Leavingmy job

*much

Mom of teenagers here. I just have so my sympathy for all of you. I’ve got one employee with two toddlers and she is pulled in 100 directions all day long. She’s getting work done so I don’t care how or when she does it. Everyone needs a little grace right now.

My kid’s center has been open the entire time. One case — a part-time teacher who didn’t spread it to anyone else.

We haven’t had to quarantine at all.

Yes, more of what everyone else has been saying. Work in shifts, stagger/schedule meetings around your partner and naptime, let a lot of things go, give up almost all personal time, eat a lot of ready-made meals or takeout, give the kids wayyy more screen time that you'd like, and hope that there's no long term damage. DH and I are lucky enough to have very stable city jobs with a reasonable amount of flexibility and a very supportive culture. I genuinely don't know how single parents/parents with one working out of the house manages. (though if you'd asked me a year ago whether our situation was tenable I'd have said no! So you just make it work somehow..). I have a 4yo and 18mo and both have been in school/daycare since the summer. As someone above said I too have a degree of PTSD from the spring and am incredibly anxious about having to do this all over again this winter.

I'm lucky my kid still takes long naps but also will play with his blocks by himself. I also work before he wakes, after bedtime and on weekends. My spouse works from home but spends way more time in meetings whereas my job is very flexible. I'm very burned out but I've managed to keep the jenga tower from falling over so far.

Anonymous wrote:We have an almost 2 yr old and are both lawyers working from home. DH and I split up childcare shifts during the day and work most nights and weekends to make up the work. There is next to no free time and that sucks, but you get used to it and it is nice to have more time with DD. But yeah, it’s hard.

This. 4yo and infant here. DH and I work in shifts, early AM, late at night, whatever. There's no time to just sit and breathe. I'm so worn out, if I do catch covid, I'm afraid my body's not going to handle it very well.

I had 16 weeks at home with a school-age child and a 2 year old. I still have PTSD thinking back at the time. Basically we became really, really bad parents. The second daycare opened back up we were in, and we are lucky that they haven't had to close again so far (knock wood).

Yup, shift work. We’ve been doing it for 6 months since my DH is high risk.

I provide childcare in my home and feel awful for all involved. One parent caught a cold at work, so she was off work until it cleared. Then her child caught it and had to be off and tested before she could return to daycare. Back a few days and then I came down with something and had to close until my results were in. Meanwhile I isolate away from my family so the cycle does not continue. I've closed 8 days so far this school year, but clients have missed many more days than that.

We have an almost 2 yr old and are both lawyers working from home. DH and I split up childcare shifts during the day and work most nights and weekends to make up the work. There is next to no free time and that sucks, but you get used to it and it is nice to have more time with DD. But yeah, it’s hard.

It is incredibly hard.

The way we handle it is by shifting work schedules. I take the morning shift while my husband works. He does a longish midday shift and handles lunch while I work. We both work during nap time (if we're lucky and nap time happens). Then he handles post nap while I make up from my morning. Then family time (dinner etc.). Then after the kid goes down for bed, we both usually work for another few hours to catch up.

There is very little time for anything else. We try to be good about making sure we each get to do one thing for ourselves each day, whether it's a cup of coffee that we get to drink alone or a short workout or something. But it's hard.

I can't believe we're going to do this for another 4-5 months, if not longer.

Anonymous wrote:One of you takes PTO for the day. Or you both take 1/2
PTO and 1/2 day taking care of the baby.

The daycare all my neighbors go to has been closed at least 6 weeks...most jobs don’t have nearly that much PTO!

One of you takes PTO for the day. Or you both take 1/2
PTO and 1/2 day taking care of the baby.

We don’t have a child, but have many neighbors and friends who do. Our local daycare has closed for weeks at a time multiple times during the pandemic. How on earth do you manage when that happens? My DH still goes into the office, and I make less than it would cost to pay a nanny out of pocket, so if we had a young child right now I have no idea how we would handle it because I would need to continue working full time at home while taking care of a baby by myself.