Reply to New OPM memo on RTO

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I didn't have school aged kids before telework so what did people do? Did people put their kids in before/aftercare/camps/school for 10 hours a day? How did people find time for extracurriculars if elementary kids are in aftercare until 5:30-6? [/quote]

My kids were not yet school aged when COVID started so they were still in daycare/preschool. But even before COVID DH and I both teleworked multiple days per week so that at least one of us was home. Usually the commuting spouse would do morning drop off since they had to head out anyway and then the teleworking parent would do pickup so the kids didn’t have to be there past 5.

I think a lot of parents of school aged kids teleworked at least hybrid before COVID. It’s not like March 2020 marked the invention of WAH. For those who need longer hours, they use aftercare, but staffing has gotten harder in the childcare sector so spots are limited with long waitlists. Or maybe if you’re lucky you can find a martial arts type place that has a van to do school pickup and take them to do activities.

I also think a lot of the parents were just not in the workforce or were underemployed. I guess this administration thinks that is preferable to go back to.

My kids a now in extracurriculars starting as early as 4:30/5. To keep them in we’d have to take leave some days, use carpools, stagger hours, not really sure yet … thankfully my DH’s private sector job has been remote since 2018 and his colleagues are scattered across the country with no office to go to, so I guess he would have to take on more of the kid shuffling at home if I go back 5 days (holding out hope my agency’s CBA holds). I would try to jump ship out of government quickly though if forced to commute 5 days/week.[/quote]

The schedule and juggling you describe is very normal. My husband is 5x/week and I am remote and do more juggling, but I can’t do it all while working during the day, so we have a nanny who helps after school with driving while I am working. Millions of people do this and it is not fun, but it is the norm. [/quote]

Yep. Before Covid one of us got up at 5am to work 7-330 to be back in time for afternoon shuffle.

We still paid for aftercare since traffic etc could throw a wrench.

You need carpools, that was key.

PP has a DH who teleworks 100%, no idea why she is freaking out, he should just take care of all the kid shuffling just like she has been. We worked with no one teleworking, but we live in an expensive, small, old shtshack because we prioritized shorter commutes over space and newness in housing. [/quote]

I’m the PP with the remote DH you’re responding to and it’s hard to just say he should shuffle the kids. He is the higher earner and works with people in different time zones, so he can’t always end his day at 4 PM. I took a lower paying flexible job to help handle afternoons. I had telework before COVID so this wasn’t just a pandemic plan.

Oh and I also work in a small, older home. But my office shut down and I have no idea where I could be made to report to work. If they move my office far away it’s not easy to just give up a &lt; 3% interest rate, so I’m not even sure I could buy a home with a shoet commute at this point.

And the people who don’t have the incomes for a nanny to shuttle kids probably also don’t have money to buy a house wherever they want, especially if they are first time buyers and/or have a spouse’s commute to take into consideration.

I get that you don’t give a crap about families’ hardships, but don’t pretend you’re morally superior because you chose a smaller house close in. A lot of us did that and then the entire fed employment structure unexpectedly changed and offices were downsized. [/quote]

If he is the higher earner, enough to justify dumping everything to you, that means he makes much more than a Fed, and then you can just quit and move someplace cheaper. [/quote]

I saw someone say they might do this in another thread and they got lambasted for that idea anyway. [/quote]

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