Please help with ideas for 2 year old while working

[Sun90]

Hi I'm looking for some ideas to help keep my 2 year old occupied while I work.

I have had trouble with childcare since he was six months old and I am becoming the biggest let down to myself and others when it comes to work. I have found a Job cleaning a pub 3 hours a morning and I am a key holder so I do the job alone I took it because I plan to take my son with me I know I can help encourage him to help me but any tips and ideas would be great as it will be beneficial to both of us me keeping this job.

Thanks in advance ☺

But wouldn’t it be better for him to do the nursery free hours. He sounds like a sociable child and would probably like the attention, rather than being left on his own whilst his mother works. Does the client have adequate insurance to have him there anyway? I wouldn’t take the risk with my child personally. I think trying to work whilst looking after a child means both the employer and the child miss out as you can’t give either your full attention.

you are so rude!! Putting your son in nursery for a few hours a week so you can do your cleaning job is hardly dumping him on someone else!! Honestly what did you expect people to suggest!! It’s hard enough keeping 2 years old entertained when they have your full attention never mind when your working, unless you are going to let him watch TV you are going to have to keep going back to him every few minutes so it just isn’t going to work

What's so stupid about slings? My youngest was in one loads from birth to age one because I was always running around after her disabled older sibling (multiple diagnoses, including ASD, ADHD, ARFID, SPD, global delay) and I had to have her in a safe place. The safest place was on me.

I'm not some crunchy lentil eating mum who saw my sling as a second uterus. I just needed somewhere to plonk my baby so she would be safe.

OP you've come out all guns blazing at the slightest criticism. The simple fact is your employer won't be insured to take your child so there's no point telling you how to entertain your prodigious child. They just can't take him.

My Mum was a Home Help in the 1960’s. I had to go along whilst she worked. I was told to sit, not move and wait for her to finish. As long as I could see her I was fine. With my own DC, my son would follow me around and help out, music would help, dancing around, but this would only be ok for about an hour. I know you said you don’t do devices, but by putting child in push chair whilst watching a little tv would give you a bit of time.

I don’t think a sling would work with an average two year old to be honest.

I love slings and DS lived in the Moby wrap for months but most two year olds want to be on the move, exploring, into everything.

If the OP really wants to do this I think it could work with a playpen and some toys but it isn’t ideal and I agree a nursery placement would be much better.

I apologise. When you said you struggled for childcare I assumed that you meant cost or availability, not the very idea that children should be safely cared for by a responsible adult whilst you undertook a job using dangerous chemicals in an unsuitable environment for a child.

I can't see that being a safe environment, yuk I wouldn't want my child crawling on a pub floor...

I think most people in this thread must live quite easy lives. It’s not an ideal situation but nothing to get outraged about.

People have to clean their own homes with kids running around and they manage. All the things you would do to keep your kid occupied at home while you clean you can do if you are cleaning as a job. Since the beginning of time parents have cared for their children at the same time as working. My in laws were farmers and took their children around with them from when they were born until they went to school. My mum worked at home as a dressmaker. My earliest memories are of her working at the kitchen table.

The only issue is legal. Your employer needs to know the truth in case there is an accident of some kind.

you peopleyou really focus on the wrong things don't you I'm young just starting out in this world and I can see why it's such a nasty place with adults thanks for nothing haha

You are a mother and an employee so you are in an adult situation and your immature defensiveness is not helpful to your young son for whom you are also a role model.

‘Thanks for nothing haha’ What? 🤔Calm down and read what people are actually saying - leaving your 2 year old to ‘play’ in an empty pub while you are distracted cleaning is not safe and you may be breaching the insurances. The fact that your son is bright means he’ll explore and be curious - wasn’t it Sadie Frost (Jude Law’s ex-wife) who had to rush her child to hospital after they swallowed a pill they had found on the floor of a bar? Anything could be lying around - drugs, broken glass, dog shit.

You may need this job, but you also need to make good choices for your son’s health and well-being. Dismissing and teen-snorting at sensible ‘adult’ advice is not a good start.