Working from home while kids are off school

[Reluctantadult]

Covid forced many people to work from home while juggling childcare and home schooling. My impression is that since then many people have kept this up instead of paying for wraparound childcare / kids clubs. What do others think?

As some examples, I have several friends who work from home, pop out to pick the kids up at 3pm, then carry on working til 5. And friends and colleagues who have the kids at home now for Easter but haven't booked say a kids club or alternative childcare. I am talking about primary aged kids here.

To be honest I am wondering if I am missing a trick by being too rigid in saying I can't work if I am looking after the children. I finish work at 3pm every day so miss out on 2hrs pay compared to some friends. I forked out £40 for a kids club today so I could work, which unfortunately the kids are missing as they're both ill! I'm taking the day off to look entertain them, but am sure other people would say they were working. Maybe I am just jealous that other peoples kids will happily play upstairs and let the parent get on with things?!

Probably should have put this in chat.

It depends on how you make it work? We manage to do that. Sometimes kids have after school clubs so work longer - some people take a delayed lunch break.

Some people still have childminders and wraparound but less than before and perhaps for not for 5 days

Our work is quite flexible that way. I often have to work in the evenings so I probably end up doing more than my fair share of a day’s work!

Depends on the kids and their ages. Year 5/6 kids can occupy themselves with minimal intervention (generally speaking).
I'd happily work from home with kids around in this situation.

Younger kids less so (in terms of supervision and then wanting to spend time with us).

My work runs a flexi time system, there are instances where I work over my hours and that time goes into my flexi pot. But to have 2hrs or your working day being when children are at home is what I can't get my head around. 10hrs a week.

We both work from home and have DS7 at home with us over Easter.

We ship him off to grand parents for half. Then the other half we split work and annual leave.

Today for example we're both working and DS is currently in his room playing.

We have a 7yo and have given up after school club. DD is able to entertain herself till 4pm when DH finished work. We try to book holiday clubs or arrange other childcare for the holidays but have the odd day here and there.

I'm in quite a senior role and work in a global organisation so do extra hours every night, on Teams calls till 10pm very frequently. My company take the view that if I'm flexible with them they'll be flexible with me so it's not an issue.

If I was expecting to work a rigid 9-5pm every day with a lunch break then I think they'd be less accepting of me having DD around.

As some examples, I have several friends who work from home, pop out to pick the kids up at 3pm, then carry on working til 5. And friends and colleagues who have the kids at home now for Easter but haven't booked say a kids club or alternative childcare. I am talking about primary aged kids here

This is what I do and have always done for many years pre-COVID. Lots of employers are okay with this flexibility as long as you offer it back to them. I'm happy to jump on in the evenings and respond to whatever needs me to, or on my day off. I also travel for work and have to give up my spare time (which I don't get paid for) so it's swings and roundabout really.

I work 9-3 but really only miss 1 hour pay because my colleagues who work 9-5 have an hour unpaid lunch.

So I console myself I am missing 5 hrs pay rather than 10 if working FT.

Mine are ok to entertain themselves if I am working, lots of practice during 1st lockdown. 2nd lockdown home schooling and working was impossible and very stressful.

If they're off school they can be fine if they choose to stay home. Tomorrow they're going to clubs. Age 7 & 9.
That said, I'm actually on leave this week and DH on leave next week. I would think 5 days in a row would be a bit much for them to entertain themselve, in summer hols I try to work 3 days max so it's a bit of both.

But I suppose it depends on a mixture of things; type of work, age and personality of kids. My SIL for example can't WFH if her kids are there, but I can so it depends what suits each family.

Op i find it really hard to work with kids around we do do it a bit more since covid but its definitely not ideal. Dd is 9 (almost 10) and would be and was e.g. during covid and endless covid close contact isolations fine, DS who is 7 needs interaction really and I dont think its good for his mental health to expect him to cope with effectively being ignored. We do end up trying to work on inset days etc with them home sometimes - but otherwise we still use holiday club / flexitime / after school club etc.

I personally think this is one of the major downsides of Covid . Parents keeping their kids home while they are working .
Kids need to be entertained and out in playgrounds, parks , bike riding and playing with their friends .
Honestly what are these kids doing while their parents are working?
On screens and devices all day ? It’s not good for them and I’m seeing it first hand with friends who have opted to pull out of childcare .
It’s hard when they are getting older and expensive to put them in to camps but really is the only option letting them sitting around on devices all day ? I’m not against screens at all- I find them great but just not all day for weeks at a time

My workplace is quite happy to support this.

I think it's a bit mean for the dc if parents are working through the holidays.
My dc really look forward to the holidays to go on day trips, swimming, have play dates etc.
I can't imagine letting them just be in their rooms for 2 weeks unless we were on the breadline and the choice was working or not paying the bills.

@Givemeallthegin8

I personally think this is one of the major downsides of Covid . Parents keeping their kids home while they are working . Kids need to be entertained and out in playgrounds, parks , bike riding and playing with their friends . Honestly what are these kids doing while their parents are working? On screens and devices all day ? It’s not good for them and I’m seeing it first hand with friends who have opted to pull out of childcare . It’s hard when they are getting older and expensive to put them in to camps but really is the only option letting them sitting around on devices all day ? I’m not against screens at all- I find them great but just not all day for weeks at a time

Mine do exactly that - they go out to play with friends, go to the park, ride on bikes etc whilst I'm working.

I think a benefit of Covid has been the return of kids going out to play.

@TonkaTruckduck

I think it's a bit mean for the dc if parents are working through the holidays. My dc really look forward to the holidays to go on day trips, swimming, have play dates etc. I can't imagine letting them just be in their rooms for 2 weeks unless we were on the breadline and the choice was working or not paying the bills.

No need for them to be in their rooms at all. Mine are out right now playing with their friends.

I just don't have to pay for 😀

It depends on the job surely? DH and I do this to some extent but we are both very flexible for our employers outside of our contacted hours. We also are careful with what work we schedule in times where the children are present.

It really does depend on age of your children and temperament and also on the type of work you do, I think. DH and I could both do this, but we have flexible jobs, aren't micro-managed or in many meetings, and have very outcome-driven jobs (so specific things to accomplish in a day and as long as they're done, no one really cares how you organise your own time). A few people I work with pop out to collect kids at 3 and presumably have them at home, but no one really cares as long as the work is done!

Childcare is so expensive these days, I'm not surprised that many parents find it difficult to pay for and try to work around it.
My DC are grown-up now, but I used to find swapping children with their friends parents worked quite well - often, the children entertain each other and even in the house where the children are, the parent could manage some work, especially if the children are older. 9/10 year olds don't require much supervision really.
We often used to take other children to the park with us, and if I was on leave to look after my own children, I would always offer to have their cousins or friends DC as well, trying to build up some credit so I could ask for help when I needed it.

I couldn't WFH with DS(7) in the house - if lockdown taught me anything it taught me that. I pay for wraparound, holiday club, whatever it takes. But in fairness I don't work evenings, travel for work etc - my work is 9-5, and I often need to go in, which I prefer anyway.

I have friends and colleagues in similar jobs whose children can occupy themselves at home and let them work. I might be tempted to save the money if that was my situation.

I think two hours in the afternoon after school is very different to whole days during holidays though. After school kids tend to be tired and happier to have some downtime, but whole days is a lot to ask. The occasional day perhaps, but certainly not for the whole Easter holidays or something! That wouldn't be fun for anyone.

Loads of people now do this where I work. It's definitely a change from pre covid.

To be honest I think in many cases it's taking the mick and I find it irritating when people get away with not participating fully in meetings because they're juggling their kids.

How old are your dc? I pick my kids up from school, the round trip is 40mins which includes 20mins run round at a playarea we pass through. They then have 1 hour of screen time until their dad comes home. Sometimes they choose to do something else - play in the garden, draw, read.

Once dh gets home there is another hour before I finish. Mine are 7 and 10 and perfectly capable.

Thankfully holidays are fine as dh is termtime only. If he is away in the holidays I either book a full day off, or a half day, and do 4 hrs broken up across the day.

We flex our work around the school day now rather than doing breakfast and after school club (still do specific activities). Personally my core contracted hours are 10-3 and I can do my hours any time between 7am and 7pm outside of that. In reality they don't care if that's later or even at the weekend and there is full transparency. A lot of employers are a lot more concerned about output than exact hours worked.

We are still using holiday clubs for most working days in the holidays as it's more fun for the kids and they get to do activities and hang out with friends. It's fully possible though to get a full day of work done while your older primary kids mooch around the house/garden, perhaps taking them out for an hour or 2 as a lunch break. Doesn't really bother me what anyone else does.

Depends on the children I guess. My mum is a teacher and would always bring home work after the school day finished so she was at home with us, but working.
We were perfectly capable of understanding that mum was working, and so could be disturbed if there was a problem but wasn’t available for a chat etc until a bit later.

Lots of my friends so this, pre covid they were travelling 1.5 hours one way to london to work and back, now they work from home and collect their kids at 3.15 and work with them at home, they are loving it!