Working from home whilst looking after a 2yr old

[Fi1982]

Is anyone else having to do this now the nurseries and childminders have been closed?

What guidelines and policies have your workplaces created around this?

Scenarios that I’m thinking of all seem detrimental to my emotional and/or financial well-being to me, such as being expected to catch up on work all evening after looking after my child indoors all day, or using unpaid or annual leave to cover this (indeterminate) period of time.

Are any workplaces suggesting something different, that doesn’t punish working parents even more than usual?! We can’t afford the unpaid leave anyway as we have to continue paying our childminder even if we don’t use her!

Any shared experience or advice welcome!

We're the same but it's both of us at home. I will be getting up at 05:30 to log on and do what I can until 09:30 when DF has to log into work, I will then take over for 2h, then he will feed him and he sleeps from 12:15-2:15 in which both of us will work. I will take over and make some lunch with looking after the little one and then we'll see how it'll plan out. He's 14 months, so too young for TV or anything like that. We may have to log on the odd hour in the evening but we'll manage somehow.

If I was by myself, I wouldn't know how to make it work. I am the only one in the team of 5 who has a child, so my manager is very happy about that and she's given me lots of flexibility saying that over the entire continent, we're in the same situation and in general the consensus is to do your best.

We're paying the childminder 50% as that's what she asked for before which I think is more than fair. She's got a family to feed as well.

I’m a LP with a 3.5 year old wfh in a senior role/ team to manage/crisis management responsibility in this scenario.

At the moment am working pretty solidly 9.30am-12.30 - morning team
Briefing on skype, urgent emails etc- while he plays/ potters/ watches TV in the same room. I put out a special selection of toys/ craft stuff, and make him a “snack menu” and break away from what I’m doing at intervals and focus on him for 5-10 mins.

Down tools at 12.30 and have lunch/ go out for a walk/ play/ chat.

I log back on about 3ish? Work for two more hours - mostly catch up with team, emails, fiddle with budgets or whatever - whilst he plays/ draws next to me/ “writes letters”/ watches TV.

Stop work at 5/5.30make dinner, have a play, have a chat, bath and bed.

I make a pot of coffee and work 8pm- midnight on stuff that needs unbroken concentration.

It’s going to be a long 12 weeks for both of us and I feel rotten for him. Colleagues all know my situation, so skypes being interrupted etc is understood. It’s not idea for anyone.

I'm in the same boat - working from home with 2yo from Monday. My husband's workplace have him on a rota so he'll be in the office every other day.

My company have been the same - saying they understand and will be flexible, work the hours you can etc. I work in communications so have clients who work generally 9-5 if not later to it's not like I can ignore them until after bedtime! I work in teams on accounts so hoping I'll be able to divide and conquer - now of my other colleagues have kids so hoping they'll be more flexible. I think everyone is just trying to do the best the can. Hoping to be able to share the day with husband when he's home - otherwise it might be lots of TV i'm afraid 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm in this situation too. Had Dd at home while I was "working" for last day and a half. My organisation has a really flexible approach and encourage us to work and care simultaneously at the moment. I do suspect this policy was invented by someone who's never had toddlers! It's impossible!

Thanks for replies.

It sounds like everyone is muddling through to their own detriment, as expected. Work suffers, or child suffers, or both, and parent faces awful burnout by essentially working from the moment they get up to the moment they go to bed.

DH may have to help, he’s currently assessed as a key worker in the food industry (a slightly tenuous link but the government list does cover his remit), but the bigger problem for us is that his job cannot be home based, and also that if he leaves, the company will probably fold as it’s a small company who already work with a skeleton staff, and he is the operations director. We just can’t afford to lose his salary, our income would halve overnight 😔