effect women more and if it does it's their own fault for not having different husbands/earning more. Or telling you to hire a babysitter for the summer.

Situation sucks and will effect women more because that's reality.

We need to employ young people to act as nannies / tutors. Not suitable for the really little ones but for the 5 to 12 age group it could be perfect.

I don't know...I really don't. No joined up thinking at all. Furious.

You've also got the issue that a huge proportion of Teachers and TA's are women.

Im in school working 2/3 days a week as I have been throughout but DS2 is in Y4 so can't go back now until September at the earliest. DH has been at home with him while Ive been in but he now needs to go to work. There are no key worker places for my son, yet I have to go to work to look after other children. We can probably muddle through until September with a combination of DH only going in a few days and my older DS looking after him (he's in Y10) but it isn't sustainable for any period of time. Come September if schools are not fully opened, then many TA's and Teachers will have to leave and then the schools are going to be even more short staffed.

3. Leave kids with grandparents who are likely to be over 70 in many cases, shielding or vulnerable. Risks of passing the virus on would lead to guilt , worry on both sides.

This is what my work has suggested I do to combat childcare issues. I'm really not sure I feel comfortable doing this. Neither shielding, but vulnerabilities.

Can't afford to live off one wage though at the moment unfortunately otherwise I think I'd be considering whether handing in my notice would be a more feasible option.

It's a nightmare and will be for many families, unless they can WFH.

Just open the schools. I’m absolutely livid at the way our children are being treated.

Grapefruits I can't afford to employ someone, I earn minimum wage. If I had to do that I'd be better off on benefits.

You're not meant to return to work. The WG commissioned report gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2020-06/our-latest-understanding-of-covid-19-%20respect-to-children-education.pdf states "The consequences of changes in behaviour or contacts outside of schools as a result of schools reopening can potentially have a larger effect on transmission than the effect of school openings themselves: for example, enabling more parents to return to work." In Wales the policy of keeping our kids at home so we can't go out is entirely deliberate.

I totally agree. I've had to go with the grandparent option and I feel awful. I've been back in the office since mid may. Thankfully I've got 3 weeks holiday club booked in over summer to give us all some respite from the juggling

I'm glad people are finally waking up the the childcare issue. It's not just schools. There is no childcare! I've worked throughout on the frontline, funnily enough my hours are not 9-3 so school alone doesn't help without wraparound provision.

I've been paying a 15 Yr old to look after my 11&8yo. Technically breaking lockdown, but what else can you do?!

"School staff are not having an extended holiday, our SLT have not had a day off since the 23rd March - including school holidays and bank holidays and weekends are spent reading policies and making decisions. Teachers have been teaching their class remotely (I know this isn’t the case in every school but most good schools have) and all school staff have been working most days either from home (whilst looking after/teaching their own children) or in school caring for the children of essential workers so they can continue working."

With the absolute greatest respect Pinkbutterfly79, the same is true for thousands and thousands of parents who are attempting to WFH whilst also teaching/supervising children. DH and I are regularly working til 1, 2, 3 am. We catch up at weekends. WE will get no respite over the school holidays. I appreciate many teachers are working phenomenally hard, but so are the rest of us. The key difference for many of us is that our children are - or used to be - invisible to our bosses and frankly, they don't care about them.

We need a plan, urgently!

In countries like Luxembourg where they have reopened schools, they have hired hundreds of extra staff, built disinfection stations, issued masks to staff and students AND importantly on weeks children not in school are providing alternative childcare centres. A lot of people on MN very all or nothing re: schools, but nobody seems to be lobbying for additional childcare arrangements which are another, middle way! OR for additional funding!

I agree it looks bleak.

But let's not misplace blame on schools. Schools are only responding to guidence outlined by the government and what they are being told to do by LEA and LA. They have very little control over the situation as they have to work in the confines of what they are being told to you, and unfortunately the guidelines work better in some schools then others. Likewise LA and lea all interpret the guidelines in a way that work best for their local area eg the north west LA will be taking a very different approach compared to the south west LA, due to differences in infection rates and risk.

We need to have a big discussion about acceptable levels of living with risk. Stop moaning about what didn't happen in February, blaming anyone (politicians) or calling each other names. Accept that there is no way forward that makes everyone happy or is minimal risk.

I think maybe I'm better at thinking in future than most people are. I said months ago that the control strategy was creating too big problems in future. If you agree depends on whether you think premature deaths should be stopped at all costs now (or not). There needs to be a grown up discussion and transparent priorities set by govt when they take decisions, and they need to listen to all voices not just the most cautious or loud voices. Pretending that the trade-offs weren't always there is... infantilising the voters.

We're already having internal Exec level discussions about the flexibility we've allowed to our existing work from home policy. It won't continue long term, as a business we need our employees to be productive. FYI I work for a FTSE250 and we definitely aren't the only ones having these discussions.

The schools need to open, end of. Or, the alternative is that women will end up bearing the brunt of it.

Women make up a major share of my company's workforce. For some it will be fine, but for the majority of women it won't. They will suffer as will the children if this unworkable approach to schooling continues long term.

It will disproportionately affect women, so I doubt BJ gives two hoots really.