Free Childcare

[viviswicked]

Mulling over a comment on another thread regarding WFH and thought I would see how forthcoming people would be on an anonymous forum...

Those who are working from home has this been the opportunity to now have 'free childcare' no wraparound, no childminder etc needed as you are now always in the home.

Full disclosure this does not directly affect me due to children being older, I work hybrid and it's entirely up to me when and if I go into the office. My direct team do not have young children but I am part of a large organisation, many of the staff do have children and are not using childcare.

Oh and the dog is happier too!

Also if you’re doing a school run at 3ish then that time should come out of your lunch break - not extra.

It does, i use my lunch half hour to do the school pick up.

I think this is really important as well. WFH often means we end up owed hours (which my company certainly doesn't pay!). I frequently end up starting earlier and working later, so then days like yesterday I took a long lunch and went to a school event. DS was happy. Boss was happy. I'm happy. No losers.

Honestly, wfh means we no longer use after school club. Our bosses know we do a school run and make the time up however, and our child is old enough to entertain themselves for just over an hour with a drink and snack. We still use holiday club and annual leave for school holidays and our baby will be going to nursery all day.

No, if I'm working I can't do childcare, it's pretty straightforward. My employer would not be happy if I had the children around all the time when I was supposed to be available for work. Hence, holiday clubs for half terms etc etc.

It wasn't a criticism!!

Yes, I don't have paid childcare anymore for my eldest due to WHF but have to for DD(2) as it'd be impossible to work with a toddler! Although DS is older (now y6) so happy to do his own thing while I work. It's not "working from home" while actually being interrupted every 2 minutes! And my parents have him after school (or the whole day during holidays) for one day a week so that I can go into the office.

No. My costs have reduced because I no longer pay for hours of child care I'd have needed while commuting but they are still in day care while I'm working, including the very self sufficient 8 year old, because I need to concentrate 100% on the job

I take a days annual leave if my son is off sick or not at the childminders. You can't look after a baby/toddler and work at the same time.

No hope in hell of being able to work with a nursery age child at home unless sick and sleeping most of the time. The one day we had issues I had to sign off early

Might be different when he is older

It is all about balance

It is handy when they are off sick and my boss agrees to it. But other than that no.

I honestly don’t care what my staff are doing as long as they work effectively. Most jobs have a measurable output. My best workers are generally parents who appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working gives them. My best workers are not necessarily the most ‘present’ workers.

There have always been people that take the piss, these people don’t tend to work very hard in the office either.

Only on Fridays. DC is y3 and didn’t want her staring at a screen for several hours each day while DH and I finish work so she goes to childminder. Fridays are a bit more flexible so we pick her up from school. We do get to drop kids off at school everyday so no morning care needed anymore which is great. We do use childminder in emergencies when either of us need to be in the office.

I WFH and no I don't use this as an opportunity for free childcare but it is an absolute life saver when my child is ill. I still book my daughter into childcare because I really feel guilty not being able to give her the attention she needs when working.

No. I wfh 2 days a week, one day I finish early to pick DD up from school (contracted hours), the other day she's in after school club. DS is at nursery both days.
Those that insist they can wfh and look after their kids at the same time either have older children or aren't working very hard. DD (5) was sent home from school ill a couple of weeks ago, I thought I could manage as a one off. I managed two hours before I had to ask my mom to come round and look after her.

Pre covid I worked part time unsocial hours as childcare costs would have meant we were in minus at the end of each month. So this meant spending evening and weekends away from my child. ( DH looked after them)

Once WFH was introduced it meant I could work more family friendly hours and fortunately mine are 10 and 12 so they can entertain themselves, make a snack or do homework whilst I work for another hour once they are home.

When I do go in once a week I use an after school club but honestly it causes so much stress as I work quite far away so have to rush back and hope public transport doesn’t delay me.

I don’t see the issue if it works for employees and employers as in many places it does, then what’s the problem?

To Be honest I’m sick of all the comments implying that something improper is going on with WFH, particularly WFH parents

I don’t know anyone who has cut back on childcare for young DC but plenty who have for school aged DC. So tends to be not using after school club anymore.

One mum I know told me she works from home 2 days a week with her 1 year old. Described it as quality time. I don't think I managed to hide my look of horror. Whenever I've had to attempt to combine both due to unavoidables like a school strike or chicken pox it's been a nightmare. Work not done very well and lots of cartoons and snacks.

No - my child is in nursery when I am working.

There's no way I could work with my 2 year old at home. I have flexible hours so on the odd occasion when she's been ill I've worked a few hours with her at home and it's a nightmare. I work from home 2 days per week and treat those days the same as any other day at work - i.e. she's at the childminder's

It's very noticeable that there aren't many older children in the after school club so I think plenty of people are doing it

Mine are too young but I will consider it when the youngest is 8 or so. I don't think I would want to do it every day as I think they would spend the whole time on screens but once or twice a week maybe.

It's impossible to look after preschoolers and work during the day. When they are old enough to entertain themselves unsupervised apart from having an adult present for emergencies it's much easier.

Toddler DD goes to childcare while we WFH. DH and I each work 4 day weeks so we each have a day where we are WFH and the other parent is watching her downstairs. I find that hard as it is. I cant imagine trying to care for her and work at the same time.

Yes