What will you do if schools do close?

[Furcoatgirl]

I'm really worried. Obviously if it's for the good of everyone then fine, but I'm really not sure what I'd do.

My parents are usually the ones who help out, but they're high risk, so no way would I be sending the dc there for days on end.

We do have savings if I had to take unpaid, but could only do that for so long.

What will you do?

I too am a teacher but work with young people with disabilities. So teaching remotely wouldn't be an option. My son's school is in the same EA so I'd assume if his school shuts then mine will too. I'd be happy to help with childcare too.
DP also a teacher.

Work part-time in a supported- living establishment.
I'd have to hope I can change my shifts and work weekends when dp is home to look after the DC.

Would have to juggle with partner and some NCT friends, each taking 1 day off work per week

Neither of us are able to work from home. I earn a lot less so I'd have to take time off, unpaid. It'll be difficult financially but we'll just about manage, as long as it doesn't go on for too long!

I can WFH full time, DC pretty much self sufficient as youngest is 12, have offered to have friends DC if schools shut, DS due to take GCSE so will be on hand to make sure he gets some studying in. Will have us all set up round dining room table in the hope some school work gets done.

I only work very part-time on a freelance basis, so I’m putting a hold on that to focus on homeschooling. My boys are 6 and 8, and our school district in the US shuttered three days ago, and they managed to get a curriculum online in the space of a day and worksheets sent home. Our head teacher also emailed a suggested lesson structure, so it’s been very manageable.

My husband is working from home, but steps in in the afternoons to play ⚽️ with my kids in our garden.

So far, it’s okay. But I really feel for single parents or anyone who’s unable to work remotely. I still think, however, that all schools need to close ASAP.

I’m a house keeper. So would continue to work as my son is 16 and can look after himself.
If they say everyone has to stay home I’m buggered as I’m self employed.

As an NHS worker, it was confirmed with me today that if the schools shut and I cared for my own children, it would be unpaid.

I'd have to leave them with elderly grandparents probably (who are healthy, but by the looks of it, are high risk of infection)

We've been told to wfh anyway so I would have to do as much as I could round the kids & do some in the evening.
Am already planting the seed with the kids of creating a timetable & still doing schoolwork....
Lots of tv time I guess.

I am SAHM so would have our 3 here with me (6m, 3 and 5) . DH is Headteacher- had assumed he would be here if schools were closed but he is not sure. Meeting at local authority again on Monday for Heads - thinks they might be told staff should be at work. I can't see the point - almost everything could be done on lap-tops or phone so they could work from home and be available for community support.

I'm SAHM anyway plus DH took early retirement a few years ago. I'm keeping Ds off school from Monday regardless.

Dd thinks she'll be home from uni next week and doing online work / lectures.

I'll feel a lot better once they're both at home. Worrying about DM though - she has lots of health issues and doesn't seem concerned about cv.

develsko

That's the point though isn't it. Schools are telling us that we may have to, effectively home school kids. While employers are telling us we will have to work from home 9-5.

Whatever happens in our house will be imperfect and annoy either our employers who pay our wages or the school who don't want the kids getting behind.

You might be in a position where you can casually take unpaid leave from your job, but most of the country isn't! We'd be utterly screwed if one of us ends up losing our job over this, we need both wages.

I didn't say we'd let the kids run feral either, thanks for that, but we have a small house, there is only one table, the whole living area is small and open plan, there's no 'office' to hide away in while the other parent looks after the kids. The kids will be there in the background no matter how we try to manage.

This is normal life for 90% of the families we know who live in average sized homes.

I work in a school and we've been told that in the event of closure staff would be expected to work from home. DH already WFH full time so he will continue to do so. The difficulty is that we have a 6yo and a toddler so not sure how we'd be expected to look after them if their school and nursery close and WFH at the same time. My DP's would be happy to help out as they're very fit and healthy, no underlying issues so not 'high risk' but I couldn't ask them to have the kids every day for weeks on end.

Yup.

There's a real incompatibility that people aren't talking about here.

Kids home, fine, but then someone has to supervise them

Shouldn't be grandparents or friends because that defeats the point of closing the schools and could be worse as many retires are likely to be at-risk groups.

Most workers also being told to wfh to keep the economy as a whole plus personal finances afloat.

Some parents will physically have to go to work as they have essential jobs that must be done in person.

That is a lot of irregularly shaped pieces that don't remotely fit together. It's go8to be very, very difficult for most families to handle school closures in a 'perfect' way.

I can't believe people are grumbly about WFH and supervising their own children.
It is a pandemic! We'll have to make do and get on with things- be flexible. You may have to do less work during the day and some at night, or share childcare with a neighbour or take turns with your DH. Workplaces may have to be less demanding about the amount of work they expect.
Are you expecting the government to provide a self-sanitising, personal robotic nanny in each household so you can work in a quiet room, undisturbed, while it takes responsibility for your children?

Some people will not be able to WFH. I think for NHS and essential services the government will need to consider some schools remaining open- perhaps staffed by nursery staff/teachers who do not have children and volunteer.

I'm not complaining about working from home - I am saying that those having to work from home and look after kids won't be able to do it perfectly.

Kids learning will be disrupted. Jobs will be disrupted.

Being conscious of that when decision making about school closures is really important because faced with genuinely difficult choices - should I send my kids to stay with granny or should I have them home and lose my job?

Some people will make decisions that means the pandemic spreads more and others will risk bankrupty and homelessness.

The government needs to really think about decent financial support to help people and businesses mitigate the impact.

We are lucky personally that we can muddle through imperfectly. I know self employed people who are looking at bankruptcy right now because they're being hit from all sides.

That's what's being underplayed and not understood and it does matter.

@lulujakey1 I don’t think anyone is saying that at all! What people are saying is it’s not going to be easy and productivity will have to drop and expectations will have to change. I WFH anyway. Happy days. So my employer will expect it to be business as usual from me. Except. My husband can also WFH easily so his employer will expect top productivity. Ok, I usually work on the one desktop PC with my laptop plugged in in the dedicated office, so maybe I will have to move out to work on the dining table with my laptop whilst DH works in the office as he needs multiple screens and a desktop. So I’ll be missing out on multiple screens making my job a bit harder. But still manageable. Except. Our DD is in her GCSE year and she must keep up her productivity, right she can use my personal laptop and connect to the school but will probably have to work from the dining table as well as there is not other suitable space, so my working area will be disturbed. And DS bless him, he’s only 10 but will require help and assistance to access whatever online work the school set him. And we’ve ran out of laptops/computers. And working space.

And we’re in a very fortunate situation. So no one is moaning, just not sure how it’s all going to pan out as expectations need to be managed.

I'm a teacher. But our head said if school closed we would be expected in to either review school policies etc or help with a deep clean! so if my DC school closed too I'm not sure. Hopefully dh could work from home......

@Piixxiiee Re the deep clean - check out NASUWT policy. It is very string in stating this should not happen and should only be undertaken by cleaners trained in hygiene procedures here.

Also they state teachers should not be asked to go in if schools shut.

At 29 weeks' pregnant I certainly won't be!!!

*strong