To think a three year old can’t do this?

My older child is like a labrador. He needs to be kept active and entertained at all times! We did water babies when he was 4 months old and everyone kept saying "oh I bet he sleeps really well after that!". Did he fuck. No matter how physical he's been, he's only ever been tired at nap or bedtime 😅 So no, you're not alone!

If he’s in the same house I think it’s doable sure.

Obviously not if he’s in a meeting but if it’s a ‘ I should really do this work now so will try but if I have to later then it’s no drama’. Then it’s not a big deal.

Just stick on some cocomelon or whatever is theme du jour.

As someone who parented a 4 year old through lockdowns with a partner who worked from home - good luck to your DH. He'll almost certainly need it.

Gosh yeah, those idiots who think you should supervise young children when they’re eating…pffft what do they know?!

I might have missed some replies but it seems that @PyongyangKipperbang has got it spot on. Why are you getting stressed coming home to a mess after work? your DH needs to sort this. He has time during his WFH day to sort this, or if he doesn't for some reason, then he can do it after work.

It's hard, as the mess can be so frustrating when you get in but if you just come in and sort it for him then you are being his mum, not his equal partner.

Well just leave the mess and start the dinner. Or can you or DH make the dinner on an earlier day and just freeze it? DH should be helping more, and should clean the kitchen in his lunch break.

So the issue isnt your child and the TV, its your husband just ignoring the state of the place and leaving you to do it all.

If he has been home all day, why the hell are the pots still out from breakfast? If you dont have a dishwasher then at least neatly stacked next to the sink so HE can sort them while HE washes up after you have cooked. While you are are cooking, he can be tidying up. Presumably he walks into the kitchen at least once to get a drink or lunch?

Right now you are not his wife, you are The Maid.

ETA this is further proved by the fact that he doesnt actually think that his child needs looking after by him, as he just doesnt bother. The family is there for him, not the other way around.

It's really not.

An hour in front of the tv seems a lot for a toddler.

Your DH isn’t being fair to his child expecting such a young child to entertain themselves for that long.

My 3 year old is fine sat next to one of us watching peppa pig on a laptop for an hour. No big deal.

What I don't get is what's your alternative?

Additionally how is watching/not watching the tv going to reduce the cooking and tidying? Surely that's just usually parenting? Getting in from work and going though it all? Homework's clubs teas al round bath time bed time tidying and falling into bed exhausted?! Isn't this what everyone does? (And my DH is doing it all too)

It’s one hour a week, you can make it work. I mean this kindly - single parents don’t have a choice and sometimes you have to do what you have to do. So maybe it will be a guddle when you come home but so what?
PS I am not a single parent. A member of my family works night shifts and sometimes has to nap on the sofa while her DD watches tv. Life goes on.

Worked through lockdown with DD who turned 3 in 2020. It became normal for us so a couple of hours wouldn't be an issue

I hate having kids in the house while I’m trying to work. I can deal with sickness etc as they’re normally much more low energy and happy to have a tv sofa day. I’m normally anti kids at home while wfh but I couldn’t get too het up about an hour of tv on a Friday afternoon if your child is likely to be compliant (noting you can never 100% trust a 3yo). Both of mine would have been quite happy to veg out and watch something at that age although my youngest would have been an absolute liability (and was during Covid) until about 31/2.

if it’s not working for you, you need to find an alternative arrangement as the cost benefit of not paying for childcare that afternoon doesn’t out way the downside of the stress you’re feeling. It doesn’t matter really if others can make it work- you hate it.

I have to do this on a Tuesday. DH collects DS from school early to take him to therapy. I pick up DD (3, almost 4) and WFH 3-5 (my boss is aware). For the most part she’s fine. If I’m just doing admin stuff it works well. If I have to make calls it’s a bit trickier as she can’t chat to me and suddenly that’s when she needs ALL the attention.

Definitely child dependent, both of mine would have been absolutely fine with this (and have been).

basically just moving the mouse around occasionally to appear as though working while actually playing with DS, yeah ok for an hour.

No, that's not OK. It's this sort of behaviour which is resulting in people being hauled back into the office.

I think at 3 both mine could have done this. I would have sold it to them as 'special tv time', where they could watch their favourite show or a film they chose. Maybe I'm thinking of nearer to 4 rather than just turned 3 mind you.

I'd sit in the same room with my laptop or in the next room at the table and plan to do something that didn't need a great deal of attention, like sorting out emails, planning, documentation; stuff that could cope with an interruption.

I'd at least give it a try. My work is quite flexible. There's no way I could do it if I had meetings or phone calls or was on some stupid deadline I'd left until the last minute.

On a good day they might have entertained themselves - jigsaws, train track, Duplo, but I couldn't rely on that.

FFS TV for a few hours a week is not the end of the bloody world. Only in MN land do kids only watch TV for 2 minutes a week.

After a busy day at pre school my 3 yo would happily sit in front of the tv with a drink and some snacks for an hour. Surely it depends on the child

It's an hour a week. Not 24 hour Peppa pig.

One hour once a week?

My DD wouldn't definitely be fine to do this but I personally wouldn't be happy with that amount of screen time

All of mine would have entertained themselves at 3 although in different ways.
ipad/tv would always he a winner but DS1 would have sat and read a book (early reader)
DD would have sat and drawn/coloured/played with toys
DS2 would have played with the wooden trainset all day long

i think you are all leaving the tidy house in the morning then there cant be that much mess made in an hour?! DS needs to be in the same room as DH, kids to jeed tonlearnt o entertain themselves whilst you do chores/cook/other stuff. They arent going to he prefect at it straight away so need to be shown or given things to do.

For an hour?! Of course it can be done. Just put their favourite show on and that's it. Unless they have loads of screen time already which might make it less appealing...

My almost 3yo gets 10mins a day of screen time (when brushing teeth etc.) so he'd be beside himself if I let him watch for an hour 😅