Can anyone help me understand - schools

[Musicforsmorks]

I supposed I haven’t kept the closest eye on school related news as i don’t have children, nor do I currently know anyone with young kids.

But I can’t get my head around what parents are going to do if their school doesn’t open. Do the parents still have to work? Or is there childcare available outside of school settings?

So for instance, if you were due back at work next week, say, and had 2 primary age children, who would look after them? Or are people able to extend work leave?

Please forgive my ignorance, I seriously don’t know the answers (info seems chaotic on web!). It sounds terribly complex and I presume quite worrying for many?

Same as a huge number of people are doing that haven't been furloughed... Working from home or doing long shifts and weekends so can split childcare or taking unpaid leave or combination of the above.
It's very much a case of same storm but people in very different boats... Some friends are having a nice time at home furloughed on topped up pay so better off.. . Really enjoying time with kids... Others are trying to juggle 2 lots of work/keep the wolf from the door, childcare and homeschooling and really struggling now after 2 months knowing it'll be 5 months... And everything in between...

Parents can request to be furloughed buy yes I know parents with very young children as in 3 years old and much younger attempting to work full time from home and look after children.

Thanks.
Sounds difficult, especially if you haven’t the resources or people who could help out.
I imagined being a single parent who had to attend work, maybe zero hrs, etc, and my head collapsed ☹️

Continue to WFH....both me and DH have been working full time with no school or childcare and it's likely we'll have to continue to do this until at least September.
It's hard ...I'm absolutely shattered.

I think childminders are allowed to open again now which could help.

It's a nightmare. My school havent told me if they'll have my children yet. I'm a key worker on furlough. Now work have taken others back because I couldn't start beginning of June. Apparently I'm now on furlough for ages and Prob won't have a job at the end of it. My husband is a factory worker and I'm in veterinary. I can't just change my hours etc. I was relying on them going back. School have been so slow with telling me I could well end up joblrss now. I'm so upset by it all. Everyone keeps saying people can work from home. But not everyone has that option

And it is impossible to WFH effectively if you have school age DC. In a previous life I WFH and even snow days even were impossible.

No idea. I'm furloughed at the moment as there's not enough work, but if it picks up and I'm asked to come back then I don't think my colleagues will be too happy if I refuse due to no childcare and they have to pick up the slack. My job can't be done from home either. And I'm a single parent. I've seen "get a nanny" suggested on some threads, I earn £8.75 an hour 😂

I’m sorry to hear that. I really do hope things work out ok for you.

I’d thought that surely not everyone will be furloughed or working from home. And it’s not just About choice - some schools won’t be reopening (room sizes/staff levels). Are most employers having to be open minded about this at the moment? There are some jobs that don’t allow a lot of flexibility. It’s worrying.

There arent many jobs 9.30-2.30 though are there?