Key worker? Genuinely confused now Aibu and not realising it?!

[BestJamInTheVillage]

I’ve been offered a place for my twins year 1 to go to school starting tomorrow.
My husband works in transport and is out of the home- I work for the council dealing with vulnerable people. Part of that is safeguarding and domestic abuse situations. I am working from home but the nature of the work is very delicate and I’m
Either on the phone or in virtual meetings with other professionals and service users.
Some people on the mums WhatsApp group have made pointed comments about ‘if you can work from home you shouldn’t be using a space’ etc but i don’t think I’m being unreasonable sending kids in.
I can’t have them running playing whilst I’m doing this work, obviously family can’t help out and I’d be forced to put the kids in front of their iPads etc for entertainment.
The WhatsApp guilt is making feel shitty

As a teacher, I’m very happy to look after children who absolutely need our childcare provision right now! Get off that WhatsApp group or just consciously push back the unnecessary guilt

Send your children in, others are venting their frustrations in the wrong place. You applied you got a space.

Delete the WhatsApp group! You are doing the right thing. Your children need to be in school so you can support people on vulnerable positions.

Yanbu. Crack on you have a very important job.

@Changeismyname

Mute the WhatsApp group and ignore it. You’re using the key worker provision correctly.

Absolutely this. xx

You do an incredibly hard and important job. Don’t let anyone else make you feel otherwise. I work in the NHS clinically and as a manager and there is no way on this earth I could do my job from home with my 3.6 year old here. Thankfully I’m now on mat leave with my second so don’t have to worry about this.

I do very sensitive work with dangerous offenders, often over the phone or video call from home. Sometimes i am office based. There's no way I want my children to witness some (most) of the stuff that's said in these calls and it is definitely not appropriate for these offenders to be aware of the presence of my children. They are going into school tomorrow even though they could work from home reasonably well with only minimal supervision. The safety and wellbeing of my children and my ability to do my job professionally are what is important here. And anyway, the school have nearly 50% of pupils going back in anyway.

The only thing you did wrong was talking about it.

I am technically a key worker and didn't take up a space last time. I have done this time and feel incredibly guilty for sending my child in. (Am lone parent, so no support). I was very surprised by who else was in school this morning.

Don't feel guilty and just mute the what's app group!

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

In my experience those who shout the loudest are the ones flouting all the rules.

in my experience it's parents at breaking point who are hanging on their job by a thread, working around their kids at all hours.

Having teachers employed to educate children who should be at home, instead of teacher educating the majority remotely is a waste of resources, and put the bubbles of workers who do NEED the space at risk

Utterly selfish. If you WFH, you should keep your kids. That's what most parents have to do anyway.

Rubbish.

You absolutely need to send them in. The school has correctly identified you as a key worker and your children's places are theirs alone. People have some weird ideas and love to judge. We haven't ranked all the children from 'most key worker or vulnerable' to least and are steadily offering the places until we reach the maximum number we are prepared to offer!

Just reply "I'm sorry you disagree with the schools decision when allocating places". Mute the chat. Send the kids in.

Some people on the mums WhatsApp group have made pointed comments about ‘if you can work from home you shouldn’t be using a space’ etc but i don’t think I’m being unreasonable sending kids in

IGNORE.
Schools are not offering places unless parents fit the criteria.
Just ignore and send your DC in.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis we've decided to go for it too, just for the younger one. I've decided if it's allowed I'll do it. The spring and summer terms were awful.

If the school have decided you meet the criteria, that’s what’s important.

Remember “if you can work from home” has many meanings. It isn’t just about where you physically sit. You can do your job remotely, that doesn’t mean you can necessarily “work at home”.

We're having to sort out key worker parents at the moment, you'd absolutely be permitted by our standards to have your children accepted. An officer worker working from home, no (including myself, though I do the nursery admin). But your role, definitely l.

@Butteredtoast55

You absolutely need to send them in. The school has correctly identified you as a key worker and your children's places are theirs alone. People have some weird ideas and love to judge. We haven't ranked all the children from 'most key worker or vulnerable' to least and are steadily offering the places until we reach the maximum number we are prepared to offer!

But how are you deciding the order in which to offer the places though?

I think there are a lot of high emotions flying around and some people might be coping with working from home with kids around and be feeling bitter. It's not fair if then to put that on you, but people aren't always able to objectively keep their thoughts to themselves. They are acting out their resentment on you. That's rubbish.
In my friendship group one of us is classed as a key worker due to her sector and is able to send her DC in while another isn't and has to cope with DC at home, their roles and the tasks they do are actually really similar but the sectors differ, one is struggling the other is not. The struggling one is not taking this personally and is gladly supportive of the one who has key worker status. She is a rare generous soul and lives her friend, these other parents have no such affection for you and are probably simmering.
Mute the group, there is nothing you can do about it.