WFH with kids - do you do it?

[vanillawaffle]

Do you go and pick up your kid from school and then come back and work for a couple of hours? Does that work out OK for you? Do your bosses mind? I'm wondering if it would work when my little one is 5

No, not at all.

I work pt so that i pick the kids up from school. I have to take the resulting financial hit and it means we struggle financially. But my kids are ND, and won't cope with after-school clubs.

If I'm getting paid to work, i should be working. Not looking after children. If i was in the office i wouldn't be able to look after my kids.

My employer is absolutely fine with it, it has never affected my performance. Some strangers on the internet might think I shouldn’t do it, but they’re not the ones paying my wages so it doesn’t matter really.

Agree with you. I accepted my job on the condition that I had flexible working and have it written into my contract. My boss has told me that as long as I am actually at home to pick up the phone during core hours, she doesn’t care what time of day the actual work gets done.

So name changes for this, but yes, I do it and think it must be more common as every single WFH mum at the school gate also does it. My DC is 6. So the school is 10 mins walk from my house, and I don’t do it every day, if I have meetings around school run time I book them into after school club as an ad hoc. I know this is just me saying but I’ve always done really well in all my jobs and managers are always very pleased with my productivity. I’m more hard working than a lot of people who are in the office. My 6 year old is quite self sufficient, we walk back from school where we chat about her day etc. then she gets herself a snack and goes and watches TV or plays in her room. She knows not to disturb me when I’m working and doesn’t. Then at 5 it’s time to pick up youngest from nursery. It’s literally for 1.5 hours, hardly a long time…in my previous role for a large corporate everyone did school run also.

I do 2 days a week but only work til 4:30. I have a 5 year old. I get her set up with snacks etc. I have to be honest though it doesn't really work, my bosses ok with it but I wish I had put her in after school club from the beginning but there are now no spaces on the days I need them so I'm pressing on. It's not awful but PPs are right that they don't really understand at that age not to disturb you. But also my daughter is particularly difficult, high needs and I am suspecting ADHD so it might work better for other children!

Ultimately it depends on the job and children.

I started my current job when youngest was 10. I regularly need to stop work to administer minor first aid. But most kids don't resemble tornados!

There's a massive difference between a child who will enjoy down time and a mischief magnet... and a massive difference between constant meetings/appointments and flexible working.

I enjoy the walk and break in the afternoon…it’s written into contract you are allowed 20 min rest break so this is it! In the office people are allowed fag breaks etc probably for longer 🤷‍♀️

Only started doing that this year with DS 9. DD 7 still goes to after school club. I think 5 is too young to be honest.

Just to add I would never work full days in the holidays with her. When she's ill and off school it's torture. It's only ever an hour after school at most and I can usually get on with work pretty well as long as I don't have any meetings booked in over that time. My job is not meeting heavy so it works out OKish

I do, DH goes and collects at 3, I then finish at 4 /4.30 latest. DD 5 is that tired from school she just wants to watch TV for a hour, colour in and eat a snack and struggles doing anything else until after she has done that. She really enjoys the down time. I purposely try to ensure one of us is free if meetings, even if still working, once she is home. I start early to finish at 4

We do it for a short period of time. DH and I both wfh, and one of us will take a late lunch break to pick DD1 up (she's in reception) and then we work while she watches some tv. Both our jobs specifically allow you to take lunch breaks whenever you like.
DH works 8-4, so it's only half an hour before he's done. She gets home very tired, so needs half an hour to chill out, and then at 4 DH will do her reading with her then do whatever while I carry on working.

It wouldn't work if it was just one of us because we wouldn't be able to guarantee that we'd be free at pick up time, or if DH didn't finish at 4.

Yep. Haven't had to pay childcare for 2 year. Life changing

It’s absolutely fine to do with older children who can effectively look after themselves for a few hours. It’s not ok with younger ones.

I couldn't with mine, unless I stuck them in front of screens - I'm lucky to have a good after school care, so I thought that was much better for them then youtube.

I do it. I wfh on a Friday. My kids are 4 and 6. I walk to school to get them (20 mins in total) then we are home by 315 they get changed into comfies, I get us all a snack and then they settle on the couch and watch a movie. I work from the dining table while they’re doing this so I’m there - but headphones on. I typically save the internal paperwork for this time so I know it won’t matter too much if there’s a distraction.

my work know I do this. They’re ok with it because it’s only an hour or so a week and it’s Friday afternoon.

full time watching kids whilst working they’d massively frown upon.

Yes. One day a week my son will come home and play, read and watch some TV for a couple of hours while I finish work. Then one other day my other son will watch an hour of TV while my DH takes my eldest to a club and I finish work. For various reasons my youngest can't go with my DH. Both are very well behaved and understand that I am working

I’m a single parent on an average income and use afterschool club. I can’t afford to jeopardise my job

Our very much enforced work policy is 10+. Even for those over 10, the break to go get them from school means my ability to schedule meetings after 2.30pm has drastically reduced as people who are on the school run decline everything from 3pm onwards, which when you add in a different group
doing the morning school run and those taking a full hour at lunch for yoga or a run (all completely fair use of the flexible working policy) means I am often really struggling to get people together in a timely fashion.

Not at 5 no. My DC went to the school's wraparound care and I went to fetch them when my work day was over same as if I didn't WFH.

From about age 7 or 8 DC can be mature enough to entertain themselves for a couple of hours and I started gradually having one or two afternoons per week of not using the wraparound care and fetching at 3:15. Not every day though especially if I had online meetings.

By y6/age 10/11 we stopped using wraparound care except occasionally if I was away for a customer visit and DH couldn't get home early.

Definitely not possible to work effectively with a 5yo in the house. You can't be properly focused on woek and also supervising DC properly. Even with the tv on they can get a notion to do something unsafe. My nephew at that age took it into his head to climb onto the kitchen counter, fetch down the iron, plug it in and wait a few minutes then touch with his hand to find out how hot it was. Don't do it.

Yes, I pick up DC and then carry on WFH with them, from reception. It's fine for my job/type of work, no one at work is bothered (many do this). It's fine! At least give it a try before resorting to after school club. My DC was so tired starting school, they much preferred to come home and potter about in peace over after school club.

Not with a 5yo no way. I do with my 9yo but her 13yo sister is around too and they are pretty good entertaining themselves for an hour after school
I do use hol clubs during holidays with the odd day a week where they can just chill & watch TV whilst I work but I can work flexibility so I'm going to start at 7am and finish at 3pm over Easter hols on a day they are both at home

No. It was obviously normal for kids to be floating around in lockdown but not now with a 5yo. I could do pick up if needed, we have a flex hour we can use, but to be looking after a 5yo would not be acceptable, there's a clause in my contract about wfh and childcare.

My kids are 14, they get themselves home and let themselves in. I work in a 'garden office' and don't see them until I finish work or go in for a drink etc.

I'll be doing this for one day per week soon. My kid (5) will happily play for an hour while I wrap up for the day. He couldn't & wouldn't do after school club 5 days per week, he just couldn't. Most days my husband will be in the house too (also working). It's the only way we can stay working anything like full time.

A lot of parents say they wouldn't but in my experience those who send them to wrap around seem to be in the minority.

Our school offers an after school club, which used to be full every night and had a waiting list. However since the return from covid we have a lot more parents who WFH, and the numbers at the club have dropped significantly. We're at the point where we may have look at closing the wrap around provision, as it's just not financially viable to continue with so few children.

Occasionally. For example, if DH needs to be somewhere else in a day he’d have done pick up. I collect them, whack them in front of screens for an hour and give them a snack. Tbh they don’t usually want to do much more than that. However, most of the time I’m paying 000s a year in after school childcare.