To ask how you are managing childcare of pre-schoolers?!

[Oxmama]

I work 4 days a week & my workload has significantly increased since COVID-19 due to my sector and also covering workload of other furloughed employees. My husband is full time. We have a DS age 22 months. First 4 weeks we juggled taking childcare in turns, working naps times/evenings/weekends to make up the hours - my DH’s hours are billable so it was really obvious if he wasn’t doing them, and as I said, my hours have increased in practice. The house was a shit tip, dshad a LOT of screen time and we never spent any time all together. Last 3 weeks my dh has taken voluntary furlough and it has been glorious - he’s loved spending time with ds and I have had more time to work. He is now being called back to work, and we are in Scotland so likelihood is we won’t have nursery again until August!

How are you all managing with workloads and preschoolers? My ds has the attention span of a gnat and needs pretty much constant supervision. All my friends are either keyworkers with childcare, one parent long term furloughed or satm anyway, so I don’t know anyone else in our position. My work have made it clear that furlough is not an option for me. I just don’t know how we are going to get through the next 2.5 months without childcare?!? I am grateful that I only have 1 child to contend with at the moment, but finding it tricky with the age he is.

We're not.

Too much TV. No quality time at all. I work when the kids are in bed and I am producing work with mistakes because I am tired when I am working.

Sorry OP. I think it's incredibly unfair that households with 2 working parents and young kids haven't all been given the option of voluntary furlough.

Two parents, we work 9.5 days a week between us. Working in shifts over five days, most evenings and a bit at the weekend.

Employers are understanding but the work needs to get done. 1, 3 and 7 year old.

We have a babysitter come in. There’s a lot who are happy to as long as you are not self isolating. It works great.

Same here @ChooChoosBiscuitTin :-)
I'll support that petition

Why are you working the additional hours? If it's too much then employer will have to call people back from furlough when they have completed their three weeks.

Scale your hours back to normal.

They are taking the piss. I wouldn't let my DC suffer because my boss was a greedy bastard.

Our kids are 2 and 4 and we're struggling. We both do our best during the day and put some hours in once they are in bed.

due to my sector and also covering workload of other furloughed employees

Can you suggest to management that they swap around the furloughed staff? If you are covering for them, then surely you and one of them can swap over for the next 3 week's?

We're both wfh full-time with great flexibility, so we're alternating days. We find it works well because we each get two or three proper days a week, and then on the days we are on DD (2) duty, we can keep on top of the urgent stuff during naps and evenings.

However we're working nowhere near our usual hours. That was fine short-term but it's starting to be a problem now and we're both getting busier. I go on maternity in a month so we just need to cling on til then. We're in NI so no word yet on when nursery will reopen.

Friends are doing 3 hour shifts, working around each other's calls, and have a woman from nursery coming in. They both have very full on jobs and are struggling. The only reason we're somewhat coping is our tremendous flexibility and understanding employer.

We have a babysitter come in

Good idea. OP do you have a trusted relative who could help? A teen neice or nephew may like the change of scenery coming to stay mon-fri if you have the space?

My dh is now back at work (construction so can’t work from home). I’m trying to wfh and juggle home / 10 year old / just turned 4 year old. Pretty sure my 4 year old now has a better relationship with Sofia the first than me! Mainly I’m just about broken!

Watching two hours of Bob the train on Prime Video, and drinking a lot more gin.

Both wfh, 14 month old. We are slowly going insane. The house is a shit-tip. We take it in turns to get up with child while the other works, then just split the day between each others' calls and childcare needs. The TV is on all the time.

Work were being very understanding, but now this has become the new normal I'm being expected to keep up and do as much as before. No chance of furlough, we're busy.

Our nursery plans to open on 1 June but I really don't feel it's safe yet, so we'll carry on as we are 🤷

We’re working alternate days and making up hours in the evenings, which is doable as we work 3 days and 4 days respectively; however there is no down time and no family time. The house is not as clean as I’d like, to say the least!

In short, we’re managing but it’s not sustainable.

I want to send her back to nursery if they open in a couple of weeks, as much for her development as for our sanity, but DH is unsure about the risk. How does everyone else feel about a return to childcare? If you and your partner disagree, what happens then?

@TheDIsiilusionedAnarchist getting a babysitter in is legit? I do have some friends who’d be willing to do that but I didn’t think it was allowed?

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz sadly I am part of the management! It was the right decision to furlough one of my departments, but there was a bit of leftover work. Also because senior role am expected to pick up slack and cannot be furloughed.

Like many of you, we got by the first few weeks on adrenaline and wine, but now this is our “new normal” (I hate that expression), it’s just not sustainable.

@Ihaveoflate I would be happy (/ desperate really 😂) to send mine back on 1st June (if that were an option), but the I feel incredibly selfish because I mainly want to because I’m not coping! Not sure if that’s fair on ds really. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm desperate for the DC to go back to nursery.... they will as soon as it's open. They're just missing out on so much and our relationship is suffering as we're so busy and stressed. DC1 especially misses preschool terribly and asks every day when he can see his friends. None of us are in a vulnerable group so getting them back to some sort of normal ASAP is my priority.