RTO and No Childcare.

[Anonymous]

Other than a few months early in COVID were all daycares shut down. Never in my fed office has it been acceptable to not have daycare. Not sure why folks think they can work AND watch kids. Those are two jobs and you can't do either fully if you're trying to do both at the same time.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

[Anonymous]

It’s not that we CAN’T RTO because of childcare, it’s that we need a few weeks to make arrangements. It’s not childcare that’s lacking, it’s “drive kids around town and feed them dinner”.

My kids are 8 and 10. Depending on the season, one or both kids need to be at a sport, lesson, or activity with start times ranging from 4:30 to 6pm. We’ve committed to carpools and agreed to participate in activities that begin after our contracted work hours - but before the end of our workday + a commute. Obviously parents were able to handle similar commitments prior to 2020 and everyone WFH. We can too, but it’s not as simple as signing up for daycare. We can even hire someone to drive kids to activities after school, but our solution has to be acceptable to the other families in our carpools - while they are also rearranging their lives.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Our kid has been working from home since well before Covid. When she and her husband decided to have kids they lined up child care first - the grandparents when the kids were babies and a preschool/daycare once they were toddlers. It never occurred to her for a second that she could watch her kids at home herself and work at the same time. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

Time to return to reality, ladies.

Ugh this is such sexist garbage. As PPs have explained the issue isn’t people trying to WAH with a toddler. It’s tacking on the commuting hours to the workday which = needing even more childcare (this is essentially a sudden pay cut — after care for 2 kids can be $700+ per month).

Also my DH works in private sector IT. He and many other *men* (and women) in his field are fully remote. My DH has enjoyed the work/life balance and being home to coach the kids sports after school, he helps cook dinner, etc.

So it’s not just “ladies” who care about being around for their kids. Sorry your daughter couldn’t find a better father for her kids if you think this way.

You all are just missing the point completely. You have been spoiled and frankly got a little lazy. Here's an idea: stop prioritizing giant houses and big yards. If lessening your commute time is so important, move close to your jobs. Bonus: it's better for the environment. These are ideas that those of us who raised children while working FT before the pandemic did. If we got through it, so can you. Just make better decisions.

Everyone, this woman is just angry because her adult kids finally told her they’re going no contact with her due to her general toxicity and hatefulness.

Give her space here to shout at clouds - she’s had a rough Thanksgiving.

😂 I think it is a fundamental misunderstanding that COVID altered the childcare landscape especially for school-aged care.

This -- if you raised kids or even before Covid you don't understand that parents with kids under age 10 don't have the same options anymore and have to deal with more instability in school schedules. Our school assumes weekday flexibility and availability in a way it never used to while also offering fewer after school programs. I'm on the PTA and we had to fight last year to get guaranteed childcare on Wednesday afternoons when our school does half days for PD -- this school year is the first year that the school can guarantee childcare for anyone who wants it (and will pay for it) so that they can just pick their kids up at the normal time as opposed to 12:30pm. And even the limited number of spots available in previous years only started in 2022 -- there was nothing for parents in 2021. So if, like me, you have a 5th grader this year, you've spent the last four years with either no school at all (Covid Closure 2020-2021), school but no aftercare including on short school days (2021-2022), school and aftercare but limited by lottery with no guarantee you'll get a spot (2022-2024), or school an guaranteed childcare until 3:30 but still limited aftercare spots (2024).

And now my kid is finally old enough that I could just have her home while I WFH without needing childcare and there's renewed demand for RTO. We will make it work with after school activities she can walk to and coordinating with other parents but if she were 7 or 8 that wouldn't be an option -- I couldn't just have her walk the 3/4 of a mile to ballet and then walk to her friend's house from ballet until my DH or I can pick her up at 5:30 like I can now.

FCPS had half-day Mondays for decades, with zero "guaranteed free childcare".

The flexibility absolutely should be there, but arguing that it's "impossibly expensive" and the childcare landscape has changed so much since COVID and that pre-COVID people don't know what they're talking about is completely naïve and lame.

You are used to basically not paying for the child care, and now you just can't fathom doing the budgeting and scrimping -- that EVERYONE actually was doing literally the month before COVID. (it wasn't just decades or years and years before COVID).

yep. my kid didn’t like aftercare so we hired a PT nanny for him and kept her for 4 years (PK4 - 2nd grade when COVID started). Yes it’s hard to find PT sitters but if you put energy into it and pay them well, they are there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Our kid has been working from home since well before Covid. When she and her husband decided to have kids they lined up child care first - the grandparents when the kids were babies and a preschool/daycare once they were toddlers. It never occurred to her for a second that she could watch her kids at home herself and work at the same time. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

Time to return to reality, ladies.

Ugh this is such sexist garbage. As PPs have explained the issue isn’t people trying to WAH with a toddler. It’s tacking on the commuting hours to the workday which = needing even more childcare (this is essentially a sudden pay cut — after care for 2 kids can be $700+ per month).

Also my DH works in private sector IT. He and many other *men* (and women) in his field are fully remote. My DH has enjoyed the work/life balance and being home to coach the kids sports after school, he helps cook dinner, etc.

So it’s not just “ladies” who care about being around for their kids. Sorry your daughter couldn’t find a better father for her kids if you think this way.

You all are just missing the point completely. You have been spoiled and frankly got a little lazy. Here's an idea: stop prioritizing giant houses and big yards. If lessening your commute time is so important, move close to your jobs. Bonus: it's better for the environment. These are ideas that those of us who raised children while working FT before the pandemic did. If we got through it, so can you. Just make better decisions.

Everyone, this woman is just angry because her adult kids finally told her they’re going no contact with her due to her general toxicity and hatefulness.

Give her space here to shout at clouds - she’s had a rough Thanksgiving.

😂 I think it is a fundamental misunderstanding that COVID altered the childcare landscape especially for school-aged care.

This -- if you raised kids or even before Covid you don't understand that parents with kids under age 10 don't have the same options anymore and have to deal with more instability in school schedules. Our school assumes weekday flexibility and availability in a way it never used to while also offering fewer after school programs. I'm on the PTA and we had to fight last year to get guaranteed childcare on Wednesday afternoons when our school does half days for PD -- this school year is the first year that the school can guarantee childcare for anyone who wants it (and will pay for it) so that they can just pick their kids up at the normal time as opposed to 12:30pm. And even the limited number of spots available in previous years only started in 2022 -- there was nothing for parents in 2021. So if, like me, you have a 5th grader this year, you've spent the last four years with either no school at all (Covid Closure 2020-2021), school but no aftercare including on short school days (2021-2022), school and aftercare but limited by lottery with no guarantee you'll get a spot (2022-2024), or school an guaranteed childcare until 3:30 but still limited aftercare spots (2024).

And now my kid is finally old enough that I could just have her home while I WFH without needing childcare and there's renewed demand for RTO. We will make it work with after school activities she can walk to and coordinating with other parents but if she were 7 or 8 that wouldn't be an option -- I couldn't just have her walk the 3/4 of a mile to ballet and then walk to her friend's house from ballet until my DH or I can pick her up at 5:30 like I can now.

FCPS had half-day Mondays for decades, with zero "guaranteed free childcare".

The flexibility absolutely should be there, but arguing that it's "impossibly expensive" and the childcare landscape has changed so much since COVID and that pre-COVID people don't know what they're talking about is completely naïve and lame.

You are used to basically not paying for the child care, and now you just can't fathom doing the budgeting and scrimping -- that EVERYONE actually was doing literally the month before COVID. (it wasn't just decades or years and years before COVID).

+1. It’s been nice to save a sh*t ton of money on childcare and now that they may have to open their wallets and that it’s not as convenient to have to get kids to and from daycare/school care, there’s a million reasons why it’s “impossible”.

And yeah, participation in some after-school activities may not be able to happen. This isn’t new.

And yet none of you gleeful goons can actually articulate *the point* of blanket RTO policies. You’re just thrilled to see someone else *lose* something, as if that somehow helps you or society.

Louder for those in back. I don't understand this mentality. Are people pushing to have kids in crowded aftercare programs (that don't exist) for hours and hours... why? Because they feel guilty about what they did with their own kids? How can you not want better for kids? ALL kids?

I think a lot of people haven’t worked in a long time and don’t understand how the nature of work has changed for office workers. Or they aren’t office workers. They actually think there is a benefit of going into the office and that it’s part of work.

They don’t understand how many people are going into an office to use Teams. They don’t understand how everyone uses Teams to meet because of the ability to share documents and the chat feature. Also the fact many employees are in different locations.

Technology has changed the workforce tremendously. Can you imagine now attending a meeting where you all sit in a conference room, no one has a laptop and someone hands out printed documents? People don’t understand that no longer happens at many workplaces.

Tomorrow I’ll be commuting into the office to use my computer by myself in a conference room for meetings with the UK. No one on the calls is in my city. How does it make sense for me to spend two hours commuting to do that?

If they want to enforce a true RTO like pre-2020 then they need to get rid of Teams, reinstate office phones, and not allow any sort of video conferencing. They also need to change staffing models so that staff aren’t spread out geographically.

At this point requiring full RTO is like requiring us to use phone calls and faxes instead of email. It’s archaic.

OP here - FED going in 3x a week. These are my in-office days to a tea. Except I am in an office with a closed door (to not disturb the two others in my office) to have Teams meetings with people spread across the world. I bring a lunch (don’t leave my desk, but still can’t count it as working), put in my 8.5 hour day then usually make phone calls on the way home to co-workers in earlier time zones. We don’t have office lunches, no social events, no cafeteria, no happy hours, it really is presence to just be in the office. I work on a military base, so often spend 10 minutes in traffic to get through the gate. My kids on my in-office days are out of the house just shy of 11 hours. I find Musk’s desire to make working more difficult directly contradicts his encouraging people to have more kids.

You say you work on a military base so I’m guessing stuff you work on or at least is around you is TS. WFH with whatever internet you think is secure with kids on the same WiFi downloading who knows what is dangerous.

A close family member and another friend worked or work in admissions at Ivy or equivalent. Just in admissions there are rules due to the internet because of people’s files. A friend before they worked in the office was a at-home reader. The university gave them this giant computer (this is within the last 8 years) and set up the internet in the home. Last I heard they no longer do that due to security reasons.

Another friend during Covid had his company set up his office with computers and a separate secure internet connection (private sector). There is also cameras in that office of his home with someone/compliance officer monitoring. It apparently cost a fortune but the company set it all up.

Even at the university level foreign countries are trying to get in. The government should be doing better. If someone wants to hack one of the easiest ways would probably be accessing an employee while they WFH on their WiFi.

This is so astoundingly ignorant. No, not all (or even most) work on a base is TS. Nobody is doing TS work at home. And nobody is connecting to an agency network just "on the wifi" without going through the agency's system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than a few months early in COVID were all daycares shut down. Never in my fed office has it been acceptable to not have daycare. Not sure why folks think they can work AND watch kids. Those are two jobs and you can't do either fully if you're trying to do both at the same time.

How are some of you this stupid?

If you have elementary aged kids (which is the situation most people in this thread are discussing), you generally don’t need to “watch” them when they get home from school - but you do need to be *available* in case there is some sort of emergency. There is absolutely zero reason why a parent can’t work effectively from a home office while their school aged kids play in the next room (or the backyard).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid has been working from home since well before Covid. When she and her husband decided to have kids they lined up child care first - the grandparents when the kids were babies and a preschool/daycare once they were toddlers. It never occurred to her for a second that she could watch her kids at home herself and work at the same time. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

Time to return to reality, ladies.

Ugh this is such sexist garbage. As PPs have explained the issue isn’t people trying to WAH with a toddler. It’s tacking on the commuting hours to the workday which = needing even more childcare (this is essentially a sudden pay cut — after care for 2 kids can be $700+ per month).

Also my DH works in private sector IT. He and many other *men* (and women) in his field are fully remote. My DH has enjoyed the work/life balance and being home to coach the kids sports after school, he helps cook dinner, etc.

So it’s not just “ladies” who care about being around for their kids. Sorry your daughter couldn’t find a better father for her kids if you think this way.

You all are just missing the point completely. You have been spoiled and frankly got a little lazy. Here's an idea: stop prioritizing giant houses and big yards. If lessening your commute time is so important, move close to your jobs. Bonus: it's better for the environment. These are ideas that those of us who raised children while working FT before the pandemic did. If we got through it, so can you. Just make better decisions.

Everyone, this woman is just angry because her adult kids finally told her they’re going no contact with her due to her general toxicity and hatefulness.

Give her space here to shout at clouds - she’s had a rough Thanksgiving.

😂 I think it is a fundamental misunderstanding that COVID altered the childcare landscape especially for school-aged care.

This -- if you raised kids or even before Covid you don't understand that parents with kids under age 10 don't have the same options anymore and have to deal with more instability in school schedules. Our school assumes weekday flexibility and availability in a way it never used to while also offering fewer after school programs. I'm on the PTA and we had to fight last year to get guaranteed childcare on Wednesday afternoons when our school does half days for PD -- this school year is the first year that the school can guarantee childcare for anyone who wants it (and will pay for it) so that they can just pick their kids up at the normal time as opposed to 12:30pm. And even the limited number of spots available in previous years only started in 2022 -- there was nothing for parents in 2021. So if, like me, you have a 5th grader this year, you've spent the last four years with either no school at all (Covid Closure 2020-2021), school but no aftercare including on short school days (2021-2022), school and aftercare but limited by lottery with no guarantee you'll get a spot (2022-2024), or school an guaranteed childcare until 3:30 but still limited aftercare spots (2024).

And now my kid is finally old enough that I could just have her home while I WFH without needing childcare and there's renewed demand for RTO. We will make it work with after school activities she can walk to and coordinating with other parents but if she were 7 or 8 that wouldn't be an option -- I couldn't just have her walk the 3/4 of a mile to ballet and then walk to her friend's house from ballet until my DH or I can pick her up at 5:30 like I can now.

FCPS had half-day Mondays for decades, with zero "guaranteed free childcare".

The flexibility absolutely should be there, but arguing that it's "impossibly expensive" and the childcare landscape has changed so much since COVID and that pre-COVID people don't know what they're talking about is completely naïve and lame.

You are used to basically not paying for the child care, and now you just can't fathom doing the budgeting and scrimping -- that EVERYONE actually was doing literally the month before COVID. (it wasn't just decades or years and years before COVID).

+1. It’s been nice to save a sh*t ton of money on childcare and now that they may have to open their wallets and that it’s not as convenient to have to get kids to and from daycare/school care, there’s a million reasons why it’s “impossible”.

And yeah, participation in some after-school activities may not be able to happen. This isn’t new.

And yet none of you gleeful goons can actually articulate *the point* of blanket RTO policies. You’re just thrilled to see someone else *lose* something, as if that somehow helps you or society.

Louder for those in back. I don't understand this mentality. Are people pushing to have kids in crowded aftercare programs (that don't exist) for hours and hours... why? Because they feel guilty about what they did with their own kids? How can you not want better for kids? ALL kids?

I think a lot of people haven’t worked in a long time and don’t understand how the nature of work has changed for office workers. Or they aren’t office workers. They actually think there is a benefit of going into the office and that it’s part of work.

They don’t understand how many people are going into an office to use Teams. They don’t understand how everyone uses Teams to meet because of the ability to share documents and the chat feature. Also the fact many employees are in different locations.

Technology has changed the workforce tremendously. Can you imagine now attending a meeting where you all sit in a conference room, no one has a laptop and someone hands out printed documents? People don’t understand that no longer happens at many workplaces.

Tomorrow I’ll be commuting into the office to use my computer by myself in a conference room for meetings with the UK. No one on the calls is in my city. How does it make sense for me to spend two hours commuting to do that?

If they want to enforce a true RTO like pre-2020 then they need to get rid of Teams, reinstate office phones, and not allow any sort of video conferencing. They also need to change staffing models so that staff aren’t spread out geographically.

At this point requiring full RTO is like requiring us to use phone calls and faxes instead of email. It’s archaic.

OP here - FED going in 3x a week. These are my in-office days to a tea. Except I am in an office with a closed door (to not disturb the two others in my office) to have Teams meetings with people spread across the world. I bring a lunch (don’t leave my desk, but still can’t count it as working), put in my 8.5 hour day then usually make phone calls on the way home to co-workers in earlier time zones. We don’t have office lunches, no social events, no cafeteria, no happy hours, it really is presence to just be in the office. I work on a military base, so often spend 10 minutes in traffic to get through the gate. My kids on my in-office days are out of the house just shy of 11 hours. I find Musk’s desire to make working more difficult directly contradicts his encouraging people to have more kids.

Isn’t this the Republican MO? To preach about the sanctity of human life and importance of having babies while also doing nothing to make it easier for families to have more children (and in some cases even making it harder).

When they say they want more women to have babies they specifically mean married, heterosexual women (ideally white or white appearing) with conservative trad wife values. They want women who will do all the domestic labor without aspirations of being part of the workforce (beyond a “cute” job like being a church preschool teacher or selling knitted items on Etsy). The father should be the one with a provider role, able to work at any given time because the wife is handling the house/kids.

And let’s be real, they certainly don’t care what happens to the babies born to immigrants, poor and even basic middle class people, etc. If their families have to live paycheck to paycheck to afford 11 hours/day of childcare and those kids never do an extracurricular or receive any tutoring, or the family never eats dinner together because the parents have to do shift work, then that is an acceptable price to pay for capitalism to thrive.

So yeah I actually think Elonia is totally inline with the Republican brand of preaching about parenthood — especially the touting family values while having double digits children with multiple women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Please explain why they need to return to the office.

[Anonymous]

What all companies should do is have 6-2 shifts and 10-6 shifts. That way one parent can cover the morning duties and the other parent can cover after school duties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

There are 0 vans / buses for activities at our Arlington elementary. Extended Care is full for the year with a waitlist. People have already committed to sports teams, paid for a full year of dance lessons, etc. School break camps are already full for the year. Parents can make different choices in the future, it’s the mid-year change that is the issue.

Also what fantasy world do you live in where extended day is “good enough” for elementary? Travel sports start in 2nd and 3rd grade. Kids don’t magically just show up in middle school and start new hobbies and sports having never participated in anything before. No 12 yr old is rolling into beginner fencing or karate or ballet with a bunch of 7yr olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than a few months early in COVID were all daycares shut down. Never in my fed office has it been acceptable to not have daycare. Not sure why folks think they can work AND watch kids. Those are two jobs and you can't do either fully if you're trying to do both at the same time.

I tried to work from home with a 3 and 5 y/o at the beginning of COVID and it was horrific. I have horrible memories of feeling constantly pulled between work and kids, neither were getting adequate attention. My standards for parenting are a bit higher than having my kids sit quietly on an iPad so I can call into a meeting. I would never voluntarily do this ever again (although as my kids get older it’s easier to have them around on a sick day watching movies).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

[Anonymous]

Before covid, if wanting maximum flexibility was a priority, it meant finding something self employed or an independent contractor. You give up the benefits of stable employment with benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What all companies should do is have 6-2 shifts and 10-6 shifts. That way one parent can cover the morning duties and the other parent can cover after school duties.

This is what will end up happening. After people stop panicking, and DOGE doesn’t change the standard workday to 8-6, people will flex their office time (within reason, they aren’t going to let people start their day at 4 am or noon) to meet their needs. It can be done. Yes, it sucks more than WFH when you have kids that need to be shuttled places after school, but one parent starts their workday at 7 and leaves at 3 and the other starts at 9:30 and leaves at 5:30. It’s really ok. We all did it before, you can do it too.

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me how employees in private sectors handle all these childcare issues post-covid? For example, nurses, EMTs, polce officiers, teachers, supermarket workers, factory workers, etc.