The last two years have been a rollercoaster of a ride, especially when it came to parenting. Parents with older kids had to brace themselves for some interesting times. However, there were plenty of new parents that had their babies born during one of the many lockdowns. All of these parents are facing a new phase of parenting, the possibility of returning back to work after being at home with their kids for so long.
Heading back to work – Childcare
Getting childcare might be tricky, but this depends on where you live in the world. Some childcare providers are working with reduced numbers to prevent the spread of infection. Some may be operating as usual. You might want to ask around and see how the different centres are operating. This is a good idea generally as each center has a different way to operate. Story House Early learning child care has a focus on the whole child and the development needs. This can be a completely different format from another childcare provider. If you are feeling unsure about sending your kids to daycare, you should talk it over with your partner to see how they feel about it and what your options are.
Working from home
Depending on what your job is, you might have the option to work from home instead of heading back to work. Many people have been working from home already, and if you have continued to be a productive employee while you work from home, they may see no reason to argue against this. With a new baby, this is great. All you need to do is keep your baby happy and they will sleep as you click on the keyboard. Working with toddlers in the house is a different kettle of fish. Toddlers are messy and need to be amused so you might need to balance working in between episodes of CocoMelon and Blippi.
Heading Back To Work-Family help
The grandparents of the world found themselves in a unique position as many of them may have retired early in the wake of the pandemic. This has left many of them at a loose end with nothing to do. Some of them may have embraced the nothingness, others are getting stir-crazy. If they are feeling a bit bored, you could enlist them as part of childcare duties. You might only need them one or two days a week but this can be enough. Not only will you get some free childcare, but your babies will also get to bond with their grandparents. You might even get some help from your own brothers and sisters with childcare. This could mean that you are thrown in with your nieces and nephews too but it can be great fun having all of the cousins together like this.
Leaving work
If there is one thing that has happened after the shutdowns, we all learned how to make our own money go that little bit further, so it might be possible for you to leave your job if you can afford it. This is one of those decisions that will have to be discussed with your partner but it is worth having that talk. Leaving work is a big decision and some people regret leaving their jobs for the social aspect. Heading back to work is going to be tough on a lot of people. If you don’t have the option to work from home, and you don’t like the idea of leaving your baby with someone else, you might need to think about leaving work or going part-time.
Be the childcare provider
As we have stated, a lot of childcare providers are not running at full capacity to prevent the spread of infection. This means that there are a lot of parents who might need childcare but can’t get any. It is possible for you to work from home as a childcare provider. This means that you can earn some money, have your own baby close, and provide some much-needed child care for other people. You may need to take some additional training and get registered with the local authority but it is possible. If you have a childcare qualification and worked in a childcare environment before, you have a huge plus over your name. People want people who are experienced but they are also happy if you are qualified.
There you have it, some of the things to think about before you head back to work if you have kids. A lot of people will be in your shoes so don’t be afraid to reach out and speak to others if you are feeling nervous.
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