Have you been asked to look after your grandchildren now the schools are closed?

Our GC are all still at primary schools so a period out from formal lessons is not so crucial as for the older ones. From this week we are no longer providing care as their parents are working from home. The intention is to keep them in isolation and then if they need our help after Easter it should be safe for us to do so.

No child / teenage care for us after so many years of being integral to their care; their parents are in the military. Our son made it quite clear last weekend. We will miss them but it is necessary. It is all going to fall heavily on parents without grandparent's support.

DD teaches year 5.The children staying in school are a mix of public and private sector.ie nurses,food supply chain etc.They will have a rotating skeleton staff as some of the teachers themselves are self isolating or need to be at home for childcare as partners are key workers.
The ones in school will have some education but activities based.The ones at home have prepared work packs and school will liaise with parents.The aim to be fair to both sets of children.They are working flat out to implement all this.These are exceptional times and it won't be perfect.Some parents aren't happy with the arrangements - most are being supportive.

no. My AC care too much for me to ask. They love me and want me to remain healthy

No. My AC have said they want me to be as safe as possible and not taking any risks as I’m high risk

If I remember correctly you are ‘only’ 58y gillybob so not quite in the vulnerable seniors group as some on here are. That makes a huge difference.

With that in mind, I think that you helping your adult children with childcare is admirable - especially considering how much else you have on your plate. In my mind you are indeed ‘Wonderwoman’ ?‍♀️ ‼️

No my son is making other arrangements

Oh dear, my husband has just found out that he is classed as vulnerable after all, due to a heart problem. So, even though we are only early 60s and fit and active, our son has said he doesn't want us to take any chances by looking after the children and we agree. We are upset at not seeing them or our son and DIL for some time, and feel for them, as we do help out quite a bit, especially lately as DS's job has been very stressful. Fortunately, there have been only 3 diagnosed cases of the virus in our town, with no deaths, so do still feel quite safe; but I know that will change in the coming weeks. Don't know now what will be decided for our planned Mothers' Day meal at our house on Sunday, not sure if our other son will come, there maybe just be the two of us!

Lara as I didn't hear the broadcast, could you let us know how it went, please?

Children going into schools will be cared for, but not educated in most cases. Our school won’t have the staff to teach lessons, so essentially we’ll be childminding.

gillybob I’m a supply teacher at a local primary school - the service we will be providing in school is not education. We will be working with mixed age groups and offering a range of activities to keep them busy. We will be phoning each child in our class on a weekly basis and setting work to be done at home.
I’m really proud of the teachers and teaching assistants at my school who are rising above the concerns that they might have for their own health and well being to ensure that the children we care for are supported at this difficult and frightening time.

My GS is in Y7 and his mum is a single parent. Her work will probably dry up for the time this lasts but she knows he can not come to us as my OH is 72. But the school have phoned her today to talk through her options and have said that if she needs to work for short periods to give them a little notice and they will take him into school.

I saw them both tonight for the last time until this is over and we have set up a video messaging on Whats Up to keep in touch and I can help with school work if needed. I will keep working from home so I can help with her bills if necessary. It's not ideal but we will get through this by pulling together.

We look after 3 dgc from two different sons. Both sons have said no more childcare.one d's can do some days working from home and it will be difficult for him as he coparents his 2year old.
The other son can manager to take one of his weekend days during the week and his wife jobshares so they can manage. Both sons plan on getting together and look to each others children also.

However dil is a nurse and is likely to have to do extra hours.

They ring every day to see if we need anything as we are both in the vulnerable categories. And FaceTime us to see the children.

I will continue to be on call to look after my grandchildren and my terminally ill DiL. There is no option. I have asthma but otherwise I’m reasonably healthy. I hope we will all be ok.

No.
Fortunately, both sons/dils are able to work from home -in theory anyway, though in reality it will be very difficult to do at the same time as keeping the children occcupied.

We and one son's family are self isolating, and if we are all still healthy after 14 days, some contact between us, including some childcare, might be resumed then.

My children are all self isolating and their kids were kept at home from a few weeks ago. I was told that I won't be seeing them (except on Skype) for quite some time.

Back then, I thought they were over-reacting and being rather too cautious, but now I can see that they're quite right to protect everybody - including me!

I am still looking after my grandson full time as usual, and i will still continue to look after my elderly mother. That is a high risk strategy for your mother.

morethan Thinking of you and your family at this difficult time.

Yes; I echo that merlot. There are so many people high on the at risk group at the moment and my heart goes out to them.

yes, lucky, i agree, i think it is a risk too far at this time to mix between different generations like that.

morethan, what an awful time for you, so sorry.
After 18 years of looking after GC part-time, and doing school runs, it has now come to an abrupt halt.
DH is currently undergoing chemo and is very open to infection, so we are restricted in what we can do.
We really miss all the kids.

My dil is a nurse, my grandchildren are 1 & 2 years old. I normally look after them while she works, however my husband is on medication as he had heart attacks and stents 12 years ago, should I still look after the children? I feel so frustrated as I want to help somehow with anyone with problems caused by this dreadful virus.

My next door neighbour is a foundation class teacher and quite high in the general hierarchy of the school. She brought me some shopping on her way home from work and I have never seen her look so exhausted.

She said it is purely the worry about what is going to happen to ‘her’ children. She will be going in to work next week.

Knocking the teachers is neither justified nor kind. They can do without the extra pressure of being vilified.

We would normally have our 2 x DGS's today however DD is working from home but goodness knows how she will manage to look after two young boys. I think she will have to try and 'work' when they are in bed. She will be totally exhausted but there is no other choice. She insists we are not doing any childcare and tbh she is right. No point putting ourselves at risk.