...to ask how many people are WFH with no childcare right now?

[michaelbaubles]

Seen a few comments on other threads at people incredulous that anyone was having to work from home with no childcare, and I thought surely a huge amount of people are?

Check in here - I'm teaching, full time from home (basically working 8.30-4 on and off, no live lessons but setting and marking work, chasing up students and responding to messages and emails all day), and I have 2 DC, 6 and 8 here too.

DP is here but he is also working from home (freelancer, has to keep hustling and chasing up funding to get any money at all).

OK I wouldn't normally be working like this but some posters are acting like it's literally impossible - it isn't - it's hard but we have to do what we can.

I am a single.parent with a 13 and 10 year old. 13 year old is doing the work set by her school daily and independently. My 10 year old is not very independent and my job is very demanding - needs a lot of focus and regular phone calls with customers. So I an leaving him on his xbox mostly and trying to do some school bits in the evenings and weekends.
Not enjoying the constant work being emailed from school and quite close to uninstalling the app tbh

I was trying to for a while... with 3y.o. and 1y.o.

It was pretty much impossible to do either work or parenting well. So I am now on unpaid leave for the foreseeable future.

I think it would be doable (although still tricky I am sure) with older children, but my two are seriously full on right now and I felt they needed me to be present for them, more than my employer.

It wasn't an easy decision and I really miss work, but now just trying to make the most of this time with them.

But your not doing live teaching? Try having to be on conference calls all day

DH and I are both keyworkers neither of whom can work from home (one doing 40hrs the other 30hrs) and our childcare is shut, we were offered an alternative that is 20 mins further away and would have cost at least £50 a day, which we cant afford. We use Grandparents to cover our childcare gaps so right now we are covering the gaps ourselves which often means one of us not sleeping for 24 hours a couple of times a week. It's awful and not good for either us or the DC but there is no alternative right now

Yep - I am. DH is an NHS clinician but is "seeing" patients and doing supervisions remotely. I am a lawyer.

Kids are 10 and 8 so it is possible to manage albeit not to do 100% of the work I would normally do.

Basically we are dividing the day in two.

In the morning one gets up early and works and the other does brek and takes the kids out for a walk/does PE with Joe. About 10ish they get sat down with their school work and supervising parent does emails at the table with them while helping kids if needed.

Say 11.30-12.30 while parent finishes emails and makes lunch they're allowed on iPads to do something educational eg research/reading eggs or whatever.

Then we have lunch together.

Then the parents swap over and the other one gets to go in the office and work in the afternoon.

The kids have an hour of playing whatever they like on iPads 1.30 to 2.30 then they come off them and we do e.g. baking or topic stuff eg making a pinhole camera/gardening/maybe a little bike ride. That goes on till 5 pm ish.

Then at 5pm they zoom their pals (can be up to an hour of shrieking!) and then go back on screens/tv while parent does a few emails and cooks supper.

We eat about 6.30 and do what we like after that.
Once kids are in bed parents do a bit more work. Then go to bed exhausted!

Yes wfh with a 1 and a 2yo. 2yo doesn't nap, both v energetic.

It's chaos!

@lisasimpsonbff, you need to not take those comments personally as they are not directed at you.
As you will know, every parent is different and every child is different. There is so much variation in what can and can't be achieved between families and having multiple mobile children under age of 4 cannot be compared to having 1.
If this had happened 2 years ago, I could have put my dd in front of the TV for half an hour or so and got bits sorted while she watched. My ds who is 2 years younger will not watch a single thing. He cannot be occupied with technology or screens and just wants to run around. Unlike her at same age, I can't leave him unsupervised otherwise he will end up seriously injured or worse. This isn't a reflection on your parenting or child or how you're managing right now. It's me saying what I am unable to do.
In some ways I am glad I am frontline nhs staff as I don't need to worry about the juggling act at home. I am also petrified of making my family ill with something I could bring home

I am WFH while also caring for DD aged 5. DH is a key worker and currently working 7 days a week, 14/14 hour shifts so doing everything in my own.

It's really bloody hard as I'm also in the high risk /shielding group so I cant even go out any get any groceries in myself and get out of the house for a while!

5-year-old and toddler here. Both me and DH are WFH. Our employers are both understanding but it is still incredibly hard. I feel I’m doing a shit job at parenting, homeschooling and paid work but at least there’s tons of us in the same boat.

I’m not WFH now, but just to give some experience. I did WFH/out on site for 10 years.

Director 1- male, ruled with an iron fist, if he could work with kids so could we mentality.

Director 2- who took over from Director 1, no children, her view was we had family and children, and appreciated we didn’t all have nannies and an office at home. So it was normal to hear on conference calls- mummy I need my bum wiped I’ve pooed, mummy I need a wee, mummy why is spongebob yellow? And a million other questions. But her view was our dc came first, and if we were working from home, our work was encroaching into their home, so work had to appreciate that. It didn’t matter when we got the work done, as long as we did. I hand on heart believe that she ended up with a far more productive and happy department because of her management style.

It is bloody hard to WFH with children about, especially if they are under 6, because they need far more attention. But you can only do your best, and if your best isn’t good enough, tough. I think this will show the true colours of a lot of companies, it will show just how much they do or do not appreciate their employees. Everyone WFH are doing their best under the circumstances, you can’t do anymore than that.

It's not impossible, no but it's bloody hard if your DC are too young to entertain/safely supervise themselves. DH and I are both trying to work from home with an 18 month old and a 6 year old, working around each other in shifts to fulfill our contracted hours. A lot of friends who are WFH have said they've got nothing to do at the moment and no one is really checking. DH and I aren't in that position though, we're both busy and subject to deadlines so really feeling the pressure. I feel guilty that I can't give the kids the attention they deserve and I am struggling emotionally due to having absolutely no downtime.

I'm not sure I can sustain this for months on end but then again, there's no choice.

I'm doing 60hr weeks, DH self employed and have a newly 8yo who needs a proper home learning routine. When we deviated one day last week we had tears and very emotional behaviour points just not worth it. So I get up at 5am and work solidly until 9am, then exercise together, then DH does 1.5hr academic work with 8yo while I work, then 30 min break, then I take over for 1hr themed topic learning, lunch, break and another 1hr of arts and crafts while he works, 'school's finishes at 3pm and they then entertain themselves (no screens) whilst we both work again. I research and lesson plan in the evenings and we start again the next day.

@ChainsawBear

That's great, I'm glad it's working for you! However what works for your family doesn't necessarily work for someone else's. When I have a video call, he takes DD and sorts his admin out. He is not 'holed up in a home office' and is certainly doing his fair share. We are both working in the same room. If DD goes over to him and wants attention, he will give it to her, just the same as I do the same if she comes over to me.

Yep. HLTA at an SEN school so on a rota for skeleton staff and then WFH the other days. I've got a 13, 12 and 10 year old. To be honest the 14 and 13 year old are pretty self sufficient and the 10 year old is doing little to no school work which suits him fine.

Still hard when I'm on a video call and so are my older kids! Like shhhhhhh guys

Also my daughters teacher overheard me effing and jeffing about my twat of an ex this morning. So need to mind my potty mouth a bit more.

Yes, Single mum, working full time from home plus supervising 11yo school work, plus “doing games” - cycling, running, football for an hour at lunch.
Plus making bread every other day because I have a sore throat and don’t want to go to the supermarket.

I’ve learnt to value his teachers MUCH more

DH is WFH, I'm out at work 3 days a week (keyworker) but our DCs are 10, 12 and 13 so don't require much input really as they are used to it, we've never had childcare in the holidays.

OP's post -

"Check in here - I'm teaching, full time from home (basically working 8.30-4 on and off, no live lessons but setting and marking work, chasing up students and responding to messages and emails all day), and I have 2 DC, 6 and 8 here too."

Fine if your children (only 6 and 8) are generally playing and watching TV but their education will suffer if you are working 8.30 til 4 for possibly months on end. Surely they need a lot of input from you during their school day? Unless their primary school is providing online lessons?

I had a home office anyway for my practice so my set was great except now I have 2 kids to contend with. DH is Hospital dr so at work more hours than usual.
DS1 is a fairly self sufficient 11yo and after settling in is pretty good at getting on with schoolwork on the day. 3yo DS2 is more of a PITA, he has the attention span of a gnat, won't sit and watch tv/film on his own, he's a sociable soul and is really missing his friends and routine. His new routine seems to wait until I'm in the middle of a conference call and announce very loudly that he's done a poo and can mummy wipe! He's extremely cuddly and it's difficult to concentrate when I'm being interrupted every 5mins. I'm also exhausted as he's not sleeping well with lots of nightmares probably due to the change in routine.

I have always WFH with no childcare, even when my 3 children were babies and toddlers.
Very often on MN it has been said that WFH with no childcare is impossible. Well there you go MN, it isn't impossible after all.

Single parent working full time from home (something I've done for years so that's OK), with an 11yo (yr6). I have a 20yo as well but he's out working and is either great or a pain in the backside.

He's being sent daily work. I help getting him set up and if he wants to do it, good, if not then I'm absolutely not pushing it.
I don't allow xbox between 9 and 3, but do allow tv. We go for a bike ride at lunch time.
I work in a garden office so pop inside every hour or so and see what he's up to and maybe set him up with something or suggest things. I'm hoping he'll become more resourceful as time goes on. Normally he'd be at the park kicking a ball about with his friends, or playing in the stream.

I'm getting up early to get some work in before sorting him out and then finishing around 4pm so I can spend time with him (NOT school work). He's a bright lad and I can't get worked up about a few months of missed school work.

It means I'm not doing much house stuff until he's in bed so my days are pretty long at the moment.

My work are understanding.

If we're all talking to each other by the end of the day I'm calling it a win!

Me, wfh with 2 dc

Fine if your children (only 6 and 8) are generally playing and watching TV but their education will suffer if you are working 8.30 til 4 for possibly months on end.

I think we're not meant to stress about it. These are very unusual times. It's about getting through the best we can.

Working from home with a 1 year old and a 2 year old. Kindly my work has given me double the amount of work than my other team mates have had to do too (i'm a software developer). I also have to take anxiety medication so this is a party and a half...

I'm currently getting very stressed as from after Easter my school are asking for us to teach live lessons (no video, just audio). I have two very young children and an ex-DH who still lives in the family home and is offering zero support. Plus on top of that, the school expects us to phone parents with no interruption from our children.
It's completely impossible. There's no way I can do what they want. My children will not leave me alone and both are in the spectrum, so there's lots of meltdowns happening. Anyone got any brilliant ideas? My boss just doesn't seem to (or want to) understand.

Me with a 4 and 2 year old. It's exhausting and stressful