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

The vast majority of parents have refused to send their children back to school. I have a third of my year 6 class in although they could all come back should their parents decide to send them.

My child is year 6 and supposed to return to school on mon - I’ve had chat with his teacher today and she thinks that come September if social distancing is still in place and with ten children per bubble/class then only the year 6’s will go back!
My eldest will have hopefully started secondary and my youngest will be in year 6 - how are parents supposed to get on with work etc? I don’t think the government have a bloody clue!!

Go back to the school & insist on a place for your child as a worker returning to work you maybe required to provide evidence of working hours failing that email your Head teacher so you have a record ... failing that contact your local Authority 🤞🏻

as another of these posts points out the guidance is work from home if possible.

Can you explain how it is possible to teach a child while simultaneously doing another job? Not a rhetorical question. So many people think this is totally feasible that I would really like one of them to spell out how, exactly. It’s not really working out very well in my house.

@misshoney1

How awful to use this as an opportunity to try to get accolade. It’s not a case of appreciating or not appreciating anyone, we just want everyone including teachers to be able to do their jobs, for kids to go back to school. Please remember too the less workers there are, the less tax there is to pay civil servant wages. It works both ways. We all support each other.

What media coverage has there been today on this.?

Just caught a 5 minute piece on bbc news with an employment lawyer and freelance photographer .. looked like it had been heavily edited,

[quote Waxonwaxoff0]@misshoney1 I cannot do my job from home but it is not a key worker job. The school won't give my child a place.[/quote]
Go back to the school & insist on a place for your child as a worker returning to work you maybe required to provide evidence of working hours failing that email your Head teacher so you have a record ... failing that contact your local Authority 🤞🏻

A lot of the papers were talking about it. A lot of questions too on the briefing. What wasn't covered was the impact on working parents...

@misshoney1 certainly where we are key workers are a set list and not everyone needing to work is covered and far from it. We are in the Pharma industry and not considered - mainly health and social cate, emergency services and utilities only. There really is no way we can get in.

It's awful and we're at breaking point with 2 at home. Home schooling is next to nothing and we're crap employees too as we spent half our days making sites kids aren't killing each other, doing stupid things. When will in key workers get considered.....

[quote worzelsnurzel123]@misshoney1

How awful to use this as an opportunity to try to get accolade. It’s not a case of appreciating or not appreciating anyone, we just want everyone including teachers to be able to do their jobs, for kids to go back to school. Please remember too the less workers there are, the less tax there is to pay civil servant wages. It works both ways. We all support each other.[/quote]
Thank you for your view no accolade was sought

simply information & my view

I agree we are supporting the best,flexible & most practical way we can .. Including anyone paying taxes.

[quote Chocolategirl19791]@misshoney1 certainly where we are key workers are a set list and not everyone needing to work is covered and far from it. We are in the Pharma industry and not considered - mainly health and social cate, emergency services and utilities only. There really is no way we can get in.

It's awful and we're at breaking point with 2 at home. Home schooling is next to nothing and we're crap employees too as we spent half our days making sites kids aren't killing each other, doing stupid things. When will in key workers get considered.....[/quote]
Gosh that not helpful for your family I’m speaking from the Gov & LEA guidance we have used
Go back to the school & insist on a place for your child as a worker returning to work you maybe required to provide evidence of working hours failing that email your Head teacher so you have a record ... failing that contact your local Authority 🤞🏻Good luck

The advice on speaking to the school, do you think we haven’t tried? FFS. I am a key worker, in a very niche area - but only other teachers children, nhs workers and police workers children are getting places at school as it’s oversubscribed. We’re not ‘key worker’ enough / further down the pecking order.

I am desperate for my children to go back to school, not because i am selfish or lazy but because we as a family just are not coping . My 13 yr old son has been given a full days lessons by his school since the beginning of lockdown but he just cannot learn from computer slides the same as he can from a teacher teaching it in a class environment. He finds it distracting at home in a small bedroom on a laptop all day ,window shut as we live on noisy main road and has fallen far behind with the work. It has turned him from a happy easy going boy into a stressed out angry scared person in 3 mths straight. I also have an 11 yr old son in yr 6 who is heartbroken to miss the last few mths of primary and is terrified of starting secondary without the normal person to person liaison and contact the new school would usually be able to offer. Add in to that they are both sick of the sight of each other and i am a nervous wreck trying to placate the war zone.i am so worried about their mental health and just need it to be back to normal. I have been in constant contact to my 13 yr olds form tutor who says he only needs to do each lesson for the hour and hand in what he has done but some of his individual teachers are just not understanding that some children find it hard to learn at home and are piling the work on and the stress is awful. I am terrified it is doing his mental health permanent damage.

[quote Chocolategirl19791]@misshoney1 certainly where we are key workers are a set list and not everyone needing to work is covered and far from it. We are in the Pharma industry and not considered - mainly health and social cate, emergency services and utilities only. There really is no way we can get in.

It's awful and we're at breaking point with 2 at home. Home schooling is next to nothing and we're crap employees too as we spent half our days making sites kids aren't killing each other, doing stupid things. When will in key workers get considered.....[/quote]
I work in Pharma too and it’s a notoriously high pressure environment. Certainly not conducive to having children around! Some of the work being done is also very pertinent to the current situation, so it’s ironic people working in our industry aren’t considered as key workers.

In any case, I feel your pain. It’s incredibly difficult.

@cansu

The vast majority of parents have refused to send their children back to school. I have a third of my year 6 class in although they could all come back should their parents decide to send them.

Depends on school and area though. At my child’s school two thirds of year 1 and over 80% of year six wanted a place. They can’t fit them all in.

The trouble is that people, these days, want everything, now. When we got married, we were both working, in low paid jobs, one a nurse. When first child came along, woman gave up work. We didn't have a washing machine, tumble drier etc. Washing was done in the bath. Terry towelling nappies (re-usable). Second child came along and we had saved enough for the washing machine. There was always one parent at home for the children, until the youngest reached 16. We never bought anything until we had the money for it. Only item on tick was a mortgage. There would be no problem with child care if we followed the old ways. I agree that families would not have all the really necessary things, such as PlayStation, 40 inch televisions, Sky TV, foreign holidays et al.

I do feel sorry for the widowed single parent who, obviously, needs to work to supply food for her/his family. They definitely need assistance and should be prioritised for children returning to school or child care. I expect to be demonised for my views, but my thought is, if you can't afford it, don't do it. Cut your cloth according to its width.
However, I do have sympathy for those that have gone ahead and bought stuff in times of plenty. We never expected this pandemic and it has hit everyone hard.
I await the vilification!

If you have no child care you shouldn't be going to work
FFS
Will send you all my bills

I await the vilification!
And it would be justified. I've spent my career promoting and supporting women's career development. Posts like this depress the hell out of me.
The assumption that women work for luxuries is incredibly ignorant.

@Viviand- simpler days indeed. However shitty days for the progress of female emancipation. We don’t all want to be at home, some of us have worked bloody hard for our careers. I have told my kids including my daughter she can aim as high as she wants if she works hard and there’s nothing to stand in her way. Except there is now as it looks like we are all about to get shoved in a tardis back to 1950. Get your Xanax ready

Agree 100%, schools in Scotland are back around 13th August but only for 2 days a week. Off for 6 months then back for 2 days a week......for how long? Who the hell knows but goodness knows how people are supposed to work. Can't exactly leave my 4 and 8 year olds alone at home

Viviand
That presumably suited you
It certainly wouldn't suit me
Have worked hard for my career
Much more importantly women (and some men) have given so much in the interests of equality
Definitely not giving that up
Owe it to my daughters ((and my son)
We need to look forward not back to the 1950s

Ive was made redundant last month.. DD is year 6 but her school are only having year 6 in for one day during the week before summer hols start.
So DD wont now be at school until Sept at the earliest.
I'm a single parent paying expensive private rent. How am I going to be able to get another job now?
Grandparents live abroad so can't get any help there.
It's desperate

I certainly won’t let my job go without a damned good fight.

Oh god now it's all our fault .....I haven't even got the energy to respond to that post.

I don’t work to buy fucking playstations and TVs; I work to pay the mortgage.

It is increasingly apparent that there is a minority of people who see this crisis as an opportunity to return women to their rightful place in the kitchen.