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

Came here to say this. My employer would not be ok with this.

it’s also a ridiculous idea

So presumably DH will have to go collect DS from preschool? So by the time they get home there will be under an hour left befor you get home?

I think my DD would have managed to play at by herself for a little at age 3- especially if the TV was on.

Lol

Knowing a 3 (almost 4) year old girl, a 4 (almost 5) year old boy and an 8 year old boy - the only one who could definitely be left alone in another room for an hour is the 8yo. At 3yo you need to help them go to the toilet, they climb on windowsills or start thinking it would be good to turn the sofa into a trampoline park, and they just can't focus on anything for more than about ten minutes. Even the 4yo sat on a tablet playing a game or watching a video will press the wrong bit of the screen, minimise things or have clicked an advert and be on the Play store stuck, and be shouting for help.

Some businesses have rules about not being in some charge of children under a certain age when wfh.
That aside it surely depends on child and his job.
If he’s had a busy week at preschool there is a chance they will just watch tv.
If husband isn’t in meetings and is just catching up on emails/admin and can sit in sofa then it might be fine.

Mine would have been fine with this tbh and they weren’t particularly easy kids.

It really depends on the 3yo - some will happily sit engrossed in the TV, others will want to pull everything over and scream constantly.

I don't think it's as outlandish a suggestion as you're making out.

Have to say my 3 year old would (and has) watch TV for an hour while I worked. As for an above pp, TV is a fairly limited treat so they are fairly engrossed. I'd obviously check on them every 10 minutes or so but quite honestly I'd trust them to be sensible and not get up to mischief more than many of the Y4s I teach - it's so child dependent.

Is this something that is just going to happen on a Friday afternoon? If so I'd have snacks prepared and stick him in front his favourite tv show. I guess just try it and see how it goes. (Assuming that DH isn't locked away upstairs completely oblivious to anything ds is doing and works from the dining room table or whatever instead).

Probably very much depends on the child. My ds would've sat and watched one of his favourite film which was Toy Story or Cars as a 3 yo and would've been happy with a snack. My dd wouldn't have been able to do this. As far as I can see it will be dh who is impacted if it doesn't work in that he will have to stop wfh early. Why not let him try it.

Depends how “on duty” your husband needs to be between 3 - 4pm on a Friday.

Mine is 3 in December and would happily watch Bluey/play iPad games for an hour, most of the time, but it wouldn’t be majorly reliable and I’d need to be sat with him. I could probably answer emails, but I wouldn’t be on team calls or wherever (and I’d make the time up!)

Depends on how much he likes TV and if DH is in a position to keep an eye. I wouldn't just trust him to look after himself if DH has calls during that hour.

So this is once a week on a Friday? Can your DH ask to start earlier on Fridays so that he can finish earlier? Or take his 'lunch break' between 3pm and 4pm? I think expecting a three year old to entertain themselves for an hour is expecting a lot - they'll likely want food/drink/the toilet in that time, all of which requires supervision (as does watching TV to be honest - I know three year olds who just can't sit still in front of a screen).

Sorry, totally missed the fact your DC is 3. My first point still stands, but not the second point, too young.

It depends on the child, DD could’ve but I wouldn’t IYSWIM.

We managed to WFH when she was home sick but it compromised work and so it was far from ideal.

I think 30 mins of TV with a snack is more realistic. Ultimately one of you needs to finish earlier or you need more childcare.

Depends on how 'proper' DH's working from home at 3pm on a Friday is frankly. If he's able to check on DC every now and again and DC is likely to just sit in front of the telly post school (which my 3 definitely did), I think he's right. If DC is a terrorist and DH is in meetings, not so much.

This. It may be fine some days, other days your DH will be needing to be attentive for the full hour. It depends if his work is flexible enough to accommodate this.

Your DH lives in CloudCooCooLand

maybe, if DH can bring laptop down and sit and carry on working with DS watching TV. Have a preprepared box of snacks that are normally contraband, mine would probably have sat and munched through it watching back to back duggee or something.

One of mine was extremely easy & would have been fine, the others would destroy the house or hurt themselves if I turned my head.

I have 3 boys youngest is 3 and they would all easily sit for an hour and watch something they liked!

It's an easy thing to test - take yourself out for an hour this weekend, and tell your DH to see if he can sit undisturbed for an hour.

My 3yo would have been trying to climb on my head while shouting about snacks within 10 mins. I know this because I once attempted it - a call with a cabinet member no less. I've never done it again.

I couldn't work if it was just me and DS 5 at home. He would just mither too much, and I wouldn't get any work done. But from a safety perspective I would be happy to let him quietly watch tv for an hour while I was working in the next room.