Is it time we all helped to provide voluntary child care

[Maryjane3227]

So I've read all the frustrated threads from parents wishing their children could return to school, and working in a school I know that September could mean "blended learning"(part-time hours in school, continuation of home learning).
How many mumsnetters would be happy to give 2 hours a week voluntarily to their communities to help with the child care provision that will be required if/when children are not in school come Sep?
If for example church halls or empty office spaces could be used, and all the necessary legal bumpf was completed, how many of us would help out for the good of everyone?
Or is this mess someone else's problem to sort out?

Love to if I wasn't working full time, educating three children and not-so-slowly losing my fecking mind.

In theory it’s a nice idea, but wouldn’t it take a lot of time and effort to dbs check all those people?

No thanks! I do other things but I wouldn't be signing up for that.

I agree with you @Maryjane3227 it's one of the best solutions

Yet all you will get on here is a slew of posts from people saying "I work full time, I have 9 DCs, our school is 6 miles away, how do you expect me to give my time up?"

People in Britain tend not to do collective well, especially when it's easier to just start shouting "my taxes pay for this, go back to fecking work" etc

We are addicted to the "as many hours as I can do" work philosophy, simply because our economy is geared up to two people working as hard as possible to keep these lovely house prices nice and high so we feel wealthy.

In short, I think you're right and bang on, but don't expect anyone to say they'd help. at all.

I wouldn’t do it. If others want to then sure, go ahead, but it shouldn’t be a thing where there is an expectation.

God no

Nope. My plate is full.

I am an ex teacher, DBS checked for children's residential camps, and until last term a governor at a local school.
I do work, but from home and I have flexibility.

I would happily go and do a free morning's teaching in a classroom at our local primary, but only if my own kids were back properly full time. That is because my own kids are year 10 and 12, and I am desperate for them to return.

No thanks.

@LaurieFairyCake

Do you only help out with things if you have a stake or vested interest? I'd happily volunteer even if all my DCs were grown up, precisely because this is unprecedented and if the roulette wheel of life had spun ten years earlier then it could have been my DCs..

I would

I think if the way we deal with part time schooling is by using a variety of grandparents, friends, childminders, play dates, community helpers to get through the week....we may as well just open schools fully because the transmission points will be really high with the former. The whole point of 'Stay at home' and school bubbles is to cut all that right down to bar minimum (in theory).

I for one think schools should just open fully in September as it's never going to be low risk either way.

how many of us would help out for the good of everyone?

Probably just the women.

mind you, I also think kids should just go back and forget social distancing, use hand sanitizers on classroom doors and stop assemblies etc

Lol

I also work in a school

I’d prefer to help my friends out in a less formal basis.

No, I wouldn’t do it. It’s a nice idea, but it’s just a fantasy that would never be achievable.

At the end of the day, if you choose to have children childcare is your issue to sort out.

No thanks. It's not that I'm too busy. It's that I can't stand kids.

Are the men included in this call to arms, OP? Or is it just something else for the women to fix?

I probably will do with my friends kids on a reciprocal basis to be honest if this ridiculousness rolls into September but really they just need to all go back, as normal.

No, I have a job. If I end up needing child care, I will hire someone, just as I have always done for summer holidays.

There is obviously a market for people who have lost their jobs in this economy to enter the field of child care. They should be properly vetted, trained, and compensated fairly for their labor. Perhaps this can serve as a reckoning for the fact that society has undervalued the work done by the people who care for our children.

I agree with @hayfeverhellish the whole point is to reduce the number of contacts and potential transmissions, if you have numerous people doing 2 hours a week each then that’s going to create more contacts within the community than just having classes of 30 kids again.
Likewise using friends/grandparents/holiday clubs etc the same

Thanks for responses. Just wondered. DBS enhanced certificates would take a while, and it would take a lot of planning and good will.
Just trying to think of solutions.

2hrs a week wouldn't work. Say a child needed 40 hours a week so their parents could work. You would generally for safeguarding need at least two volunteers per bubble. That would be 40 different people over the course of a week caring for the child which would be confusing and there would be a greater risk of infection. It also further devalues childcare- why pay a childminder when someone will volunteer for free.

No thanks!! I have a dbs and have been off work for 13 weeks (because my business has to be closed under the current guidelines). I usually work 50-60 hrs a week in termtime- 30 hours dance teaching and another 20-30 hours doing paperwork and running my business. Even in school holidays I teach less, but still work 30 hrs or so. My own kids are teen/ young adult. No way am I giving up some of my free time to look after someone else's kids! I would do it for a friend or family member if stuck, but none of my friends or family have small children needing childcare! If I am allowed to open to open my dance school over the summer then my customers are welcome to book their child into any sessions while they work if they so wish, but I am not doing free childcare. Surely its up to the government to make sure that childcare facilities can open safely so that parents can return to work, not up to random people to do it for free?

Good idea in principle but you’d never get enough volunteers. Or they’d agree and have a change of mind. Or just not show up