To ask about childcare whilst wfh

[cadburyegg]

I've seen a few posters mention that since they've been working from home they haven't needed to use paid childcare so much.

Lockdowns and school closures aside, I'm just wondering (out of curiosity) as to why this is? Are your kids old enough so they can entertain themselves after school, or is it because you don't have a commute so don't need to factor that in etc etc.

I'm a single mum and wfh indefinitely by the looks of it so I'm trying to get an idea of what childcare needs I might have in the future. My dc are 6 and 3 and I use as much childcare as I did before, but I realise that people with older dc might not need to.

@tiggerwhocamefortea

The majority of companies have clauses in your contract that state WFH can't be used in place of childcare so even if you WFH they should be in nursery/childminder.

It's not safe or fair to WFH with a child under 4

I do think it’s likely that this clause will start to be written into contracts now that wfh or a hybrid working week will become the norm. Pre-covid it probably wasn’t relevant to the majority of companies.

By juniors age, most children would be fine to entertain themselves for a couple of hours with an adult in the house in lieu of after school club.
Older or very local children can walk short distances home to an occupied house.

WFH cuts commuting time which may require additional childcare time.

@bluebeck

A 5 month old isn't rolling or crawling.

Highly doubt he can do his job effectively during set hours when the child does start moving. Perhaps he has a job where you can make time up after or maybe he isn't fully resourced - the latter of which id find a major issue with if I was his employer and thought he had time during working hours to care for a young child

Mine are 5 and 7. I drop them off at school and get home for 9am to start work. Then I pick them up after school and let them entertain themselves for the last 1.5 hours of the day while I carry on. They much prefer being at home and my employer gets more flexibility from me as my hours aren't restricted by childcare.

I've wfh since mine were little and I use childcare - I would definitely for a 3 yo.

People are saving time on commuting and many In mine take a hour or so for the school run and make the hours up in the evening- which wasn't always possible without having system access at home

Perhaps in my industry it's more standard but every job I've had had this clause

I'm aware 4 isn't a magical cut off age but at that age they are capable of getting themselves to and from the toilet and engaging themselves in play or watching the TV or something so don't need watching the same way a younger child does

Don’t really like ds7 to be in the house just kicking about while I’m working, not more than occasionally. It’s for his benefit not mine- I prefer to be able to give him my attention when he’s there

Obviously there’s the odd occasion when I haven’t finished work when the CM pick up is, or the odd holiday day I can’t cover, but as a rule I don’t see post pandemic times as a free for all “no more paid childcare” time.

I only live 5 min walk from school, and had already shifted my hours so I could do the morning drop off and not pay for breakfast club.

They still do 2 days at after-school, my mum picks them up one day, and then every other week I collect them from school and they spend an hour on the iPad while I finish the last few bits. I move to the kitchen table for that so I'm nearby, and finish a little early. They're y2 and school nursery.

Mine are 9 and 10, so wouldn't be old enough to stay home alone after school, but do keep out of my home office (read dining room) after school. So I don't need after school care at this age.

Curious to know what age people think is appropriate to wfh after school pick up with kids around in the background? Mine are 7 and 4 and I wouldn't do it yet except in a total emergency.

It will be a depressing result of the pandemic if we now all have to work and take care of our kids. Salaries will go down as the market won't need to support wraparound care costs. Work will be just as capitalist (the lovely piecework mentality of everyone cooing at your baby will soon die out) and the people who suffer will be our children, again, as they have no effective public voice & will be sitting in front of screens instead of playing with someone.

My son is 8 and he can spend the day with me wfh no problem. Below 5 I’d of had issues. I’ve had to wfh with my two year old in early lockdown and it was hell.

Our childminder packed it in but dh works from home so picks them up and then carries on working… dc are 10-13 though, I wouldn’t do this with younger dc.

Not sure anyone else can tell how much looking after your children need or will need. It’s up to you to work out how you will manage your job and your children. Mine needed very little looking after, others need more than she did.

Pre-Covid I wfh a lot but always had paid childcare (after school clubs some days, nanny on others, holiday clubs). I don't believe you can/should wfh whilst looking after children under about 8, because they need too much attention. In fact outside of Covid times, my work insists we have childcare in place and having tried to do both during lockdown, I can see why - it was very difficult (near impossible) to work whilst looking after them all day.

One advantage is also the lack of commute time, meaning I can drop DC at school and be at my home desk by 9am.

Over the 2 years of Covid my DC have aged sufficiently that they need much less supervision, so although they still have some clubs, we're no longer using a nanny after school. The 11 yr old will do their homework unsupervised. The younger one still needs some oversight and input after school (supervise homework, read to me etc).

I will still use holiday clubs, a little for the 11 yr old for variety, and definitely for the younger one, because a whole day with minimal supervision would mean way too much TV or Minecraft and behaviour suffers IME.

Sorry, should clarify - I am working PT so I can do the supervision after school properly for the younger child. Once they're both 10+ I don't think that will be needed. I wouldn't get much work done if trying to supervise DS after school and work.

I don't have to use the breakfast club on days I wfh. I still use after school club as I would have to do the school run, but only till 17.10 not 18.00, and even that wouldn't be for much longer as DS can walk home from year 5, but unfortunately I will be back in the office full time from next month rather than a mix which has been working well since April.

Mine are all at secondary now, but when wfh started in March 2020 the youngest was in year 5. So old enough to chill out at home while DH and I finished off, rather than go to after school club.

Mine is 5 but perfectly happy to chill and watch tv for the hour after I pick him up from school while I finish off some work on my laptop (on the sofa so I am.still keeping him company). Over lockdown we had no choice and as a single parent I just had to manage with him there on my own (and my laughable attempts at homeschooling in between) so the hour after school feels like nothing in comparison to weeks and weeks of him being stuck in the house watching tv all day while I worked.

I save 10 hours a week commute time.

Also the lack of commute means DH can do more drop offs, enabling me to start work earlier and finish earlier, which reduces the total amount of childcare we need.

Since wfh, I have noticed loads of colleagues have their calendars blocked out just around 9 am and again later in the day every day. It’s usually for the school run.

It’s a pain in the arse when setting up meetings lol. They should all agree a time slot that everyone goes and collects kids at the same time so I don’t need to play meeting scheduler Tetris.

I have 3 primary age I work 3 days per week. Have been WFH since March 2019.

It currently works well as I drop them to school, am home to log-on and my MIL collects them from school and takes them home for a few hours (and gives them dinner, she is an angel)

WFH has allowed me some flexibility with being available when little one started preschool (she was fine but I had the option to nip out and get her if she couldn't manage the full day etc). I was also able to drop off and pick up for the first week whilst the all settled in. I had a late lunch at 3pm and they had snacks and TV. Then we reverted to MIL collecting them.

It also gives me flexibility with ad hoc illness and appointments.

I work at least half an hour more than my contracted hours each day. I stay late when I have to, I have on occasion attended meetings on days I don't work (I don't make a habit of it but logging on for an hour is doable. Attending a meeting in person on my non work days wouldn't have been feasible)

In short I don't take the piss, I am professional, conscientious, hardworking and child free for 95% my working hours

Mine is because of saving 2hours a day on commuting.

I still have childcare everyday I work, but can opt for the short 9-4pm day rather than the 7am-6pm option. This saves us around £100 a week.

I adjusted my hours from 9-5 with an hour lunch to 8am-3.30pm with a 30min lunch. My DH covers 8-9am then starts work after drop off and makes the 5-10mins up at the end of the day or over lunch.

However; work expect us to be flexible with this arrangement. So sometimes we have to cover each other or get the grandparents to help with a pick up.

Curious to know what age people think is appropriate to wfh after school pick up with kids around in the background?

During the first lockdown mine were 6 and 3 and it was hellish working with them at home (not so much the eldest but def with the youngest, I did so many conference calls with her on my knee), during the second lockdown they were 7 and 4, still hard but def easier. Now they are 8 and 5 and both at school so if I work with them in the house it is usually an hour max, my employers don't mind because my work is still done and I am not customer facing or answering any incoming calls etc. I have autonomy over my calendar and working hours so that makes it easier.

I think it very much depends on the children and on what job the parent does.

Highly doubt he can do his job effectively during set hours when the child does start moving

We set our own hours aside from certain meetings or activities so it's not too hard to work around really when the employer themselves is happy to have babies/children present or in the background during work meetings. He's not the only one - just happened to be a meeting I attended today.

I would say it's unusual during school holidays/after 3pm to have a meeting and not see someone's child in passing. Pre schoolers and babies obviously crop up all over the place.

We are measured on outputs and results (legal sector) rather than hours present sitting on a chair/logged on. Mine are grown up and flown the nest so it doesn't help me but I see it as a positive part of work culture.