Why do schools need to go back to get the workforce back?

[Pitaramus]

I keep hearing talk of the “need” to send kids back to school so that their parents can get back to work. I’ve never really seen school as sufficient childcare to enable someone to actually go to work. My youngest child’s nursery is 8-6 and open about 51 weeks a year. That is childcare. School is 9-3 and is shut for 3 months of the year anyway.

Surely one parent in each family unit (assuming the family has two parents) could go back to work without schools going back. A certain percentage of families of primary aged kids have one stay at home parent anyway because of the cost of the wrap around care they’d otherwise need. And all parents whose children are 13 plus could also go back to work.

I just don’t see the schools being shut as being a massive barrier to a lot of the work force returning, particularly given that they are only open 9-3 anyway and they are due off for may half term and then the summer hols which means you’d be getting 9-3 “childcare” for 12 weeks between now and September.

Of course there will be some who can’t work without school and the after school and breakfast clubs that some schools offer but these people must be in the minority if you’re looking at the workforce as a whole. I know in my workplace I’m one of three people out of about 40 with primary aged kids where both parents work. Luckily I’m managing to work from home as I have quite a flexible job.

If the cost of the furlough is the problem (which I’m sure it is) why not furlough one parent in each family with young kids where both parents work and then everyone else can go back as and when it’s safe to do so.

Er, because they need the money to put food on the table, you know luxuries like that. FFS

The suggestion that a SAHM, no matter how deprived, would deprive their children of food is pretty insulting

Flaxmeadow that's a really bizarre response, you have missed the point there. It's not suggesting SAHM don't feed their children , it's that in some cases the mother has to work or there won't be enough money coming into the house to feed the DC. Did you honestly not understand that?

MN likes to say school isn't childcare but where I live I most parents do need it to work and can't afford to live off one income.

@Flaxmeadow if you genuinely think that's a serious question, why are you aiming it solely at mothers not fathers?

Eighty percent of mothers work op. In addition there are plenty of single parents.

The line that one person can stay home is so lacking in any form of awareness of the vast multitude of families where both parents need to work for financial reasons and can’t just stay home to look after their kids.

@Flaxmeadow there are also a hell of a lot of parents who wouldn't pass an ofsted report. You're implication is that nursery = bad, home = good. It's absolutely nowhere near as black and white as that and you know it.

*Your
Bloody autocorrect.

Some might ask. Why would a mother with very young/pre school children want to go to work anyway?

Just a stab in the dark here... but perhaps they enjoy food, heating and a roof over their heads?

My husband and I are working 7am until 11pm 5 days a week at home in highly stressful and responding jobs to be productive enough for an equivalent working day with 2 young children (age 1 and 5). It's slowly killing us, we need schools and childminders to start back asap.

*responsible

@Flaxmeadow Mine goes to nursery because I think it's good for her and she loves it. Eventually she will go for more days because I will be at work. Most parents choose to do what they think is right for their child, there's simply no need to get on the backs of those doing their best. Also, fathers and mothers are equally responsible for childcare, whether at home or in nursery or with a childminder. Some people may work because they want, some because they have to and for others it might be a bit of both, stop judging.

Gosh I thought flaxmeadow was just a Corona arse but it turns out it's an all round thing!

It's being widely reported the number of requests for furlough has way exceeded govt expectations.

How long do you think people can stay on furlough. Govt can't pay forever and companies are closing left, right and centre. Workforce has to get back and of course schools opening is one key to that.

Very naive comments @Flaxmeadow

I'm almost certainly about to lose my job. With primary aged dc and no childcare without school I'm pretty stuffed as to how I go out and get another job. I'm also rural so jobs aren't ten a penny.
I'm not eligible to UC because of savings but they're currently paying my rent.

The assumption is that when the schools go back, nurseries, childminders and wrap around childcare will also reopen (if they have not been driven out of business...)

My DC are young primary school. Most of their classmates are from families where both parents work at least part time.

Most of the mothers are "working" from home at the moment with varying levels of support from the fathers (some pull their weight with the childcare, others less so).

What about disabled or sen kids my son is 13but cannot be left home alone for extended time. I know he is safe at school while I am at work so I can't work if he is not there. I work 10 til 3

I use wraparound care to work three long days and two short ones. I need to be back at work as this is having a massively detrimental effect on me and I'm pretty sure that eventually I will lose my job.

I agree with the others about being productive, etc.. Also I am not sure I would be so thrilled leaving my secondary school children at home on their own all day every day. It's fine for one or two days but young teens still need parents around.

In terms of quitting my job - we managed to keep our jobs going through the children being babies, at nursery, then primary school, I am not about to quit it now! Especially as one of us will probably end up losing our job because of this anyway.

@Scottishgirl85 god that sounds really really tough , hope things get better really quickly for your family. In answer to ops query lots of parents work school just hours too, myself being one of them.

Flax because I'm a single parent and have never wanted to ask the government to fund my choice to stay at home. When I was still with DC's dad, I never wanted to be financially dependant on him. I'd also go insane being a SAHM, it's not for me. DC loved daycare. Also, I enjoy having a nice hous, nice car and nice holidays. HTH.

This is predominantly a parenting site, frequented by parents of chlildren, most of whom will be school age.

Therefore their views are reflective of their personal situation.
There are many, many MANY non-parent workers or those who could go back to work without the schools being a controlling factor.

Parents of teenage children who are safe to be left alone.
Parents of adults, who no longer have to worry about it.
People who don't yet have kids.
Parents where one parent already is a SAHP.
Parents where one parent has been furloughed or who is working at home in a capacity where childcare is feasible, even if it impinges on productivity a bit.

But the view is exceptionally biased towards wanting/needing schools open.

This!!

I would add to that people who don't work ie those on benefits, those with Parents who are unfit to work, and also those who have Family, friends, or the fathers of separated Parents to help out with Childcare. I am aware that a lot of people don't fit into these categories, however a lot do. Most of the people I know aren't reliant on school for Childcare.

Loads of people are single parents. We're not all 2 parent families.

And working from home is not possible in most low paid jobs. I can't work from home and I'm a single parent, I work while DS is at school and use wrap around club.

Well yes school hours aren't enough childcare for many working parents but if schools are closed then other provisions (after school club, holiday clubs, childminders etc) aren't open either, I am a keyworker but my husband has furloughed himself (own business), what is your suggestion to enable him to work without school or other childcare?

When the schools shut, I suddenly realised that only 10-15% of us were directly affected. Of those, only two others work full time and the husband of one of those has been furloughed and is presumably able to do the bulk of the childcare.
I don't necessarily need schools to re-open but I can't continue to do my job properly (35hrs a week) whilst DH does his properly (currently 60+hrs a week) whilst keeping the children occupied let alone educated.
My role is quite senior so I can't be furloughed or take unpaid leave. Instead, I would have to resign and that wouldn't actually help in the the short term as I would be held to my three months' notice. It would also be a mistake as my role is quite niche, I love it, my salary helps pay the mortgage, bills etc and I don't want to leave. This all applies to DH too but even more so.
As I can't change my job, some childcare provision would make a massive difference. I don't even need it to be a full school day or week but just some chunks of time when I can get my head down and properly work. On snow days when school is shut, my DC still go to the cm which gets me a precious 3 hours. That would be something! Or if households were allowed to mix and a student or someone (we don't have any local relatives) could come over for a few hours a day, ideally supervise them doing school work and play with them for a bit.

The before and after school clubs are what workers can use. Also grandparents all over the playground at my DD school. They have help from family. There are alot of children who get picked up by 3-4 different people too. So alot of kids are looked after my nanny and grandad.

For obvious reasons that can't happen.

The trouble is there isn't a vaccine. So what can we do??? They don't care who dies and when. They just don't want the NHS to struggle. They will be prepared for some of us to die as schools etc reopen. It's disgusting because some children will end up loosing a parent. Not to mention teachers will be at huge risk.

I can't understand how a 100,000ish cases, probably a good 500,000 nobody knows about. Plus the 13,000 deaths and probably another 10,000 we don't know about is enough for us to not have a bad peak if we go out again? Theres 64 million of us left to get it.

The tests give false negatives anyway. Up to 30%

They are saying tb vacinnated people might be safer.

They need to be telling parents the facts before even considering going back to school. How many children in the UK have had it? How poorly have they been? I do not want to put my child at risk like many other parents!

It's a hard one though as giving my child her happy school life back would be amazing. It's very sad how their world's have been turned upside down.