If you feel like you're coping, please tell me how!

[notsureneversure]

I'm doing ok and have got nothing to complain about really.

Where I'm struggling is in feeling like I'm on top of the housework and the children's schoolwork.

I am working from home but there's very little to do most of the time.

Despite these things, I feel like I'm chasing my tail and never seem to be able to catch up. Forget having time to sit down to read a book, the place is constantly a mess and there's always something that needs doing.

If you are managing ok with primary-age children and feel like you're more or less on top of things, please tell me how!

Do I need to be stricter with the children? Is more scheduling the answer? More discipline? Giving up on housework and leaving the house to be a tip? I'm lost.

I agree with the advice to lower your domestic standards. My kids are the same age as yours. We have good days and bad. Seems to me that the only people enjoying/coping with lockdown well are those who don't have to worry about work and can actually focus on their kids. I'd be fine if that was the case here, it's the juggle that's stressing me out

I barely get through the day without passing out through tiredness and lack of sleep. Everything else is secondary. I haven’t cleaned my house for years except the occasional blitz while DM babysits. Lower your standards - as long as you don’t die from lack of hygiene then it’s good enough.

For me , it’s acceptance- I accept that my normally tidy house is a mess at the moment, It’s nothing that can’t be cleared up at some point and it really really isn’t important at the moment.

Mine are 6 and 10 and DH and I are both attempting to wfh whilst homeschooling them.

We've found structure helps. Last week we gave them a holiday and the 10 year old started acting actually depressed and the 6 yr old was having kicking tantrums he'd grown out of 2 years ago. Back to structure this week and the children are very obviously much happier.

We normally have a cleaner, and I am disabled so covering the housework is a problem. I'm doing the kitchen, DH bathrooms, and the 10 yr old has taken up stress hoovering and dusting! DD10 is taking on more responsibility and even DS6 is trying to help more.

Every weekday they do 30 mins of ballet/aerobics/yoga in the morning, then 2 hours of home school, then 2 hours in pm, followed by walk and free time. They are doing some formal learning with us, some work sheets/occasional teacher zooms, and we are also teaching them life skills like navigation, first aid, sign language, sailing theory, economics and personal finance. Anything we can teach them off the top of our heads without having to prepare a lesson in other words. We even had a field trip to the washing machine and the children wrote a poster on how to use it.

1. Step away from Mumsnet, I find being on the threads can stress me out
2. Do not try to do a full day of schooling
3. Forget the house...it doesn’t need constant cleaning
4. Stop and realise this is time with your children that you should never have had and probably will never have again. Ten years from now, you will look back on this gift of family time and wonder why you felt so overwhelmed by it. So instead enjoy it as a gift rather than a curse.