What age can you WFH with kids in the school holidays

10 and 11 yr old since pandemic, so aged 7 & 8. We have stressful, senior and sensitive people- facing jobs. They will play, make things, Lego etc, not just game. This summer they’ve been the shops, cycling, the park etc. live in a major city. They’ll make their own lunch. They are absolutely fine. I would do this easily for 2-3 days a week and take the other days as leave etc. they might get me for an hour or two absolute max during these WFH days. They would not interrupt except in serious circumstances.

It was ONE week! Blimey. You sound awful, please reconsider complaining to your manager.

8 and 10 year old.
They can quietly entertain themselves no screens while I WFH for a week. Even bring me tea and cook lunch.
After a week the novelty wears off and the bickering becomes unbareable.

A lot do, but unless you live in a town or a place with good public transport, teenagers do still need to be sorted out.

@CharlotteBog

That's a hard deal for a 12 year old

12 year olds want to hang out with their pals - not their parents.

😅

When I was 16 I was living independently... I mean I know that's not necessarily ideal but childcare for a 16 year old, really??

Just coming at it from the other side - my boss looks after his little five y/o when he's working from home in the holidays. His kid does interrupt occasionally but it's generally pretty cute. He's mostly in the background on his ipad or doing puzzles when my boss is on Teams calls. I don't feel like it affects my boss at all work-wise. So it probably just depends on your workplace (and the kid! There's no way my 7 y/o nephew would be so well behaved!)

Not for the 6 or 7 weeks of the summer holiday though.
That's a hard deal for a 12 year old.

When I started working for my company we worked in a local office, now we have all been moved onto fully remote contracts and our closest office is 60 miles away, so I'm sure there would be many pissed off employees if we were told we had to remove teens from their own home!

I think companies should put in place policies that wfh is allowed only if there are no kids under 16yo

There is little/no real childcare available for secondary school pupils. You get sports camps etc but few are a full 9-5 day. A 12-15 year old should be completely fine not bothering you all day.

Depends on the child but:

• 8/9 - can get away with max 2 hours eg from 3.30 to 5.30, but not every day, a couple of days in a week. This assumes you have kids who'll sit and read/draw/play a board game together for say 1hr at a time.
• 10/11 - can manage a morning or afternoon a couple of days a week, 3 max

This works best when they've done something fun, sociable and active the rest of the day and are happy to read/chill.

I don't think its ever reasonable to do it constantly and you need to prepared to catch up work in the evening if things don't go to plan.

I had to give up my wfh job with my young kids as simply wasn't possible to do both without childcare. I woul imagine I could do it when they're all 10 and above or so, but they'd be ignored for the whole time (which is why I don't wfh).

Lets just say I don't need childcare for my 15yo because she has her own job and is out of the house most of the time anyway - I can just imagine her reaction if I said I needed childcare for her...

I think companies should put in place policies that wfh is allowed only if there are no kids under 16yo

Utterly bonkers 😂😂😂

I get more done at home because there’s no chit chat from colleagues. I also save an hour in journey time too.

I think companies should put in place policies that wfh is allowed only if there are no kids under 16yo.

That's ridiculous. Where are all the 11-15 year olds suppose to be when you are working? Five years ago they would have been home alone throughout the entire summer holidays. Now many of them have a parent WFH at least some of the time who will be around to chat to at lunchtime. I think that's probably better.

A lot of jobs it's perfectly possible to cope with a minor interruption (e.g. 'Mum, where's my red tshirt?' 'It's in your wardrobe with the rest of your clean clothes dear') which isn't much different to the kind of interruption you get when you are at the office (e.g. 'Hi, how was your holiday in Mexico?' 'Lovely thanks, very relaxing').

I can quite easily work with my 7 year old at home, but it involves too much time on YouTube / Roblox.

It’s worked for us sporadically from about 8 but can’t be all day every day. The odd day each week works pretty well and saves a bit of money. My younger DC moans in term time that going to school interrupts his legoing time so especially for the first week he likes to stay at home and play play play anyway.

Agreed. When I had my interview, I said I had a DS almost 5 and would need to mostly work from home in the holidays. My boss was fine with that as long as I do one day in the office in the longer holidays (summer & Easter). She said she didn’t mind what time of day the work got done, as long as I can answer her calls during working hours. Another woman started at the same time as me. She has a one year old who gets sent home from nursery whenever he has a high temp or is unsettled. My boss is also fine for her to WFH as long as the work gets done one time.

Not everyone is in Teams calls or has tight deadlines.

Oh give over. Mine have a few days over the summer when they're not at club, and I work from home and they play in the garden / have too much screen time and don't interrupt my work calls because they're well behaved. 16!! 😂😂

Mine are 6 and 9 and are absolutely fine. I'm in IT Project Management.

So. You actually can wfh with a 7 year old. In fact I did just that for the whole of bloody Covid!

It depends on your job and your children's temperaments.

I can see odd days WFH with 8-12 year olds working, but don't think it's fair on work or the children for 5 days WFH all holidays unless they're mature teenagers.

My eldest is 5 and I could have been able to do this occasionally from her turning 4 I reckon. For various reasons I've only done it once so far I think, a few months ago, when she was off sick. But I don't take calls in my job or anything like that where I strictly can't be interrupted for periods of time. Barring illness I definitely wouldn't do it longer than say one day a week at this young age anyway though as she can't/doesnt like to entertain herself too well so wouldn't be able to cope with more than an odd day. I don't have any plans to actually do this anytime soon though anyway, we only need two days of childcare per week in the school hols so for October half term I've taken one day off and I'm planning to put her in holiday club for the other day.

I am self employed I work full time most of the time term time but holidays I only really manage maybe 2 1/2 days per week then I usually work 1 evening too. My ds is 12. I'm lucky I can be flexible.
I could probably do a bit more really but usually just end up having a lot to catch up on every September!

Dc are 10 and 8 and I've got them at home for the next 2 days. I only work short days and I'll get up early - they will sleep until 10am and then watch TV for a couple of hours. This is only happening because it is the final two days of the holidays, it is absolutely not a common occurrence!

WFH with them around gives me flashbacks to lockdown which was horrendous. They do play together nicely for a while but then inevitably fall out or someone wants a drink/snack/wants me to play a game.

It's fine as a one off or in an emergency. It is not possible for 6w straight if you are already trying to fit 45 hours work into 33 every week.

DS is 5. I work 3 days a week from 9-3.30pm. Started him in holiday club two days a week and I WFH the third. He hated holiday club, so DH and I now share those two days.

DS has been absolutely no trouble. He comes in when he wants a snack or help with something. We go out at lunchtime to the park. He has his own desk in my office, which he is happy to sit at for a couple of hours and draw. I also have a futon, which he sit/lie on and watch a movie. I don’t have Teams calls, though, but DH is on them all day long.

TBH, I think he’s just so happy to be at home and worried about having to go back to holiday club, so he knows to follow instructions on WFH days.