To think more people WFH with DC than let on

*. I had a childminder for to when I had to attend face to face meetings/ conferences etc.
what sort of nanny does the odd day here and there?

unless it’s very regularly every week

My first ever wfh with child there was the lockdowns but ds was 9 by then so he was relatively self sufficient and was either doing schoolwork next to me or entertaining himself, he even made his own lunch (sandwich or salad) so I think that older dc are fine to wfh with while they are in the house. I doubt many do so with younger dc.

but say you’d been doing it for years
and every performance review was… yep meeting expectations, no issues whatsoever

then perhaps your job is simply one you can do in 4 hours

I knew someone who did this with a toddler with additional needs. I'm amazed that her work were ok with it. Or so she said. I suspect the toddler was often left in a play pen unsupervised.

You had a childminder though!

I find it difficult to imagine genuinely believing that being paid to do say 8 hours of work for an employer but only doing 4, and therefore being paid by that employer to look after my own children, was totally fine just because nobody had told me otherwise.

But then I don’t take the piss, so.

yes but if you’re never pulled up on it…. how do you know you’re not pulling your weight? you’re managing to work and do childcare and getting paid every month and. o one saying anything to suggest what you’re doing isn’t good enough

I think if you are being paid to work then is not morally right to be caring for children at the same time. You may pride yourself on being as ‘productive’ as others not also doing childcare but I seriously doubt it, unless a pretty low level job.

Parents definitely do at my work … however we had to work (at home) all through the lockdowns etc so they were asked to work whilst kids were home and suspect many just never sent them back to nursery / school wraparound when everything opened again.

I mean, yeah, that’s why I mentioned management. It doesn’t negate the fact that they’re taking the piss though.

Suppose it depends on whether having kids there affects workload or not. As a customer I'm sick of talking to someone on a " customer service" line only to hear the sounds of " mummy mummy mummy" and bloody fighting as well as dogs barking. All that is very unprofessional. However if you have an 11 year old who is us in another room and causing no disturbance it's fine

So maybe some jobs it's possible but definitely not where you have to speak to the public

shit management then

I only know one couple who do it with a child under 7.

I know a fair few who do it with older children.

So for me it feels like the opposite - lots of people do it on here and apparently have children who can entertain themselves from a remarkably young age, but IRL I don't see it.

Our school wraparound is pretty well used

I’m not - I’m doing a normal amount of work for the hours I’m paid for. My point was that many of my colleagues are spending half of the same hours they’re paid for looking after children instead. And yet we’re paid the same.

The obvious question is why you choose to do twice as much work as you think you need to?

It’s rife where I work and I’d say fairly obvious to spot but management doesn’t want to get involved. It drives me mad that people are getting paid the same as me and only doing half as much work though.

well if they can’t prove
then means no reduction in their productivity and meeting targets

So much for Mumsnet being a supportive site for women with children. Do you think women are doing it for shit and giggles or something?

if people are having to wfh and do childcare 1d/week to save costs, this is not something to sneer and judge about. It shows that they must be desperate to keep their job to pay their bills.

Lets stop making wfh and childcare some dirty secret, and look at the state of this country's extortionate childcare provision and cut women some slack (and it's almost always women who have to do it).

I did during school hols and my employer was fine with it. And I had flexible hours so could take them to the park for an hour and make the time up later in the day. But mine are older and can entertain themselves while I work. I don’t think I could have managed it when they were younger.

in fact, I am much more productive than my office based colleagues who spend ages chatting by the water cooler etc.

Define 'properly'? Loads of parents watch telly, do DIY, hoover, garden whilst caring for kids.

I do. and I am one of the top performers in my team. I occasionally work later in the evening but I need to work and don't have access to childcare. We still have bills to pay even though my child has complex SN. My employer is fully aware and granted me this working pattern in order to retain me. it works. wether you like it or not

I'm sure a couple of my team do. But they also get the job done and I manage by output, not input.

Probably, and in lots of cases it's fine. I'm not surprised given the cost of childcare.