Anyone else worried about lockdown with small children (whilst simultaneously “working from home”)

[Ilikeviognier]

Just that. A bit worried really - obviously there are bigger things at stake like lives so clearly we will do what we have to.

BUT- I have a 3.5 and a 5 year old. Both boys. When together at home they fight, so much fighting, argue; get sooo bored if not completely entertained. When schools close, I’m going to somehow work from home, whilst home schooling and supervising the fighting, also presumably we won’t be allowed out by that point so we’ll all be climbing the walls.... and for how long?

Anyone else worried about this? 😳

Tag team approach here too, 2hr on/off duty between dh and I and then catching up after bedtime.

I think we need to be prepared for this to be a long term situation - I honestly am expecting schools to close in next few days and for kids to be back at school in September at the earliest.

Theoretically you could make a deal with another family with the same isolation practices as yourself and also alternate one day childfree and one day madhouse!

I think it is the uncertainty that is a holdup. If we knew today for example, schools are closee until sept, teachers/schools/govt could start sharing lesson sheets and ideas online and setting up Skype or YouTube classes etc.

@Indecisivelurcher brilliant list for those staying home with kids, but still wouldn't get any actual work done while doing all that!

@Lovelydovey I think you're going to need him to self isolate. I don't think the kitchen is the place for him by the sounds of things.

3 DS at home. 6, 4 and 2. We've been isolating since Friday as DS 4 has congenital heart disease and is awaiting surgery. We've been told he's vulnerable and will possibly need to isolate for 12 weeks, including other DS to minimise risk as much as possible.

First few days have been really tough, they have been running rings around me. Definitely going to put some sort of timetable together today as DS 6 struggles with lack of routine, so I hope that will help us all know what we are meant to be doing and I can get on with some of my own work.

Nope, @notalota! But I'm not allowed to work from home while looking after kids. My company has great home working policies, I work from home weekly and many people are home based. So I guess people would take the pee and work from home while minding children as standard, maybe. And you just can't get any work done with little ones around. Maybe when they're 12 it's different.

We're also self isolating as a family with a 4 year old and 1 year old. DH is trying to WFH every day. I have a part time job so I need to do some work too. It's a bit of a balancing act, but the thing I'm struggling with at the moment is finding new ways to keep the kids both entertained! Particularly the 1 year old. Cabin fever can kick in quite quickly when you have someone clinging to you for large parts of the day!

One thing I'm confused about - we have all had very mild symptoms (one of us had a temperature, the rest of us had minor coughs, not particularly continuous) so it's hard to know if any of all of us have even had CV. But are we in theory still supposed to be doing all the hand washing, constant disinfection etc (aside from normal basic hygiene!)? I mean I just don't see the point when we're all confined in such a small space. Having small kids makes distance impossible of course so we are all sharing germs anyway, and obviously nobody is coming in.

Also, I was just reading something on the nhs site that says you shouldn't go out for walks at all?! We live in a very quiet residential area, wide roads and very easy to avoid people. I can't see how we could possibly infect anyone on a walk, are we really expected to stay completely indoors?? Or is that just a blanket rule for those that can't use common sense? Also, surely we can go for drives??

LESS THAN 2 HOURS UNTIL BEDTIME 🤪

*3

I'm not even WFH yet, just self isolating. Its raining today. Fml.

The tablet has been deployed. We're on the home run. Thank fuck.

I know my colleagues will have plenty to say about me self isolating. As if this is an easy ride!!

Well Fuck.

Closed until further notice.

Next Monday begins my probably pretty rapid decline to full on gibberish wreck.

I feel very down and anxious tonight. I just don’t see how this is going to work.

Tired of seeing “use the time to rest and heal. Clean your house, declutter” etc posts on Facebook. We will be flat out the whole time.

I just don’t think I can do it. I just can’t. I don’t have the energy. How, HOW am I meant to work a 9-5 job from home with a 2.5 year old (and a 5 year old)??

Yesterday was the first day of my DD being off school. I started out with great intentions, trying to be all positive and sit with her whilst she did Maths work, and to be fair, she was fantastic all day.
However, I got hardly any work done, as she needs either my computer or phone for online learning, plus she’s been Skyping her best friend a lot, so I was only able to check emails intermittently.