Forced Parent and Child Interaction

[Lawson2]

Good Morning!

I hope everyone is hanging in there okay.

I was just wondering what everyone’s take is on this... Do you think parents will “slow” down a bit when everything returns to normal? Meaning... more hands on parenting. I live in an upper class town, where parents have the means to put their child in every enrichment class possible. On top of daycare/school, it leaves very little time for parent child interaction and face time. In the last year, one parent said to me her twin 4 year olds don’t go to the playground, because they rarely have time due to their schedules and she rarely sees her 9 year old due to her schedule (and this was a stay at home mom). One friends mother of my almost 10 year old, said her child didn’t have anytime for a play date for one mont, due to after school classes. We had to schedule a day for them to play a month and a half out!
Now, there has been a shift. We have seen kids we have never seen before playing in their yards (wait, what? there’s kids that live there??), and a walk that I take my dog and kids to each week has had families there! There are never families there! The kids were running freely.

This is a sore spot for me, because I have been saying this all along... after caring for multiple children who had everything they wanted material wise, but were missing the thing they wanted the most... time from their parents.

And now, on the local message boards. parents are in a frenzy being home with their kids (and we are only a week and a half in)...

Funny enough, before his all broke out, I ordered the book; The Epidemic by child psychiatrist Robert Shaw. Connection with family was one of the thing he mentioned over and over in the book...

Anyway... just wondering someone’s thoughts on this. Maybe it’s different in your location?

Hope you all stay healthy and well. Xx

[Ariana]

I definitely see it all the time too! My sister in law leaves for work a full hour before she needs to for no good reason and comes home an hour later just because her kids had care. Now suddenly she is able to leave later and come home earlier because she no longer has care. Then all weekend long she is going from one hockey practice to another all over town with her two boys. Our life is SOOOOO different. Now that everything is closed maybe they will be “forced” to spend time together but at the same time with electronics there won’t likely be much difference.

[Ms.Kay]

I was just saying to another provider...I give it 10-12 at home with their kids...and parents will be asking for a few hours here amd.there with us.

and they'll pay a full day to do it! hehe😈😈

[sunshst]

Yep, that's definitely coming up. They just don't want to spend any time with their own children.

[Lil_Diddle]

I was just saying to another provider...I give it 10-12 at home with their kids...and parents will be asking for a few hours here amd.there with us.

and they'll pay a full day to do it! hehe😈😈

I have all teachers kids, and all but one family was ok keeping their children home. At first when school was cancelled I said I would be open to taking kids, but anyone that opted to keep their kids would be given a 50% discount. the mom and dad in the family that wants to bring their kids both work with the school district. As soon as schools were cancelled dad texted and asked if I would still be taking kids. I said yes, but I did change my operational hours and said I wouldn’t be offering breakfast. My hours would be 8-4. As things are getting worse in my area I messaged them and said I’m not really comfortable. They have 3 kids including a toddler. They messaged me back and that’s when it broke my heart, and angered me because I caught them in so many lies. They forget I have ALL teacher kids and it’s a small community I have connections on the school and district offices all the way down to cafeteria workers and bus drivers. One parent is a principal the other is a para. Anyways, one parent messaged me that they had to go in or they wouldn’t get paid. The principal parent was expected in the office all day and the para parent had to go make lunches and distribute them on the curb outside the school. They would need me 8 hours per day. That’s when I did some digging. The school website said people would be in offices from 8-12 daily and that lunches were being made by trained food service staff. Food distribution would be from 11-12. Now, to call them on their BS. Mom said they wouldn’t get paid... I believe the principal parent has to go into the office 8-12 and also has a lot on their plate. They are a salaried employee and no issues with pay. As for the other, I discreetly messaged some friends that are paras. They are getting paid through their contract and not expected to do any extra work. BS point two. The para parent has to help make and distribute lunches to get paid. So I called my friend who works in one of the cafeterias. All lunch service personnel are expected to return to work in rotating shifts. No one besides trained staff are allowed to help in the kitchen. So at most this para parent would be needed from 10:30-12:30. Not the 8-4 that they told me I was needed. It’s also obvious this para parent volunteered to pass out lunches knowing I had concerns with children coming. With three kids and a 50% discount they could save almost $400 to keep their kids home. Instead they were willing to pay to get out of parenting their kids. I finally just got up my backbone and told them no, I did not see it as necessary for their children to be here and that it was no longer optional.

It’s very sad to me.