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?

I am not sending my children to childcare staffed by volunteers. Probably I just don't have the community spirit.

"how many of us would help out for the good of everyone?"
Usually people who come up with ideas like this are the takers, not the givers. It would be left to some poor soul who cant say no.

I am not sending my children to childcare staffed by volunteers. Probably I just don't have the community spirit. Is that because you don't have information specific enough to reassure you?

I am asking in the hope that, by understanding the root of your objection, we can overcome similar barriers here.

Nope. I've done volunteer work before, never again.

I am not sending my children to childcare staffed by volunteers. Probably I just don't have the community spirit

I don't know about her, but it's because I assume that people who normally look after children are well trained and I respect their jobs and don't think they can be performed by anyone who can get hold of a DBS check.

I also know that DBS means nothing really. It just weeds out those who have been caught already. I certainly don't want the entirety of the British population (or even just those with kids) being roped into spending time with small children when I know statically some of those will be abusers.

This would not work. The government should just properly open the schools already where professionally trained and check education and child care options are run.

So if we're all giving 2 hours, dose that mean the kids are been passed on 4/5 times a day? So 20+ different cars givers a week?

That won't be confusing at all for 6 year olds

No, no way, no how.

I don't know about her, but it's because I assume that people who normally look after children are well trained and I respect their jobs and don't think they can be performed by anyone who can get hold of a DBS check. I am not sure I follow that. I understand the issues around DBS checks though.

The people we are having come forward are people who normally look after children in some way. Scout/Guide leaders, sports coaches, childminders, cadet leaders as well as supporting volunteers. So any group would be led, as alwys, by someone with experience, qualifications in what they do rather than just someone who happened to have a DBS.

The government should just properly open the schools already where professionally trained and check education and child care options are run. Again, run by whom, where, how?

Usually people who come up with ideas like this are the takers, not the givers. It would be left to some poor soul who cant say no.

Exactly this.

The people using the free childcare are unlikely to be signing up to look after someone else's children. They will either be doing their own paid work or will be looking after their own children on their days off.

The people who are doing the giving will get nothing other than a temporary warm glow and then an increasing feeling of resentment.

Unlike the NHS volunteers scheme, there won't be any real sense of gratitude from society. After all, there was precious little thanks for the school staff who worked for free during the holidays to look after key-worker children.

Parents will be expecting decent standards of care for their children (and rightly so) and will complain loudly when things go wrong. You only have to look at all the threads on here with parents complaining about how baby and toddler groups are run, even though they are staffed by volunteers.

And that's without the 101 legal issues already mentioned here.

So no, I don't think it's time we provided voluntary childcare.

Why are people talking about schools/volunteers providing childcare? The schools should be opening fully to provide education by qualified teachers. People are returning to work now or in the near future and schools should be doing the same.

One more time...

How?
Taught by whom?
Taught where?

Christ no. Especially not for working parents who have looked down on stay at home mums for years, making nasty catty posts on here about us. Crack on and manage your own kids now tbh.

I'm sure quite a lot of people (let's face it, mostly women) would sign up for it. I already volunteer in a few different roles and it wouldn't be my cup of tea, children bore me to tears basically. Good luck.

*YABU. I don't have children yet a few years ago I volunteered as a brownie leader locally.

The girls were delightful but their parents treated me like the hired help*
I had the same situation in our group. I volunteered for a year then packed it in as I was fed up of how the parents talked to me. Put me right off volunteering.

If it's safe for all the children to gather in a church hall and be taught by a rotating cast of characters then it's safe for schools to reopen surely?!

I would be happy to provided I could also bring my son. I have a dbs and would be willing to help children with homework also.
It won't happen for the various practical reasons already pointed out.
I will help with my niece and nephew instead.

Any parent in their right mind would send their kids to Dotheboys Hall in preference to me looking after them.

I'll happily look after dogs for free though!

I think the sentiment behind the idea is nice. I’d happily help out but I’d be uncomfortable with my small child going there. Plus, the logistics wouldn’t work out.
What I do think people may start doing is childcare sharing in their own homes. If I work Monday and Tuesday, my friend might have my DC those days and I have hers on her working days. This would only work though if nobody took the piss and depending on the ages of the children. If one person has one 7 year old, it may not feel very easy to buddy up and childcare share with someone who has a 1 year old, 3 year old and 4 year old! Tricky one.
As someone said, I suspect it’ll be the women who take on the bulk of this too. Perhaps if children with 2 involved parents both stepped up, it’d work a bit better.

@CuriousaboutSamphire
Because I know that childcare is a proper occupation, not something done solely out of good intentions. I have a (very limited, admittedly) experience of working with a children and young people charity, which relied on a mixture of paid and volunteer labour. Managing the volunteer bit of it was a nightmare and a full time job for the manager, and services were frequently cancelled or amended with little notice, as the reliability of volunteers was quite low. I worked there in a voluntary capacity (helped with finance), and even with me there frequently were situations where I had to prioritise my paid work, or even just family needs, to the detriment of the charity. The difficulty for me personally is that you rarely can demand a particular level of service if the provision is free /charitable. The key person spent all her time browsing social media and not engaging with her charges? IT IS FREE, SHE IS DONATING HER TIME, YOU ARE BEING UNGRATEFUL. I've seen it first hand.

Another issue is, as said before, is safety. DBS really means nothing, as a PP said, it only weeds out people who have been caught previously. I have more trust in someone who consciously chose education / childcare as their career, rather than someone who just saw a call for volunteers and decided to give it a go.

Usually people who come up with ideas like this are the takers, not the givers.

^This with bells on.

The people we are having come forward are people who normally look after children in some way. Scout/Guide leaders, sports coaches, childminders, cadet leaders as well as supporting volunteers. So any group would be led, as alwys, by someone with experience, qualifications in what they do rather than just someone who happened to have a DBS.

Funny how it's always the same people expected to do bloody everything.

People coming along with bright ideas of why can't we do x, y and z throughout lockdown as if its completely new and hasn't been thought of is and never happened because of a lack of volunteers has been a source of annoyance.

The 'joke' amongst our circle of friends (who all volunteer in normal times) is that there is only a core of 100 people in the area who volunteer and they do everything and keep all the events / groups going. And they are expected to do it. And regularly get shit for not doing x or y as well.

Suddenly during lockdown there's been an influx of people suggesting all these wonderful things long term because they are on furlough and bored. And we all know that they will fuck off at the first opportunity when they go back to work cos 'they are busy' as if people who normally run these things aren't run off their feet all the time.

The number of people that assume that scout leaders are paid is staggering. Or people who assume that's all someone does (and does not have a job too) has always baffled me.

Many of the people who volunteer for those organisations and are still working throughout lockdown and are not available to volunteer for this magically appearing childcare as a result of that.

Many are also still running those groups throughout lockdown remotely. Which isn't easy. The thought and organisation that is involved in running these groups via zoom is proving more difficult than running face to face groups.

I'm kind of pissed off with it all tbh.

It's just more of the old 'come up with a shitty idea' and expect others to do in and to magic away all the problems without a single thought to how in will actually work in practical terms.

I'm done with the attitude tbh. It's always someone else's responsibility and there's never a thought as to why all these people with experience - such as teacher or holiday clubs - haven't been doing all these amazing things as a solution in the first place.

The ignorance and laziness - both in the thought processes going on and in actual willingness to get off arse and do something - never fails to amaze me.

there is no space to do this, there is no alternative to schools, and if there was people would have suggested it as a viable scheme for widespread use already by now. The reason we can't is because it's all down to minimising contact with others to keep transmission levels low

This isn't hard to understand. This is what we've had drummed into us for months. And STILL people don't get it.

Until the government say we can increase contact with others, we are stuck with the current situation whether we like it or are having nervous breakdowns over it.

So anyone who's a parent cares for children?
Even if they lack people skills or professional, privacy, various needs.
It wouldn't be allowed and it wouldn't work.
The last voluntary leader who cared from my child was a complete bitch.
Monitoring and education of people in charge of children needs done correctly not haphazard! No matter what the situation

I wouldn’t even look after someone else’s children if I were being paid to do it, although I did volunteer in my DS’ primary when he was little.

But TBH this idea increases the amount of contact rather than the other way around, so if that were to happen you might as well just open the schools...

Absolutely not. I already have 4 children of my own to look after there is no way I am looking after anyone else’s kid

But TBH this idea increases the amount of contact rather than the other way around, so if that were to happen you might as well just open the schools...

Just a guess but I don't think op is in charge of opening the schools

No thanks. I don't want some weirdo near my kid.