What age can you WFH with kids in the school holidays

I think it depends if you have more than one who will entertain each other. I only have one and she would get very bored after probably half a day. She is 8 and has either been on camps or on holiday with us this summer. I worry about what will happen when she gets too old for camps, the idea of her hanging round at home for 4 weeks on her own (grandparents (also other family) are not near and are getting on a bit) is quite sad. Might have to take parental leave, I think.

No kids under 16! That's ridiculous.
Please come back here and let us know how it's going when your children are 11 and 15.
Not everyone is in a position to take extended parental leave.

You can not wfh with a 7yo. It is not acceptable and very unprofessional. And not fair for the colleagues and everybody who pays for summer camps and get organised. I am surprised you did not flag this after the second week. I think companies should put in place policies that wfh is allowed only if there are no kids under 16yo. It is also not fair for the kids. They can not be dumped in front of a screen the whole day for 6 weeks, they need attention, being stimulated and socialise. I have a 8 and 5 yo and I took parental leave to stay with them. Otherwise I send them to summer camps. When they are sick I take days off.

Mine sat in my office from around 10 (at work, but they had all the buildings and grounds to roam, a church) they did get a bit bored but prefers it to holiday clubs and if they got really "lucky" they would be put to work cleaning, arranging flowers or helping with the elderly- didn't do them any harm

I Wfh 2 days a week and my daughter has no childcare on a Friday during the holidays so she’s been home with me. She’s 5. Wouldn’t have done it before. She’s much more independent now and easy to have around whilst I’m working she can occupy herself. I have a nearly 2 year old and my day is hell wfh if the childminder is I’ll or on holiday

Mine are 10 and 7 and I can do it for the odd day but it basically becomes a screen day and so because of that, I don't allow more than 3-4 'home' days across the summer holidays. The rest of the time I book them into camps of different sorts to vary things up, plus I add in some days of annual leave for a camping trip etc or day out and then we both have a full two week holiday. The advantage of us both WFH is that it means we don't require full time care and so can opt for camps that run 10-3 for example but also mix it up with some 8.30-5 if required.

The 14 year old will lie in bed gaming all day without a lot of badgering, and only leaves the house if I take him.

While we were away on holiday I made a conscious decision to not say a thing about screen time. We were out most of day and as soon as we got back he'd been on his phone.
I just can't bring myself to have this frame of mind for the whole summer. It makes me sad when there is a whole world out there. My work is pretty flexible and I am in a financial position to enable him to do stuff i.e I can take him places and if he showed interest in a new hobby/sport I could sign him up, but apart from the gym (which he loves and has been going to about 4 times a week), he's been on the odd day out with mates and that's it.

We did have three weeks away this summer, mainly to avoid the 6 (actually I think it's nearer 7) weeks of this.

Mine are 12 and 14 and we have an agreement that they go out for 2 hours activity in the morning (swimming/bike ride/park) then do something quietly in their rooms like read, draw, listen to music on headphones or play a board game together until we have lunch together. They can game/iPad/tv for the afternoon which works well for us and they don't really disturb me as they're used to the routine now (3rd year doing this).

I only have them for 50% of the holidays and I've taken a week off this week to take them away so essentially it's only 2 weeks, but their dad WFH too and has done pretty much the same with them (although I suspect they have a LOT more screen time with him and his work is a lot more flexible in terms of interruptions).

Even when you work full time all summer?
I guess if you have more than one child and they get on well it can work well.

I'm on my own with my son (adult son has left home) so he has no in house company unless it's planned. We live in a village and many of his friends are in the town and some in other villages. It's hard to be spontaneous - not just from our end, but for some of his mates who are also dependent on either parents or crappy public transport.

Mine have been fine occupying themselves since youngest was 8.

It depends on the job but for me I’d say from secondary school age so 11+

Mine are 12 and 9 now but I've done it for a while. I've WFH with the odd day with the kids home since youngest was 7 I think (ignoring Covid which was obviously different). I never do it for whole weeks, but odd days when I don't feel guilty if they're on tech all day or don't have lots of interaction, we make sure we do things on the days we're off.

It probably depends on the kid, but mine (despite one with ADHD) are pretty self sufficient, able to entertain themselves, don't pester me, know when the door is shut I'm in a meeting and not to come in, are able to play in the park outside our house with friends (which makes a huge difference).

I find it really embarrassing when colleagues have kids interrupt them in meetings, it's not acceptable (unless it's an adhoc sickness day) and those kids need childcare, however old they are.

Mine are 15 and 13. Fine behaviour wise but I just feel sorry for them if they’re stuck at home all day (we’re very rural). My mum has been a godsend taking them out to NT places for long walks etc and my sisters and I did children swaps all summer- so I had DN to stay, then they went to DSis1, then I had the other 2 DN and then DSis2 took my 2 away for a few days.
Its entirely possible- at that age they’re old enough to understand I’m on a call or have deadlines to meet- I’m just conscious of trying to give them a nice summer.

I can do the very odd part day with my 7, 9 and 11 year old while 4 year old is at nursery. However I wouldn't want to do 2 or 3 days on the trot or anything like that - they'd get bored and demanding. We live in the suburbs of a big city so the 11 year old can go out independently with friends from school, to the Co-op etc. I'm hoping once the youngest is 9 or 10 it'll be a bit easier, but I have a very flexible job and am only required face to face in an online meeting once a week.

DH works from home while I look after all 4 DC and we still have to be mindful - they like to o looking for him to show him scratched knees, bugs and astonishing poos!

DD was fine when I was WFH during covid and only interrupted me to bring me tea and she was 9. But she has ASD and likes to be alone and spent a lot of time skyping her friends.

She's 13 now, I made sure I took one day of annual leave off a week over the summer and work 7-3 most days, by the time she's up and dressed I've already done several hours otherwise she's been old enough to make her own plans, I expect her to go out at least once a day if not we go out for a walk when I've finished. I made sure to top up her art supply's etc. She knows if my door is shut I'm on a call and not to disturb me but otherwise I view disruptions from her the same as disruptions from colleague as if I was in the office.

DD would have been fine from 8 onwards she entertains herself in multiple ways. DS at 12 only just and then he plays a lot of video games but they also keep each other company. Still split the leave between myself and DH for some of the weeks so they get one parent to spend time with then we take a week off all together. Don't think it matters what you do the guilt is strong either way!

No idea, it was a poor decision on the part of the manager really. This person is not known for her hard working nature anyway and she relaxed off even more when she was home for the week. She’s run out of annual leave apparently, obviously suddenly realising that she’d need to cover her child’s school holidays was a surprise to her 😒

I am tempted in a couple of years when mine will be 8 and 6 to try the very local football camp which is 10-2 and then have them at home in the afternoon while we WFH. I think the 4 hours of football should mean they are knackered enough that a movie afternoon/quiet play should be doable.

My youngest is 10 (I have 3 DC) and I can easily work with them at home although my work is a little quieter during the holidays. I did book him in into some clubs to make sure he wasn't sat in front of a screen all day.

Mine are 11 and 14.
11 year old is fine, gets up, makes breakfast, meets friends, will pop out to get bits of shopping for me and even Briggs me cups of tea.

The 14 year old will lie in bed gaming all day without a lot of badgering, and only leaves the house if I take him.

I have always had them at home since lockdown and wfh started. They were all under 7.
It was a relief to me as covering holidays was very stressful and kids were too scared to do holiday club (tried them and was a disaster).

yes they got bored, but eventually entertained themselves in the garden or with games console. It has been a wholly utter relief WFH, yes I get the occasional “I’m hungry / bored” but on the whole they’re happy to be at home.
probably as they have got older I’ve had more “wanting to go out / friends have been here and there”, nothing is ever easy.

Still send my 14 and 12 year old to camp-tennis, Pgl. If they are not at camp, they sit on their phones all day. They can get themselves to and from camp and go to the shops after.

I would rather pay for a camp than spend the holiday on their phones. They still get plenty of downtime outside of these activities.

With my 11 year old fine though it involves a lot of screens and he gets bored after a day or two. I gave him the choice this summer and he chose to go to holiday club. No idea what to do next holiday when he'll be too old for holiday club.
His 7 year old sister, no chance, but she does have ASD.

OK. So you can work with a 3 year old around. I think that's unusual.