What age can you WFH with kids in the school holidays

Mine are 9 and 5 and we typically don't plan to work from home with them around, with occasional exceptions eg teacher strikes or if they are ill. However, I know many people who rarely use childcare and just have their kids at home all holidays. I don't know how they manage.

My 9 year old would probably be fine at home but would be on the computer/TV interspersed with occasional bouts of energy in the garden and requests for snacks etc. The 5 year old - forget it, she can't manage 30seconds without needing me for something.

I tend to mix up the holidays with 2 weeks family holiday, a few days with grandparents, a few days holiday club and a few days of annual leave. I think it works ok.

@Anna79ishere - no it isnt crazy. You didn’t read what I said. I said it depends on what you do and how long. My work is not computer based and can be as full on or part time as needed.
So no I wouldn’t work a full 9-5 on computer, but the question was ‘can you work with children’ and my answer was yes I do.

wow what lovely supportive colleagues you all are. sounds like it was a one off week that she couldn’t help. your workplace sounds horrible.

Mine are 8 and 5 and have been home ALL summer long. My parents were here for a week to entertain them, they went home with my parents for a week and for the last four weeks they have been home. Both my husband and I work at home so we juggle everyone between us. They play, they have devices, they watch films etc. We go out once a day at least over lunch to walk the dog or go to the park or the library or something. Is it ideal? No. Am I still doing all my work and am available for my colleagues? Yes. I work for a flexible company and do not need to be chained to my laptop 9-5, as long as the work is done. Would I work from home with my one year old? Absolutely not. Not all of us have infrastructure of support or endless funds for this holiday club and that holiday club. I unfortunately used the majority of my annual leave for all of the other school holidays and a week when my baby had chickenpox and am saving my last few days for over Christmas when the nursery shuts. I can’t make 25 days of annual leave stretch to 13 weeks of school holiday

@Anna79ishere there are very few options for kids over 13. DS2 has just finished year 8 and it is the last year he will be allowed to the local leisure centre camp, similar for the one at a local private school which he did last year.

I think barracudas might go up to 14/year 9 summer but nothing I have seen goes to 15 or 16, apart from pgl, which of course is very expensive and covers the odd week or few days, not a whole summer.

Do you know of other camps?

Mine are 10 & 12, they're absolutely fine and 12 year old goes out with his friends playing football etc a lot. I try to keep it to a minimum though as it's boring for them and there's a LOT of screen time!

Honestly, why are you embarrassed by it? That seems a really odd reaction.

@Anna79ishere you do also know that 11 year olds (Year 7s) are picking up primary aged siblings from primary schools? Year 7s are allowed to leave school at the end of the day without any parents picking them up, making their way home on their own. 14 and 15 year olds also baby sit. They really don't need babysitters.

Tell my 12 year old she needs to go to a summer camp lol. She point blank refuses. Non of her friends go to childcare.

Have to add neither bother us at all when we work from home. It really is that we don't hear from them as long as there is food and drinks in the house.

Mine were 8 and 11 when i started doing it. The 11 year old keeps the 8 year old occupied. We don't leave them on their own for days. It'll be only a day a week at most. They quite enjoy a day playing video games and watching TV.

If you have more than one it also depends how well they get on! Individually my 14 and 11 yr old would each be fine, and do things other than screens. Together they would wind each other up and expect me to referee!

My eldest - 7 - stays at home whilst the youngers go to nursery. I have a reasonably flexible job, so can explain that "mummy can play with you for 20 minutes then I have to work, then you need to play by yourself/watch cartoons/read". It doesn't work for everyone, and definitely wouldn't with a younger one. We spend 10 mins in the morning deciding what the solo activities will be: that really helps.

Mine are 7 and 8. Over the 6 week holiday I have had them at home with me for 2 days due to failed childcare arrangements. For this they were fine, but agree with others, it was reliant on a lot of TV/ipad time, despite playing for a few hours both days with toys and games together. I also have a job where i can attend to their needs for snacks and drinks, or help out with a game/craft for short periods if required. I wouldn't be comfortable having them at home with me for full weeks until they are old enough to go out on their own and meet friends/go to the park/swimming etc i.e. age 12/13

@MissCordeliaPreston - why not pay for some childcare? That sounds pretty stressful

Depends on the child and your job I guess. Over this holiday we’ve had 2 days where we were WFH with our 6yo around as childcare arrangements had fallen through (due to illness) She was ok for some of it but we still got interrupted a lot and I think she just got bored. I guess older primary or secondary is when it gets easier especially if you’ve got siblings who will just play together or a friend can come around to keep
them company. Harder for only children I think.

Depends on the children and also on the requirements of the job. I have WFH for many years but have very flexible hours. Other than occasional meetings which I usually bribe the children to stay quiet for, I try and work when they sleep. They have some holiday activities and play dates, and I work from my phone when out and about. Other than that I do the mundane stuff while they are around. There is no way I could have managed with a 9-5 set-hours job where I am often on the phone/in meetings. I appreciate I am very lucky but on the other hand the sort of job I have means that during school holidays I rarely switch off as I use every available minute to dash off an email or answer an inquiry, and also work late at night and get up early in the mornings and again on weekends to make sure that everything is done.

However during term time they leave the house at just after 7 and return early evening leaving me plenty of time to work and term time is when I usually do more complicated projects that need big blocks of focused time.

Mine are 9 and 5, both boys. My DH occasionally WFH with them but not easily. Very distracting

Mine are 13, 17 and 20. Whilst they can obviously entertain themselves I don't love it. The 13 year old is the least of my worries as he's pretty good at entertaining himself and making plans with his friends. The other 2 like to loll about on the sofa in my office asking me inane questions until I get cross and tell them to find something to do when they just reply "well you're nice aren't you"

caveat: older ones have worked and travelled this summer, they haven't just been sitting on the sofa even if it feels like it sometimes.

I agree. I am interested in your potential solutions.

Summer holiday clubs here stop at age 13. Tax free childcare ends at age 12 so presumably the government think 12 year olds don’t need childcare!

My ds is 9 and this summer we’ve had some weeks he’s done a 3h sport session first thing then been at home with me wfh. This is the first year I’ve not insisted he’s out all day. It’s been ok but he mostly games so I wouldn’t want him doing it without the daily sport. Even then it was only one of the weeks.

My teenagers are fine but
a) we have a big enough house that I can shut myself away and they can have friends over
b) we live in a town where they can easily walk into town or to their friend's houses
c) my teenagers are the same sex and only 18 months apart so often do stuff together without us.

We also have a 10yo. He doesn't disturb us but he spends on day on the computer and so I like him to go to our local holiday sports club (at my DDs secondary school) regularly during the holidays when we are working so he does regular exercise and plays with kids his own age.

There are summer camps.
I know kids at 14-15 yo all day in front of their screen for 7 weeks because their parents can wfh. Parents in less high paying professions (nurses, bar tenders, shop assistant) organise summer camps or activities with relatives or other kids. As a society we need to really protect these teenagers from bad parenting. The effects on continuous screen time for teenagers are all well known.

It is crazy, not unusual. A 3 yo needs constant attention and people who relate with them as a real person. Kids deserve respect. Trying to work at the same time means that the kid is either neglected (for 10 weeks!!!) or the person does not do their job, which I have seen so many times. I had a colleague who would “wfh” on Fridays with her toddler, she would do nothing. It was a burden for the whole team to cover for her. We complained and she got asked to come to the office on Fridays. And with her the whole team who worked from home. She gave a very bad reputation to working mums which is terrible.