To think a three year old can’t do this?

[shakemyheadatyou]

Ds finishes preschool at 3. I don’t get home until 4.

DH thinks ds can just watch tv and entertain himself (dh wfh Fridays) I think he’s too young, what do others think?

And you wouldn’t care about choking leaving a 3 year old unattended eating?!

Husband in the house for an hour? Yeah, as long as he has his eyes on him from his laptop. It's only an hour a week. Maybe bring out the big guns and stick him on the iPad. Unless he is a total menace I think it would be fine.

They really don't... psychology has long show kids benefit from independent play time.

Are there really parents pretending to spend 24/7 super glued to their child? Thats beyond helicoptering, its batshit signaling.

It’s an hour once a week…

My three year old would do this tbh. She has "rest time" every day in her room with books, colouring, jigsaws, etc and amuses herself for about an hour - sometimes I go in to say rest time's over and she asks to stay longer.

But she may be exceptional, I obviously can't say whether your three year old would take to this system!

Oh OP please let him try it for a week and learn the hard way that it won’t work (obviously remove any obvious dangers)

For one hour? Yes I'd say that's possible. Stick the TV on. Kids don't need to be entertained all day every day.

We’ve been doing it since the start of September. I just really don’t like it tbh.

Don't be silly. It's an hour with his dad.

Again, it’s one hour once a week. If he can’t handle his own child for an hour a week there’s far bigger problems!

It does depend what exactly your DH will be doing though. I don't work while DD is resting (I clean the house and prep the dinner, generally). If DH needs to do phone calls, for instance, then it's a non starter.

No thanks, I'm not paying for extra childcare for one hour a week when it's totally unnecessary.

Neither of my kids have been given attention every waking minute. They're quite happy watching TV for a bit or playing with some toys or doing some drawing without me hovering over them. I can't imagine the kind of horror created with a child who is hovered over constantly.

Tonight my 2yo happily played in the same room for over an hour while I worked on my laptop, she watched some TV, she played with some blocks, I gave her a snack, we chatted from time to time while I did some admin bits. She does that every Friday while my DH takes my older DD to an activity as otherwise she'd be just sitting in a car for most of that time 🤷‍♀️

This is what I do but I thought I was going mad reading some of the replies on here 😅

You do what you need to do to get through sometimes. It's one hour a week. It's not a big deal.

My 3yo would happily play with her toys or colour or watch tv or eat a snack for an hour. I wfh and would do this. I wouldn’t book in any important meetings but I would expect that she’d let me get on with my work and not do anything dangerous. If playing or colouring she’d be in the same room as me.

@shakemyheadatyou it sounds like youre bloody exhausted, sorting the kids in the morning, working, sorting them after, doing dinner, tidying up... no wonder you've lost your rag.

Is this really about this hour, or more that even if your DH is at home you're still doing everything and clearing up the carnage?

Sounds like you need some help, and not just on Fridays.

And on the Friday, what where could ds go instead after nursery if he didn't come home?

Or WFH is amazing for family life, no commute eating into your day, more able to equally split school runs and after school activities between the parents, seeing your kids and spouse throughout the day, the list goes on. It really doesn’t have to be that deep. Things can be simple and nice and work well.

Oh god no, mine wouldn’t have the attention span either ! They just don’t at that age in my opinion (with some exceptions)

Just leave the house a tip or one of you tidy up when DH has finished work. Don't do it when you're straight through door with needy 15mo, bored 3yo and full bladder 😉 Or, what alternatives do you have to the current set up?

Depends on the child. My eldest would sit and watch TV for an hour (though I still wouldn't leave him alone, DH WFH from sofa or something), my youngest would probably try stick his fingers in every plug...

Of course he should be able to handle his child (for 24/7 if necessary). But he should not be doing childcare and working at the same time. Nobody should. And it is not allowed in most companies.

Depends on the child. One of mine even from about 2 would happily play with trains, cars, watch a bit of tv, look at books easily for an hour whilst I worked in the same room as him. The other - even at 6 - would have the curtains down / oven on / front door open / shouting when I’m on calls- wfh is impossible

@Monvelo i know and dh said that … oh just leave it … but it’s so so stressful to come home to. And I still have all the other stuff to do!

With a favourite program, snack/drink to hand and taken for a wee first, neither of mine would have moved from the tv, especially not tired after preschool on a friday.

That said, we generally don't watch it loads, i think in some homes its on a bit more for background noise & kids slightly get in a habit of tuning out

Considering myself duly berated for (apparently!) having the TV on too much!