What age can you WFH with kids in the school holidays

Utterly child dependent. DS1 (10) would be a real struggle and would just end up watching TV and bored. DS2 (7) is fully self entertaining and often has to be extracted from his complicated ‘board games with his animals’ hours after starting so would, in principle, be fine. We don’t because DH is a teacher…

I will do it with the 13yo and the 15yo, but not the 10yo. It's just too much to be honest, and I'm a bad parent and a poor employee.

@CharlotteBog - no, that’s what I’m saying. I do work with Ds around. It’s fine doing with Ds with me. But it’s more hands on and I’m not stuck infront of a computer with him all day. When he’s at nursery term time I try and get 90% done whilst he’s in nursery, but he’s on 10 week summer holiday atm, so he’s had some days when I have had work that’s had to work with him.

I hate it, TBH. I feel bad at parenting and work in the summer hols

My 13 year old (just finished year 8) still does the odd day at a holiday camp (he will be too old next year, sob).

It is all very well saying “meet friends” and sometimes he does, but sometimes the friends are on holidays and so he is home on ps5/YouTube etc

we absolutely can and do WFH with him here and he won’t interrupt (same as last summer, though he did a few more days at the camp last year and a week or two of a different camp, one week was cooking that he enjoyed)

but that doesn’t mean he independently finds things to do - he needs booting out of the house on his bike etc

My youngest has just become a teenager. It would be possible to WFH this year as they don’t rouse until the afternoon. Before now it would have been massively challenging unless frequent interruptions would be to,erased.

Think it very much depends on the type of work you do and how your child behaves

this is so true. Age is bit irrelevant I think it’s more their personality and what they are happy doing. Equally your job - I have very few online calls, and can easily do bits and pieces without much brain power.

I would imagine that it depends on your job.
If you're a social worker discussing sensitive info that no child should overhear then it's not a good idea but if you're generally typing rather than calling then there would be more flexibility

Mine is 7 and I let her have one day at home this summer whilst DH and I were both WFH. It was absolutely fine and she loved it, I just felt incredibly guilty because she basically watched TV for about six hours 🙈

DD is 11 and is ok for maybe one day a week - she entertains herself, is no trouble, and comes down for anything she needs, however I wouldn't do it more often than that, for her sake - I ship her to the parents/in-laws or to a friend's.

It depends on your job.

Mine were fine at home by themselves from secondary age, but I still find wfh with them there distracting. My job requires a lot of concentration so it doesn't work. Even now (they are late teens) I go into the office in the summer holidays so I can get work done uninterrupted.

I have a 13 nearly 14 year old. Half terms are fine to WFH (One of us usually take a day off just to balance out)

Summer break - it’s hard. They will just sit on their iPads etc. They understand the clear instructions of we on an important call so please hold on an hour. They want friends over - but it’s to noisy :( while working. They want dropping off but again it’s only if one us can do it in-between work. We’ve been lucky as eldest is back from uni so has helped.
We’ve managed to find a week for her to do an activity which she loved and that helps with her boredom. She is definitely ready to go back to school!

We do it with our eight year old, but I organise for a friend of hers to come over so that's she is entertained and then probably one day a week she has an iPad day, I used my holiday to take some time off spread across the six weeks, just odd days here and there.

Why did the manager allow this colleague to WFH to look after her child?

Definitely from secondary but they will interrupt you til they're 13 or so.

I think the OP (and the other people responding) mean jobs that you can't do while looking after a child (whatever job that is), NOT jobs that you can fit around part time/flexible/childcare.

Either you're looking after your 3 year old child while working, or you're not. I don't think that's the discussion here (there are plenty of threads though).

Mine are 10 and 8 and I can do it but they get bored. Loads of the clubs I used to use have closed so we have had spells this summer when they are with me. To make it work I ensure it's no more than 2 days in a e row with some firm of active club in between, they get (too much) screens in the morning then none for the pm but I make sure there are activities for them like craft stuff. I also shift my hours to 7-3 so I finish early and take them to the park or for a walk. I also leave them jobs to do. Basically it's way easier on me if they were at a club!

We had an emergency situation last year and DH did it for a week with 9&11yos... it was pretty boring for them tbh. Doable but they were fed up.

My DD is 10. I've managed with a mix of holiday clubs, grandparents/family helping out, time off for an actual family holiday etc. I'm lucky in that I can be flexible with my hours so start and finish earlier meaning we can go out for the afternoon. She has far too much screen time though but can't really avoid if. She will occupy herself but prefers me to be with her doing whatever activity and chooses. It's hard!

Surely it depends on your job? I have always wfh with Ds and he’s only 3. The first 2 years he was home 24/7, and the last year he has attended morning nursery.

But I’m Self employed so run my own schedule, don’t work full time and my work doesn’t involve any meetings.

Mine are 10 and 8, and I can wfh with them for the odd day in the holidays. But it depends on what your child is like and of course you still get interrupted a bit. But I tell them when I’m jumping on a call so they know. They basically watch tv/films game, read or do crafty stuff that doesn’t need me to facilitate much. but I still need to make time in the day to get them out for a run about or they’ll go a bit stir crazy. An odd day is fine, but rest of the time they need holiday clubs or other child care.

Ds would have been fine from 8 but being stuck inside for five days would have been too much. 10 would have been better as he was starting to go out with mates.

I can do it for a day or two with my 7 and 11 yo. But I won’t do it for longer than that, as they do end up with a lot of screen time. They know not to interrupt video calls, and to wait until I come out for a cup of tea to ask for anything.

when my 11 yo was 7 he would never have managed, so it’s quite child dependent. My 7yo will occupy herself for hours with colouring and playmobil and sylvanians and Lego. My eldest wouldn’t at the same age.

we tend to both work at home if the children are around, and stagger our starts and lunch breaks and tea breaks, rather than have them together.

I've always wfh with my kids here, they're 11 and 6 and my 6yo has ASD.

They entertain themselves, play in the garden, have some game time, go to their friends on occasions. I obviously don't ignore them but they understand that I'm working. We all have lunch together too.

Think it very much depends on the type of work you do and how your child behaves. If you are on the phone a lot and you can't have noisy children in the background the children may need to be of age where they can understand the necessity of quietness. My youngest with her ASD understands well that I need to work, but at the same time I'm their mum, so if they need me work will take a back seat.

As a colleague of someone who has just worked from home for a full week to look after her 7 year old please make sure that you are not interrupted and can actually work.
My colleague was largely unavailable on TEAMS, moved her breaks around to accommodate her child having a knock on effect on the rest of the team and her output dropped through the floor meaning the rest of us had extra work to pick up.
The rest of the team are having a word with our manager as quite frankly we aren’t an extended childcare facility.