How the hell are parents meant to work?

[worzelsnurzel123]

With this latest blow from schools and yet further delays, I predict employers will cease to be “ fair” and they will run out of the patience BJ vaguely muttered about hoping they’d have. So what are the options?

1. Resign from jobs? This could have massive impact on income, likely to affect women and the future of women’s’ rights and progress in the workplace, creation of mental health issues and socio economic problems
2. Will some parents be pushed in to feeling the have no choice but to leave kids home alone? Esp those who are borderline age group eg 8-12. Not ideal at all. Clearly this will impact on MH, safety, parental work performance.
3. Leave kids with grandparents who are likely to be over 70 in many cases, shielding or vulnerable. Risks of passing the virus on would lead to guilt , worry on both sides.
4. Wait for everything to fuck up work wise, scrabble for child care here there and everywhere, lose employers good will due to time off needed and eventually get dismissed for poor attendance, breach of conduct and or poor performance

This is a disgrace. An absolute disgrace

Social distancing has been pretty much abandoned at shops. Certainly has at my local Asda anyway.

September is a long way off. Deaths and new infections are still on a steady decline. If that carries on it will be absolutely safe to open schools fully.

The messages I’ve heard recently are

(1) it’s the government’s fault for not providing guidance

(2) I don’t agree with the government guidance

In other words, I’m not budging. I know better. THAT sounds like foot stamping!

Now you’re comparing dentistry to teaching in terms of COVID transmission risks? You’re not the same person who asserted ( albeit a good few weeks back) that she was every bit as much at risk as an ICU nurse? She was actually serious....

No shock for me. I'm retired.

I expect a lot of teachers will be thinking very hard about staying on. But most parents in the real world aren't as unpleasant as some here. Most appreciate the difficulties schools are having and are sympathetic to teachers when they see how the government is screwing things up.

I cannot be the only retired teacher who's been approached to return in a part time capacity in September.

Love kids. Can't be doing with a certain type Of parent.

I don’t have the answer but all I know is we are on our knees here with 7 & 3 year old, 2 full time jobs, house, dog, and everything else. Both sets of parents are elderly and were shopping for them too. Plus looking out for elderly neighbours. No online shops so having to go out for 3 households.

Children are miserable. We are miserable and we both need to work. We have zero other childcare. I’m a key worker but not key worker enough for school (nhs and police only here)

We went on lockdown due to a child with a cold being sent home 13th March. We have been like this for 13 fucking weeks.

I feel drained, have chest pain every bloody night with the stress of it.

@DomDoesWotHeWants

No shock for me. I'm retired.

I expect a lot of teachers will be thinking very hard about staying on. But most parents in the real world aren't as unpleasant as some here. Most appreciate the difficulties schools are having and are sympathetic to teachers when they see how the government is screwing things up.

I cannot be the only retired teacher who's been approached to return in a part time capacity in September.

Love kids. Can't be doing with a certain type Of parent.

Can you elaborate on "certain type of parent" please?

Nope that wasn't me.

If I did I'd no doubt be reported again by an over sensitive person, True.

Oh no go on... Tell us what kind of parents we all are... Please....

They were talking about the school issue on the news at 10 but still no mention of the impact on parents that work. I'm so shocked that journalists are not picking up on this.

Feeling a bit goads, True? No change there.

I’m wondering why no one else is speaking up in your defense Dom You’ve absolutely dropped a clanger and the funniest thing is you’re retired

There was definitely a teacher on a thread a few weeks ago comparing their risk to that of a dentist drilling in mouths.

They said it was the same risk, they were asked if they drilled in mouths and they replied something like ‘you’d be surprised how close we get to children’s mouths.’

Determined they were correct, of course.

What's goady about asking you to elaborate?

Oops not True but Genie.

Anyway bedtime for this old lady. So glad I don't have to deal with this any more.

I have no idea how I’ll manage,

I'm a journalist (someone was asking if anyone on here is a journalist) and I work at a high profile newspaper. I think it's vital to talk about the impact this is having on working families..but..

The problem is that it's difficult to tell this sort of story -

it's one of those stories that falls between the cracks a bit as not quite news because it's just people's everyday lives...

Would we be saying - thousands of working parents suffer - are people losing their jobs? Are women resigning or taking unpaid leave?

need to know the actual impact. Also, is there a measurable impact on kids?

My own children have suffered hugely - but again, it doesn't make 'news' unless there are standout statistics.

I have been very very angry at how kids have been ignored during lockdown and this is yet another example of family issues not being considered important.

@DomDoesWotHeWants

Oops not True but Genie.

Anyway bedtime for this old lady. So glad I don't have to deal with this any more.

So you're not going to elaborate on your offensive statement then?

I'm a governor at my son's school. They've done a wonderful job with what little resources they have....by following the guidelines they've only been able to bring year 6 back.
My son is in reception so my work assume he's back in school but there is zero chance of that happening unless the guidance changes.

Every single member of staff at the school want to get back to normal. They want their classes back in as soon as they can.

I'm not bulling or stamping my feet about it at all but I am expressing my frustrations at a really shit situation.

‘Anyway bedtime for this old lady’

Spoken like a true cop out artist .

Night Dom.

It wasn’t even a decent cop out, it was lame. ‘I’m off to bed’

The government are going to have to reconsider the expectations of JSA when the thousands upon thousands of people in this country who will inevitably lose their jobs then have to sign on. I mean, how exactly can a person perfom 35 hours of job searching a week when there will be next to no new jobs to apply for given that all the businesses have closed down or slimlined their workforce!! Oh thats right, many wont actually be able to work anyway because they will be too busy home educating their children via the use of twinkls free content.

@Wondergirl100

bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/bmjpo/4/1/e000701.full.pdf

Other references available at usforthem.co.uk

It would great if you could report about this, it is so important

Would we be saying - thousands of working parents suffer - are people losing their jobs? Are women resigning or taking unpaid leave?
In my husbands office one parent has taken unpaid leave, another was told she would need to take unpaid leave it resign - the owner refused any and all suggestions for flexible working, she kept her job by threatening to take him to a tribunal. My husband has also had to take unpaid leave to reduce his hours to allow me to do any work at all (10 hours of a 17.5 contract), again his employer refused any suggestion of flexible working and only agreed reduced hours when threatened with action under the Equalities Act.

It’s a bloody nightmare, and government assertions that employers should be flexible is useless without some teeth behind it. I’m so fortunate my employer has pretty much accepted minimal work from me for 12 weeks now, but at some point I’ll need to pick it all up again.

The contempt for children and their working parents who are petrified of losing their jobs from some of the ‘educators’ on these threads is fucking disgusting.

I’ve left DD on her own for 5 days/week since school finished. She’s 14. DH and I have to go out to work. This isn’t acceptable.

I work in the NHS. We had nine of this special pleading. Many of us were moved with no notice from our day jobs to covid wards. We were forced to work unsocial shifts and staff area we had no knowledge of. We were told if we refused we’d have to resign.

You can only use proper PPE for aerosol generating procedures. This limited PPE to ITU. Everyone else looking after covid patients wore an apron, gloves and cheap surgical mask. All other staff had no PPE for weeks.

The above was when the community circulation of covid was at its peak. Schools are far safer now for adults than pre lockdown when everyone was happily at work and school.