WFH with kids

[OneOnEachHip]

Good Evening,

Does anyone here WFH whilst looking after their kid(s)? I know it's not the done thing and is frowned upon my employers, but... does anyone here do it? How do you find it?

do not do this. It gives working parents a bad name, and the concept of whf with kids was an alien concept pre covid.

Well, quite. But then the pandemic happened and people had to wfh with kids and funnily enough, shit still got done.

It's not the done thing because it's not a thing that can be done if they're under the age of about 12

I’d only do it for an hour or 2 in emergencies (not every day) but that is only with cartoons/a film on, anything more is pretty difficult with young kids

Yes but far from ideal..not fair on the (younger) kids or work imo.

I work part time and I have done for the last 18 months with my pre-schooler. No issues with my performance or delivery. It very much depends on what job you do though! If I did any other kind of job I don't think it would work and DC has long naps which cover a huge part of my working day.

I did this once for half a day when my son couldn’t go nursery. He was 2 and it was a nightmare…. Trying to jump to see the screen during video meetings, way too much tv and snacks and he didn’t get enough attention from me. Also wanted to press buttons on the laptop.
I felt it was unfair on him and my work suffered that morning.

*Well, quite. But then the pandemic happened and people had to wfh with kids and funnily enough, shit still got done.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz *

But it sounds like you work from home for max 1 hour a day in term time so you do actually have plenty of time to get things done.

Would you be able to do your job to a reasonable standard if you had a pre-schooler at home all day?

I had to due to an emergency for 3 hours with my 4 year old. NEVER AGAIN. It was horrific, I got nothing done, DC constantly whining for food, tv, games, attention etc.

There's a reason I pay for childcare - for both our sanity.

Yiu honestly camt work whilst looking after kids & they also will not enjoy the experience. It's the worst of all worlds - don't do it

I’m going to have to do this for the first time on teacher strike day. I’m dreading it.

I’m going to bribe her with extra pocket money to stay quiet but it’s not fair on her or in me but I have no other option.

But if school send a Parent Hub ‘here’s some work’ they’ll most certainly be getting a ‘absolutely no chance’ back!

I had to do a work call on my non working day last week with my 3.5 year old. He was an absolute fucking nightmare. I had to cancel one this week because he was in the middle of having a total meltdown and screaming hysterically at me.

I did it for years, although I don’t any more because I have a different job.

worked from home whilst looking after the kids though pregnancies, babies, toddlers, preschool stages. But, I didn’t have an employer.

And please don't look back at Covid and think that people have been allowed to do it since. Many employers (well any good ones) were supportive of people that had to homeschool etc but it was very much a short term 'these are unprecedented times' thing and the same employers will not necessarily tolerate having young children at home during working hours now

No. It makes you a really shitty employee and team mate and an even shittier parent.
My friends doing it this week because her childcare has fallen through and it's been an absolute nightmare for her, there's a reason people don't do it

Yes I do. My kids don’t want to do any holiday clubs and just like to hang out at home and play, watch TV, game etc. my DH works odd hours so is around for some of the day but mine are 7 and 11 so it’s totally doable. I can focus on my work and not have to worry. My youngest is super sensible and I can hear them playing in their room above me. Any younger it would be tricky.

Check your contract. Mine says no under 10s. Although on strike days my boss has made it clear he couldn’t care less.

Nope. Something I acknowledge in my post above this one.

But the blanket "no one should do it" annoys me. We've done it. Work gets done. And some people's kids are older so don't need sitting with.

But it sounds like you work from home for max 1 hour a day in term time so you do actually have plenty of time to get things done

Also, I wfh 37 hours a week, year round. My kids are home 45mins every weekday afternoon while I wfh. My dh is home at 4.15. I work 8.30-5 (taking my break 3-3.30 to do the schoolrun).

I struggle to think how anyone can think they're a good parent if they're busy working when they should be with their children. I had a colleague that was doing this, now with an almost 2 year old myself (as hers was at the time), I really judge her and what a terrible parent she was/is, her poor child stuck at home all day while she "worked" (which of course she wasn't doing a very good job in that department either).
It's actually neglecting your child and is tantamount to abuse.

Depends on the age of the child, the length of time and the frequency.

Over 10 for an hour or so after school/the odd strike or illness/couple of days in the holidays when they haven't got cluns? Fine.

Under 7 as a regular thing for more than a couple of hours? No. You're not being fair on your dc or your employer.

A parent tethered to endless teams calls and meeting at a stationary workstation working to strict schedules and strict hours with colleagues and employers relying on them to perform and present a professional pr corporate face for ten hours a day, may well not be able to look after a newborn and toddler at the same time. We can all see that, and if that’s your only experience of a work at home role you may well decide that someone trying to juggle all those things is committing child abuse (I don’t agree, but if that’s how you feel).

I started working from home with a weeks old baby because I needed to house and feed that baby, nobody else was going to, and I suspect if I had chosen instead not to work and become homeless, that would also have been regarded as child abuse. I know now that most families have maternity leave, and maternity pay, and use childcare, but it’s surely not too big of a leap to realise than many families including mine can not afford childcare, or to take time off work for maternity leaves etc. My children work with me, I work with them, we work together, we work at home, we work in the park, we work at toddler group, I’ve worked whilst walking miles to get them to sleep, I’ve worked at nap times, I’ve worked most mealtimes and I’ve worked through many, many nights as they sleep.

Older Primary school kids - ok for an hour or so after school. Not during school holidays.
Anything younger - not possible unless very very part-time
Secondary school aged - fine.