How on earth are we both supposed to work full time from home?

[beepbeeprichie]

Let me start this by saying that I absolutely get that DH and I are not NHS workers and we are salaried, so I know there are others in much, much worse situations. But... how the hell are we both going to work full time from home with 2 preschoolers? One or two days then Netflix could keep them occupied but honestly I just don’t know how we will manage. Both high pressure jobs. If I work the early morning to lunch and DH works til dinner then we will both have to work all evening and it’s just so grim. Surely firms cannot expect the usual productivity?

I think everyone has to cut a bit of slack. Can you do 7am - 2pm then 2pm - 9pm.

I think you have to divide and conquer, if you both try to do a bit of both you'll end up with frustrated kids and a poor quality of work so you need to set clear boundaries. Also try and get the kids outside as much as possible.

I work from home normally, so have all the school holidays to contend with.

The best thing I can recommend is resetting your body clock.

I try to get to bed early and get up at 3/4am. You'll be knackered by dinnertime, but if your kids go to bed at 8pm then you know you can always go at that time too.

I'm a single parent and that worked for me.

If I had a DH, I'd be doing one of us up at 4am and working til 10am, then switch over and the other does 10am until 4pm.

With all the tea breaks, meetings, general chit-chat in an office, I'd say you can get 8 "office hours" worth of work done in 6 "normal hours".

We are going to do 6am-1pm and 1pm-8pm I think, or similar. We might get 2 hours while they watch a film but trying to work and entertain them simultaneously will just stress everyone out.

In my firm the expectation is that parents will share and there is an understanding that hours nY reduce. I’m quite fortunate that my husband is part time, so I can probably work pretty much full time hours around that, but that will involve evening working. This might not be a popular view, but I think if your employer is paying you a full time salary and you’re using some working hours to do childcare, it’s probably not unreasonable to expect you to eat into your ‘leisure’ time a bit on evenings and weekends.

We both need to be "on" 9am-5:30pm. No idea how it's going to work with a 3 yo.
DH spends lots of time on the phone to clients too so it'll fall to me.

Depending on the work you do, you might find you are actually much more productive at home without all the interruptions of the office. I work from home all the time and I'm sure I get more done in 4 hours at home than I ever did in 8 hours in the office. So if that may the same for you, can you take turns with your DH - one looks after kids while the other works, and then you swap?

I think employers are just going to have to accept what they will get work wise. I have two in primary school who have been sent home with a daily suggested homeschool schedule and loads of work, and I will do what I can with them but it's unrealistic when two parents are trying to keep their jobs as well.

I am a single parent working a full-time job from home with two children, so at least you can split shifts, so to speak.
The pluses, as I see it, are that I do not need to get DS, who is on the autistic spectrum out the door, I do not need to spend time travelling, and DS will not be completely overwrought and having meltdowns after school. I have a different child when he has no pressure. So I think it will be different, not necessarily awful. I do not really get any leisure time anyway as I work around the DC so I will still be doing that, just with no time to myself or adult company in the house. I think it is better than being bored at home or wondering where the next pay cheque is coming from. I really do not want the latter situation.

I don't know op, but do you have a better solution to the international crisis?

In a sense, I do the same but at 5am (I cannot do 3 or 4 am anymore, too tired, unless I am really stressed!) and bed at 10. But I might shift an hour earlier in the late spring when the days get shorter.

Sorry that was to InASense

I'm a single parent so dreading it!

I'm goi f to be relying in my 12yo to help the 8yo with her online work I think so I can then spend time with them when I don't have to work.

I will probably need to start maybe 5am and work through so I can take a break in the middle of the day. Just means the days will be endless.

I think work will have to suck it up.
Looking after your children during a global crisis is more important than pretty much most things most of us do, to be honest.

My two aren't quite as young but I'm wondering the same. I wont get as much done, it'll be impossible. I'm hoping my managers will understand. They have kids themselves so I'm banking on it that they will.

We're both going to extend our working days from 7am to 8pm, swapping between either childcare/home schooling or work time in focused bursts throughout the day, with a bit of admin/email time thrown in around meals or TV times. It won't quite be a full working day's worth of time, but we can top up with a few hours at the weekends.

It won't be pretty, but it should get us through.

I'm bricking it though.

But the concept of 'full time' changes if most parents are doing the same as you in terms of childcare surely? And in many industries demand for ones time is going to drop off steeply I would think

Thank you all. I know others have far more pressing and serious issues to content with. Good ideas- getting up super early might be the way to placate management and get stuff done. I would probably be a better parent in the afternoon too. It’s just another thing to stress over in these awful times and worry about not pulling weight/ easy target for redundancy.

Particular thanks to MyHips for your helpful and insightful comment. It’s great that we have Mumsnet as a safe space to come and chat and feel supported.

It’s scary stuff! I’m going to have to perform some serious juggling acts over the next few weeks with helping the kids with their work and working from home.

for all of us

This wasn’t designed, we are not supposed to do anything, it’s a question of responding to a crisis situation.

My work is sympathetic to the issue. They know my child is home, that I'm trying to do school work with him, work from home and that I have symptoms (fever, but not too bad so far, dry cough) and are happy with what I've managed to do.

I think for many who are now forced to WFH its an inevitable ‘something is better than nothing’ result for employers. Better to get 50% output than 0% if they are off sick.

I'm a single mum. I plan to work 5am- 12noon. DD will probably sleep in a bit then can watch tv a bit, do some online school work til lunch. Then in the afternoon we'll have time to do stuff together. I'll be shattered by the evening though!

I've been working from home and looking after a toddler all week. I need to be online for "core hours". There's no point me being online at 6am when no one else is.

I've had to make the best of a bad situation. No ideal that Peppa Pig is in the background of a conference call but needs must.

Good thread ! Thanks for all the tips!