to send son to childminder?

[cloudbutter]

My son is nearly 18 months old. I am a key worker in law enforcement. I will be working from home. I live with a GP who is still seeing patients where he has to, and is high risk of contracting coronavirus. I can't work from home when my son is here (though can work briefly when he is napping and when he is asleep in the evening). My childminder is lovely and has said she will have him, however stated many times that I should only send him if I really can't keep him at home. She has a family of her own to think about and is obviously concerned that I am living with a front line NHS worker who sees sick patients every day and may be called to work in our local hospital. Should I send him? WIBU to? Or should I try and come to a compromise with my boss? I don't know how well it'll go down and I won't be able to do my job properly so I may just be told I either work my regular hours or take unpaid leave. Can anyone advise?

Read the guidance. You are a key worker. You can't do your job while providing safe childcare for your son and you do not have any other family member who can do this. Childcare providers, including childminders, are therefore being asked to provide childcare for you and you are entitled to use it without being made to feel guilty.

This. I too am in law enforcement and I'm also directly involved in the policing response to Covid 19. I cannot continue to contribute effectively to that response while simultaneously caring for a young child.

We talked things through with dd's cm and agreed to limit the risk as far as possible - as have other key worker parents. So dd will no longer attend nursery. She will no longer have any contact with any other children except for one or two on the days she's at her cm. We won't be seeing anyone else outside of our immediate family household.

It was all a relief to our cm who relies on the income.

An update. I've decided to keep him home and face the consequences at work. Can't being myself to send him

It's a good but difficult decision. I have a 19 month old and am trying to WFH in an SS role. It's tough with a toddler but the alternative is sending her to nursery which I've refused because it's not absolutely necessary when I'm home and she picks up every bug going there as it is. It's hard because I cant just sit at home typing up like older colleagues who's children have left home and I think we do 20 activities before lunch but equally we all need to do our bit.

We are currently in isolation due to DD having a fever last week. It ends next week but I’m not going to send her to nursery. My job is 3 days a week but I can do a lot of it outside office hours. I feel like a poor employee at the moment but I’m sure that I’m far from alone and keeping safe is the most important thing.

Sorry you had such a hard decision to make- but I think you are doing the right thing.

Yes you can work from home. You do your best. I'm currently working from home with a 9 month old baby, 2 elder daughters and a 10 year old with ADHD and ASD who is climbing the walls. Me and DP are both keyworkers but we are doing our best to spend as much time working from home as we possibly can. DP is probation officer, and I work in substance misuse for the NHS. We are having to phone our service users at home but we are doing our best to juggle everything.
So is every other person in the country. Do your best it's all you can do!

You're a single parent key worker. This is what the childcare is for.