To think a primary school child can watch TV for an hour while a parent WFH?

[SomeNights]

I'm trying to work out future finances and one thing I'm trying to calculate is childcare costs once school starts.

DH and I both work from home, DH almost entirely, and me a couple of days a week. We live very close to the school (less than five minutes walk). AIBU to think that one day a week (probably Friday as very quiet for both of us) we could bring DC back at 330pm and either just finish working in the evening (we're both in roles that would allow this) or, I'm a worst case scenario and we had a meeting, could sit DC in front of the television for an hour with some snacks and work from the office in the room next door?

Or is this horribly neglectful and we should sick up needing after school club each day?

What kind of age might this be acceptable from? Top infants? Juniors?

Are there any pitfalls I might not have considered?

This.

Since covid I've cut down on ASC & so this most days. It's fine. They chill, I finish work, then we have dinner/swimming/cubs whatever

Just to add that if your work would be open to it, what might actually work better is compressed hours so you work slightly longer days 4 days a week and finish early on Friday. Or even both of you working 9 day fortnights so you have a full day off every other week.

I think the advantage of that is it's then a formal flexible working arrangement and so if your child is more demanding or your work is, you know you still have that time carved out. For me, the idea of trying to sneak it past my employer is kinda stressful, I would rather have it on the level

We did this from reception.
It was out of necessity as after school club didn’t run on Friday afternoon due to lack of demand.

DP worked from home on Fridays already pre Covid and I kept Fridays from 2pm free from meetings in case he needed to go to work - pretty rare.

He definitely just plonked them in front of TV and went back to work. No snacks or similar. I’m sure they could get a drink for themselves if needed.

I'm currently job hunting for wfh roles. In September I will have children in Reception, year 3 and year 7. My middle child would be capable of sitting for an hour already. I know my youngest absolutely would not manage it. My plan is to line up a Childminder for both of them because otherwise the youngest would see me at school and it wouldn't be fair. I also think that while my 6yo would be fine, she's normally used to chaos and chats at the end of the day and she'd probably enjoy being with a Childminder more.

@roses2sounds like your colleagues are

No they are not. We're lucky we work for an understanding large FTSE organisation that values it's employees and don't mind people taking 20 minutes ot of their afternoon to collect their kids from school because flexibility costs them nothing and in return they have loyal employees who work hard.

I do this two days a week for my youngest two but book in an ad hoc after school club session if I know I have a meeting. I walk 5 minutes to collect them, walk them home and have snack boxes made up ready for them and a film to watch. I try and organise my diary so I've got some easier tasks to do at this time so I can keep one eye and ear out for them. My manager knows about it and I always make up any time lost. It's quite common where I work, especially on a Friday. It's usually ok but rarely get a full hour without some kind of interruption so I guess it depends on your job.

It's absolutely fine once a week, TBH once the DC are in Y3/4 they can occupy themselves whist you work.

It partly depends on the work you're doing. OH teaches online, usually a couple of afternoons a week, and cannot be disturbed. My work is time sensitive, but doesn't demand 100% focus for a client in the same way. Therefore, even at nursery, DD was able to grasp that she could have a DVD and a snack, I'd be sitting at the table typing (but was available if really needed) and mummy was not to be disturbed at all. Two or three times a week, this was fine. Add in some after-school activities and it's even easier for us (we're lucky that the school has several extra-curricular groups that are affordable) and doesn't leave us feeling like we're neglecting DD every day.

So yes, it can be done. But it's way easier if (one of) you can sit and work in the same room and put up with the background hum of the TV. Clearly, not every job makes that possible.

My 8yo manages this kind of set up very well for a couple of hours. He's very social so doesn't like to be on his own in the lounge for two long but he's old enough to know that when dad's on a call he's not to interupt unless it's really important/emergency. Our 8yo is also a rule follower so very easy to manage in these situations and unlikely to get in to mischief.

Term time however he goes to wraparound care. It's an option that's there, we can afford it and both DH and I get to focus 100% on work. It also means work finishes at 5pm for us both so we're both present in the evenings.

I do this with my 4, 6 and 9 yo. I’m in the same room as them and they watch tv/colour/play legos etc

In terms of anything to watch out for is that some employers specifically state that you cannot be looking after your child and wfh. If your child does interrupt I suppose that might be an issue but with the other parent I’m not sure how an employer would know that both parents are wfh and whether it would make a difference. Presumably depends on what’s in the contract.

Once a week, with a child in the juniors, I think is fine. Younger than that, probably not.

I would do this from reception. But to be honest my pre schooler would also be able to watch TV for an hour while I worked.

I think once a week, especially on a Friday when they are tired anyway is fine.

Planning to do this for probably more than hour tomorrow (and on occasion in the holidays). We've all been off sick with a tummy bug and 8YO still has 24 hours left in quarantine from last sickness. Will be WFH catching up on death by email from my two sick days and he can watch TV, read some annuals, trampoline and a bit of Switch.......I think an hour or so after school once a week will be fine. Snacks always help.

Not unreasonable at all in my opinion!

I work part time and my 4 year old is in preschool which frequently has early finishes so I quite often have to have her home for an hour or so before I finish work. I work in the living room and my husband works in the bedroom so she'll sit in one of the rooms with us usually with a snack and TV or her tablet and she's usually happy as Larry. She's a pretty demanding child too who likes a lot of attention but she'd probably be ok for 45 mins - an hour. I've had to do a full days work with her home over half term etc when we haven't had alternative childcare which was a bit more of a challenge 😅

Depends on the age of the child. My just about to turn 4 year old, won’t manage this but my 7 year old would no problem.

Mine would've been/were no problem for an hour at this age. Other varieties of child are available.

I've been doing this daily since lockdown one! My son was 10 at the time - year 5. He is 13 now and I collect from school and then work until 6pm. (He is autistic) I think most parents do this to be honest

If you're both WFH it would be fine especially if you could stagger slightly so one of you does pick up and a quick chat and settle and finishes late while the other works through and finishes promptly/early.

My reception child does this every day but rotates between tv, playing in the garden, colouring and playing with Lego / characters.

It will be fine. I am a teacher and single and parent dd5 has been managing since covid with me wfh at times such as zoom parents evening when no childcare is even open that late. I usually work for a few hours over the weekend with marking and planning and dd has to entertain herself, I just ensure I'm in the kitchen so she can't go in there and use anything dangerous and I'm around if she's hungry/thirsty etc.

It's fine. After we were back in the office post covid, we still wfh a bit. One day a week I worked in the office, left in time for the school run, then finished the day wfh. The dc loved it. They got to watch TV or play on their tablets for 1.5hours that day,with snacks. They were reception and yr2 at the time

This!

Allow at least half an hour of snack / drink / concentrated attention if you stand any hope of getting a decent block of time after that.

When I've tried to rush them into settling I'm bombarded with interruptions every 10 minutes so it's worth investing the time at the beginning!