WFH with young kids

Day 1 for me went ok to be honest. Had to juggle work and schooling so haven't got as much done as I'd have liked, so may well be working past 6pm.

Wife is a TA at Primary school so is at work for key-worker kids. I have a 13 year old and a 9 year old so juggling helping them, although most of the 13 year old's work has been live lessons on Google today. The 9 year old has had some Maths, English and then her choice this afternoon which was Art (that really took the pressure off!) - The wife only took on this new role in Sept last year so first lockdown she did all of the home schooling which was great, but she wasn't earning as she'd been made redundant from previous job.

I know it's going to get tougher as more work comes in, especially for the 13 Y/O

Totally doable though, and work are very understanding of where things are at with their staff who are all WFH since late Feb 2020. I have it a bit easier as my two are older. I also feel for people who have to deal with little ones and WFH.
 
mario_moreno said:
No relatives around to help out a bit with the childcare? You're allowed informal/unpaid childcare even during this lockdown. Even if someone could take the eldest for a bit now and then it'd make a big difference.
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Only my partner's mam but she is in her 70's now and not in the best of health so a very hyper 3 year old is a bit too much for her unfortunately these days.

My family live on the other side of the country.
 
Borobuddah said:
When you put kids TV on, put subtitles on and that can learn some reading and spelling!
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They only watch dopey US Youtubers these days! The wife nearly flipped yesterday listening to to the TV with one of them whining on about minecraft or whatever the F it was. She's probably glad to be at work today! :ROFLMAO:
 
I just wonder what damage this will do to a whole generation of children and those further advanced at Uni?
We as country and they as individuals could both suffer unfortunately.
I feel for the young people of today, it's not an easy time for them.
 
Maccarone said:
I just wonder what damage this will do to a whole generation of children and those further advanced at Uni?
We as country and they as individuals could both suffer unfortunately.
I feel for the young people of today, it's not an easy time for them.
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It really is time that this stopped being brushed under the carpet. I know we probably have to do this lockdown, but it should be kept to an absolute minimum and more people need to start thinking about these impacts too.
 
Has to be huge. As I've posted, I've noticed the regression with my own kids and in many ways in very lucky in what I can do to help them.
Misses and I both well educated with money to buy stuff.
Many not so lucky and it's going to be an issue.
Summer schools etc must be in the mix as a way of helping kids catch up
 
Maccarone said:
I just wonder what damage this will do to a whole generation of children and those further advanced at Uni?
We as country and they as individuals could both suffer unfortunately.
I feel for the young people of today, it's not an easy time for them.
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I think the majority of them will bounce back from this and be ok. It's the ones about to take exams (or not!) as you said at School or Uni that I feel for. Younger ones will be ok, they're made of tougher stuff than we give them credit for.

I forget the amount of times they come home from school saying they hate someone who was previously their best friend and then two days later they're thick as thieves again. Obviously what we and they are going through at the moment is huge, but most kids will be fine in a relatively short space of time, I know this by how quickly they adapted to being back at school in September despite teaching being slightly different.

This will be a distant memory by next Christmas for them with a bit of luck.
 
We had to take away the tablet from our daughter, she was getting far too addicted to it for a 3 year old. It was scary, she was just constantly moody and ignoring her other toys. It "broke" about 3 months ago and hasn't reappeard. Best decision we ever made for her.

She is allowed to watch You Tube kids occasionally on my phone now but she just seems obsessed with videos of people opening kinder eggs etc. Bizarre.
 
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Stuck in the same position, with the added complication of another due any minute, OH has pre eclampsia and has to go to the hospital every other day for monitoring, two hours they say but is taking anywhere from six to eight hours to be sorted with the consultant.

Lockdown by myself I could reasonably handle, lockdown with a little one has been the most stressful thing imaginable. I coped just about over summer but with this mingling weather and mud bath it’s much worse.

Four words to strike fear into any man “play with me Daddy!!”....”. I just have, for three king hours, my imagination well is completely dry!!!!”.
 
London_Boro said:
I think the majority of them will bounce back from this and be ok. It's the ones about to take exams (or not!) as you said at School or Uni that I feel for. Younger ones will be ok, they're made of tougher stuff than we give them credit for.

I forget the amount of times they come home from school saying they hate someone who was previously their best friend and then two days later they're thick as thieves again. Obviously what we and they are going through at the moment is huge, but most kids will be fine in a relatively short space of time, I know this by how quickly they adapted to being back at school in September despite teaching being slightly different.

This will be a distant memory by next Christmas for them with a bit of luck.
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You say this but the most important years of your life, in terms of defining your personality, are up until the age of 6. I'm sure the really young ones may be 'fine' but it really does depend what else happens from here.
 
My partner and I both work from home and we now have a 6 year old here. I work all the time and luckily during the last lockdown my partner didn't worked but remained on full pay. Hopefully that will be the case this time round also
 
Alzi said:
We had to take away the tablet from our daughter, she was getting far too addicted to it for a 3 year old. It was scary, she was just constantly moody and ignoring her other toys. It "broke" about 3 months ago and hasn't reappeard. Best decision we ever made for her.

She is allowed to watch You Tube kids occasionally on my phone now but she just seems obsessed with videos of people opening kinder eggs etc. Bizarre.
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Yeah we've managed to resist the tablet route so far, largely because we've seen how it affects friends/family's kids. I think its a slippery slope.
 
atypical_boro said:
You say this but the most important years of your life, in terms of defining your personality, are up until the age of 6. I'm sure the really young ones may be 'fine' but it really does depend what else happens from here.
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Totally, the importance if interaction with other children cannot be over stated, it’s fundamental in a young child’s development.
 
We usually say no tablets or consoles until Friday/Saturday when they're at school as normal, however, we have agreed that IF all schoolwork whilst home learning is done each day without fuss and they try their best then we will allow an hour between schoolwork ending and dinner going on the table. No harm in using it as a treat to encourage them to do their best with whatever home learning material is given.

But again, my kids are a bit older. I think it'd be quite tricky for people with little ones.
 
go-nads! said:
Totally, the importance if interaction with other children cannot be over stated, it’s fundamental in a young child’s development.
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It's not the same as face to face contact, nowhere near, but we make sure they call/facetime their friends a few times a week, that helps. Luckily for us their Scout/Brownie groups are still doing weekly meetings, albeit over zoom, but they've been fun and they really look forward to them.
 
Mine isn’t bothered with a tablet at all, she’ll play for ten minutes or so, mainly drawing type games but would rather social play with me. Every part of me has been inspected and the various broken bones, fevers and illnesses identified and dealt with today alone.
 
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