Anybody still looking after Grandchildren ?

Thanks Katyj.A restless night here too.It's so worrying for everyone.And whilst I will see more of our DGC I realise for grans who regularly help they will feel so frustrated at separation. Here's hoping this awful time is over soon.

Good luck washerwoman and everyone else trying to keep going, it’s just awful so much uncertainty, sometimes there is no choice we have to look after grandchildren. We will be having ours as long as needed. I’ve been awake since 4 am worrying about it all.

Our DD is a frontline health worker called back early from maternity leave to work and the nursery her 3 year old attends plus her baby was due to start is closing. The staff were in tears yesterday because it sounds as if it is permanent and not only has DD lost her childcare but the lovely girls have lost their jobs.
So I will be doing full days of childcare when she works. I'm in my 60s and healthy -well I think so but if I get the virus we will see - But what choice to we have.Her partner could well be laid off and that would be a bigger disaster for them so needs must.I adore the LOs and it will be hard work but hopefully some days off in between shifts- so I really ought to get some sleep now to conserve energy!

Just informed by text we won't be seeing grandsons at all. I'm heartbroken. We usually have them at least two days and one night a week. I think our daughter is being manipulative and mean, not careful out of real concern.

The Prime Minister was quite clear when he spoke earlier, Grandparents are NOT to look after the children. This is to protect us and stop us from overwhelming the NHS.

Please do not ignore this for everyone's sake.

I’ve just seen the schools are closing. Whose going to look after all the children now. Our dil can work from home some of the time, but it’s very difficult with a 2 and 4 year old. Think we’re going to be very busy.

Thats not going to happen, how do they pay bills etc. Now they have announced uk schools to close from Friday i will be looking after 3 maybe 4 more. ??‍♀️

The choice is that one of them, preferably the lowest earner, takes parental leave.
Rather than risk your health!

I am still looking after my 2 year old grandson full time. What choice do i have both parents at work, he was supposed to start nursery a couple of days a week in April but they have been told admissions on hold until the virus is over.

Items of cutlery and crockery can be scalded or boiled and set aside in a covered container for use by children or others who may be infected.

Towels likewise.

JuliaM as you are in the high risk group you should not risk making yourselves a burden on the health service by having these children in your house. I trust your daughter understands this by now.

I mentioned earlier that we have our grandson 2 nights a week and last night was one of those nights. I had just got him fed when his father turned up straight off the train from London. I am more than cross.

our childcare came to an abrupt stop yesterday. the smallest one had a cough and fever on monday night and the family were advised to self isolate for 14 days

My grandchildren from Hong Kong have been with us for the last six weeks with their nanny. They would like to go back now but getting a flight which will take them is proving difficult. They’ve already had one trip to Heathrow only to be denied access to the flight which was not accepting anyone other than their own nationals even though they had a booking! I’m in my late 60s and my husband is in his 70s. They are going back to Heathrow on Friday hopefully to fly home, seats are booked and fingers crossed. It’s been a long and tiring visit for us. Just hoping they can now get home otherwise they’re in for an even longer stay and nowhere that we can safely take them now to entertain them.

It’s so sad! Same in our family. But thank goodness for WhatsApp, face timing etc!

BlueSapphire, same with our daughters and their four children, who we usually care for at least one full day plus over nights etc. We're face timing to keep in touch with the four under 5 year olds. I keep reminding myself we're lucky to be able to do that. We have three birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day and other family events planned - not any more they aren't.

I normally pick younger DGD up from school twice a week, but DS has put a stop to that and is keeping both girls away, as he doesn't want to risk me catching anything from them. They are also making other arrangements for the Easter holidays.

We have a relative who is insisting on still doing the school run for his grandchildren. This is despite his wife having several health problems, including a lung condition. He has unstable blood pressure.

He says his family can’t manage without him, they might have to yet!

DD phoned me today and said that a GP friend of hers had told her that on no account should she there be any contact between me and my grandchildren. I warned my son last week that I would be unavailable for child care if the school and nursery closed [although if it was a case of someone being ill with the virus I'd do anything that was needed].

Dear dancingfeet,
Please, please don’t risk your health in this way. Your children will have to cope and should not be allowing you to take these risks. At least one parent is likely to be working from home soon and they will have to manage. If they do lose their job, they may be poorer but they won’t starve to death and you would be at very high risk should you be infected.
If you (and others in similar positions) won’t do it for yourselves, then do it because the ventilator you are likely need in the event you catch Covid-19, may be denied the next patient in line.
I know you are being the opposite of selfish, I’m just scratching around for reasons that might persuade you to take better care of yourself.
We are used to making sacrifices for our children, but this is not your life for theirs; this is risking your precious life to make your adult children’s lives easier and economically better.
Would you have made that choice for your own mother in the same circumstances? To risk her life to help with your children?

We are still planning to have two of ours for 10 days over easter. I am in a high risk group but the chances of getting C-19 are vanishingly small and worth the risk. We are partially self isolating but not really stressed about it. I have survived cancer, pancreatitis, liver infection., two recent ops. Life goes on.

We are at my daughters for what will be the last time at the moment waiting for our grandson to come home from school. He will come in and distance himself from us until his parents come home. This is what we have been agreed between us. I am being mega careful around their house and around him, so hopefully all will be well, but the thought of not helping out is breaking my heart.

We have withdrawn our 12 year old grandchildren from school as they are living with us at the moment so that we can all isolate because of our underlying health problems. The schools were very supportive and are only partially open anyway because of staff shortages, and with the announcement of pregnancy being included amongst the issues,that can only get worse.

We have no choice but to watch our grandchild. Both parents are in jobs that will be required during this time. They will not be working from home at all. My husband will do most of the looking after as I have a health condition. We make sure our grandchild washes hands as soon as they comes in. Like others I clean before and after they have gone. There is nothing else for it. We take precautions and hope for the best. Hoping and praying the situation does not get any worse.

Similar situation here jenpax My DS and DDiL work in industry . They have 3 school aged children and rely on me to do school runs for the youngest. My DD with a baby works in a coffee shop in the city . She relies on me 2 days /overnight every week . My DH is 68 but has a lot of health problems . I am 58 and have health issues myself but I still need to run our small business . My dad is in his 80’s and relies on me for everything. I feeling distraught thinking about it all .