If they put a stop households mixing...

[musicalfrog]

What do those of us relying on grandparents for babysitting do? Could those in already restricted areas shed any light on this perhaps please? Thanks.

@Nixen I can choose between my in laws who are in their early 60s (2 people so exceeds rule of 6 as there are 5 of us once we are all home from work and school) or my childminder who is also in her early 60s who has a several other children to look after plus parents coming to pick up. Or after school club with a mix of children from different year groups. Clearly the safest option is the illegal option of in laws which takes us to 7 people in the house.

I'm just going to do it anyway tbh. I follow the rules in general but I'm NHS so no chance of time off/furlough and I'm out of annual leave from the first lockdown

DH is self employed and we can't afford for him not to work so what other choice do we have? We can't afford nursery and don't have a place anyway and DS is 2 so obviously can't be left alone

It's grandma childcare or I quit my job so what choice do I have?

@Wigeon

The most up to date guidance for England (dates 14 Sept) does in fact allow grandparents and other relatives to care for babies/young children without social distancing:

“ 2.7 Can I look after my grandchildren?
Yes. People in groups of up to 6 can meet indoors or outdoors, which enables you to spend time with your grandchildren (although whole families may not be able to meet up at once). We recognise that grandparents and other relatives often provide informal childcare for young children, and this can be very important. Although you should try to maintain social distance from people you do not live with wherever possible, it may not always be practicable to do so when providing care to a young child or infant. If this is this case - and where young children may struggle to keep social distance – you should still limit close contact as much as possible, and take other precautions such as washing hands and clothes regularly.

If you have formed a support bubble with your grandchildren’s household, which is allowed if either you or they live in a ‘single adult household’, then there can be close contact and social distancing is not necessary.”

see here

Thank you for posting this. It certainly is 'allowed' to have grandparents help with childcare so I'm unsure why some posters have missed this. Under this guidance, I have returned to grandparent help and now I'm in a local restriction area I am... Fucked!

@polkadotpixie

I'm just going to do it anyway tbh. I follow the rules in general but I'm NHS so no chance of time off/furlough and I'm out of annual leave from the first lockdown

DH is self employed and we can't afford for him not to work so what other choice do we have? We can't afford nursery and don't have a place anyway and DS is 2 so obviously can't be left alone

It's grandma childcare or I quit my job so what choice do I have?

None. And the odds of you being discovered are very low. It isn't policeable.

@ballsdeep As I said upthread, I think for me the contingency plan will be for my to leave slightly early before the end of my class’s school day in order to collect my own DD from her school. Not ideal as I do my work after the pupils have gone home and also means I won’t see my class’s parents at dismissal. For colleagues who have per-school children being looked after all day by grandparents, I have no idea what the contingency plan could be.

Not childcare but as I asked in my post earlier this week, we’re a family of 5. Grandparents want to visit. We can’t have both together as that makes 7 so I’ve been advised that one should sit in the car for a couple of hours then they swap over and the other comes in and the first one then sits in the car. Then they both get in the car together and travel home to the same house.

Without allowing people to make reasoned decisions based on their own needs such as the necessity of your working arrangements or the ridiculousness of parents tag teaming on the drive then this will not be adhered to in the way it needs to be. I can certainly tell the difference in risk between having both GPs in the house together and attending a large gathering of friends or indeed allowing my teens to do that.

You just go ahead and do what's necessary for survival. That is grandparents do childcare when no alternative.

I actually feel like my Head was almost secretly putting the message across to not be able to sort alternative arrangements and to inform her of this on Monday. Then she goes to the Local Authority and says I haven’t any staff for this class and that class or whatever and it’s obviously going to cause distribution and fuel the fire of getting that particular regulation changed. If everyone manages to miraculously find alternative arrangements overnight then the government will be saying “see, it was fine, what was all the fuss about?”

We look after our grandchildren one day a week. My daughter is a teacher and works part-time and we have gone back to childcare since she went back to work in May.

We do it because we love to spend time with our grandchildren and they love to spend time with us. I take and pick up my eldest grandchild up from school on 'our' day and I have never had any problem from the school - they know I am her grandma.

We are in our late 50s and don't have any health conditions. I have zero plans to change our arrangements irrespective of a local lockdown

Those saying to carry on regardless, that was sort of my plan but as I’ve said, it was made clear that as a school employer and local council employee I should not be breaking the rules. Therefore I’d be worried about not only the fines but also disciplinary action at work if I were found to be breaking rules.

[quote LittleRa]@ballsdeep As I said upthread, I think for me the contingency plan will be for my to leave slightly early before the end of my class’s school day in order to collect my own DD from her school. Not ideal as I do my work after the pupils have gone home and also means I won’t see my class’s parents at dismissal. For colleagues who have per-school children being looked after all day by grandparents, I have no idea what the contingency plan could be.[/quote]
Sorry, I missed it!
That would be quite difficult to enforce in my school because I'd have to have someone releasing pupils and would cross bubbles. There are no easy answers are there!

My sister looks after my 6 year old after school. I can't work if she doesn't go there 🤷🏻‍♀️

@LittleRa

I’m a north east teacher who uses grandparents to collect my DD a few days a week- at first I assumed we’d just carry on as usual as I didn’t really see what else we could do, but on Friday those of us with “informal family childcare arrangements” were told in no uncertain terms by our Head teacher that we must find alternative arrangements and as school employees and council employees we must not break lockdown rules. If we are unable to find alternative arrangements we must tell our school on Monday in order for contingency plans to be put in place.

I am a civil servant andwe were told similar.

Unfortunately the many, many people I know who rely on grandparents for childcare have continued their arrangement throughout lockdown, regardless of the guidelines.
It’s probably a contributing factor in the need for tougher restrictions.

@ballsdeep No problem for missing it, I didn’t mean it like that, just mentioning in case you wanted to look back at the post but I said more or less the same in reply to you

@Nixen

This is a massive lesson in why people shouldn’t be relying on family to provide their routine childcare!

Because we could all predict a worldwide pandemic couldn't we?

This is a massive lesson in why people shouldn’t be relying on family to provide their routine childcare!

Why is relying on family any more likely to be problematic than using a childminder or nanny? Any of them can become unwell without notice.

Genuine love and affection from a close relative in loco parentis is hugely beneficial for young children.

In general it is a good idea for family to provide childcare, assuming relationships are healthy and respectful.

@ErinBrockovich

Unfortunately the many, many people I know who rely on grandparents for childcare have continued their arrangement throughout lockdown, regardless of the guidelines. It’s probably a contributing factor in the need for tougher restrictions.

Why would it contribute to tougher measures. The alternative would be using a childminder with children from other households or a nursery with many other children. Those would increase risk of spread far more than children from the same family sticking to their usual childcare and not mixing with other children.

@ErinBrockovich

Unfortunately the many, many people I know who rely on grandparents for childcare have continued their arrangement throughout lockdown, regardless of the guidelines. It’s probably a contributing factor in the need for tougher restrictions.

Why would the alternatives be safer?

I’m in greater Manchester and been under these restrictions for 7 weeks or so. There’s no allowance for grandparents or any other family member to provide childcare, other than taking the kids for a walk in the park (and even that isn’t allowed in some parts of the region). The only way round it is where you are in a support bubble but that only applies if you are a single parent or if one of your family member lives alone.

However from observing the number of grandparents at school pickup it’s not being stuck to at all.

@MintyMabel

It's caused huge rows as dp is a rule follower.

What’s his alternative solution?

He seems to thing our employers will have to let us leave early / start late. We work at the same place. Would mean that 2 classes a day wouldn't get taught 🤔

It would also mean me using public transport every day...

@Nixen

This is a massive lesson in why people shouldn’t be relying on family to provide their routine childcare!

🙄🙄🙄 Don't be daft.

@Nixen

😂 clearly hit a few nerves

Being an insufferable twat is not something to be proud of

Just for clarity, if you aren't in a local lockdown area the guidance specially says that grandparents should try to social distance but that this might not be possible for young children. So it is allowed.

We don't have any grandparents remotely nearby so not applicable to us.

Guidelines say:
^"2.7 Can I look after my grandchildren?
Yes. People in groups of up to 6 can meet indoors or outdoors, which enables you to spend time with your grandchildren (although whole families may not be able to meet up at once). We recognise that grandparents and other relatives often provide informal childcare for young children, and this can be very important. Although you should try to maintain social distance from people you do not live with wherever possible, it may not always be practicable to do so when providing care to a young child or infant. If this is this case - and where young children may struggle to keep social distance – you should still limit close contact as much as possible, and take other precautions such as washing hands and clothes regularly.

If you have formed a support bubble with your grandchildren’s household, which is allowed if either you or they live in a ‘single adult household’, then there can be close contact and social distancing is not necessary."^

@Angel2702 @OpenlyGayExOlympicFencer
Because a formal care setting has a long list of covid secure measures they have to implement to be able to re-open.

Also the vast number of people who ignore the guidelines (in this case the mixing of households) are contributing to the spread and thus the need for tighter restrictions.