What has covid done to your family balance?

[Heartofstrings]

Prior - I had my preschoolers in the day, worked evenings. Husband worked/studied in the day and had the boys 4pm onwards.

Now - husband studies mornings. He has lost his business due to covid. I start work at either 10am or 12. Work through till late.

I feel we have more of an equal share of parenting the boys now. Also, I feel I've lost precious time with my children as I'm now the one working more. There has been an interesting dynamic shift.

How about you?

Nothing for me. I'm a single parent working out of the home, DS is going to school. All pretty samey apart from a lot more time at home!

Improved it. We had a rocky start that exposed the inequities in the division of responsibility in our house, ie, I did fucking everything.

After a massive bust up and almost separation early on, we reset everything and repaired our relationship. DH has stuck to his side of the bargain and is more present, responsible and does his fair share. As a result, I feel more loving and attached to him and I show it.

It's worked out really well. I just want to go to the bloody pub or out for dinner now.

Nothing has changed whatsoever for DP. He still works outside the house although he’s going to work in more casual attire than usual.

For me my life has come to a total standstill until the children go back to school. It’s been completely horrendous.

Very similar to hot - I'm now out at work more, DH does something like half the household stuff around his WFH job. Vast improvement.

Not much. DH is out of the house at work as normal except for 2 mornings as I have to go to work 2 mornings a week & he has to homeschool those days, but not sure that’s any sort of balance changing - just stressful!

We both worked close to home with hours that meant we were home most of the same times that the DC were. Stuff around the house was shared.

Now we work from home and are home all the same time as the DC are ... and we spend less time as a family because we are all stick of each other.

Bank balance up ---- I used to spend much more but cannot since everything is shut..... I used to go abroad several times a year so not spent that......

However, it's not about the money - the negative is mental health, physical health, a year of life has passed by with boring routine that I hate (yes I get it some people love nothing more than being shut in at home - I don't).

I feel completely liberated. DH previously worked across several different countries and was often away for months. Now he is home, sharing childcare and domestic duties equally.

Improved it here too. Now dh isnt commuting for 2.5 hours a day he plays a much more active role in cooking and cleaning family life.

A year before lockdown we had swapped roles. I went from being a SAHM to working full time an hour away, DH went from driving 50 hours a week to a SAHD and then after a few months a 16hr contract in a shop. He took on the majority of the household chores and childcare, would do the shopping and evening meals.
A month before lockdown DH was promoted into a full time supervisor role and we split childcare and chores 50/50 as we worked our hours around each other (him shifts, me flexi). We were just getting the hang of this new arrangement when lockdown happened.
Since lockdown things have shifted more to me again as DH is working even more hours and I am WFH. Some days toddler DS will see DH in the morning and not see him again till the next evening as DH will work in the evening and then be back at work the next morning before DS wakes up. I will do chores on my lunch breaks whilst DS is at nursery. When nursery was closed I was the one who looked after DS whilst attempting to work as DH was out of the house all the time (though he would do more than his fair share when he was home so I could try and catch up with work).