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It’s official. My son has moved into a “big boy bed.” No more nursery, time for a kid bedroom. We changed out his sweet canvas of elephants holding blue balloons for his preferred construction vehicles. The most expensive part of redecorating a room is the rug. Or maybe it is just that I don’t place as much value on rugs as they seem to cost. Either way, rugs can be very expensive, and if my son is anything like me, he will take a black crayon to it any day now (a story my mom somehow let me live to tell). This adorable rug comes in several bright, punchy colors that would be perfect for decorating a child’s bedroom. It has over 8,000 reviews and is very reasonably priced at around $71 at Amazon, depending on size and color. Solo Solid Shag Rug
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AwayEmily says
My daycare hasn’t closed yet but I suspect it’s imminent. I was hoping that in this thread we could crowdsource what we’re doing to prepare for being home with kids for a long while (not in terms of food/supplies, but in terms of actually keeping them occupied). I’ve realized I probably need to stock up a little on supplies — both my 2yo and 4yo go to daycare full-time, so we’ve never bothered investing in all that many activities. Thank goodness it’s warm enough that we can go outside — I’m planning on lots of outdoor playtime/nature walks/scavenger hunts. Here’s my to-get list so far…
– finger paint and regular paint, for messy outside painting
– a ball (ours have all gotten mysteriously lost)
– a push trike for the 2yo (the 4yo has a scooter) so we can on walks together
– a few of the Alex craft kids you all have recommended for the 4yo
AwayEmily says
Oh, I’m also going to go to the library in the next day or so, return all of our current books, and get a giant batch of new ones, since I anticipate libraries closing as well.
Spirograph says
Our libraries are already closed.
I think your list is good. Don’t underestimate the appeal of sticks, rocks, and flowers in your yard. I’d add
– bubbles
– sidewalk chalk
– pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and pompoms if you want to do crafting
– save TP / paper towel rolls and cardboard boxes
My daughter has been begging me to make a doll bed, so we may do that in the next couple weeks. Shoebox + fabric scraps.
Anon says
This probably won’t work for the ages of your kids, but my friend is already WFH w/ her kid who is 8 or 9 years old I think. She tricked out her kid’s room with all the stuff he could ever have wanted. She moved a TV in there, a video game system, books. Essentially, all traditional parenting advice went out the window and it is survival mode. She made a schedule of when he needs to stay in the room and she has an alarm that goes off when he’s allowed to come out. Obviously, he can go to the bathroom and stuff but he can’t come ask her for things. Her spouse is still working in the office and she has tons of video conference calls. She shoots for two hours at a time.
So kiddo gets up at 7, has breakfast, has to stay in his room 8-10, they chat at 10 about what they each did in the past 2 hours, then kiddo is back in his room until 12:30, then they have lunch together, etc. She would never normally parent this way but it is working for now and desperate times call for desperate measures.
What’s funny is how much parenting has changed over the years because this reminds me a lot of my summers as a kid. I had a SAHM but we didn’t do any special activities. I was supposed to entertain myself and I mostly did that with TV, video games and reading.
Cb says
I’ve been looking at all the toddler activity instagram accounts and praying the weather improves so we can be outside. We’ve got a small garden/
-Seeds for planting
-Sidewalk chalk
-Fresh playdough, paints, and crayons
-Some colored paper to use for sorting
-A bag of sand and a storage bin so we can make a construction site storage bin
-A big ball
-Swing in the garden
I’m also going to get my son fully potty trained.
Recs I’d like:
-Yoga video for kids?
-An app for learning letters? My 2.5 year old is really into letters at the moment
I’ve also come up with a bit of a schedule that should allow my husband and I 4-5 hours a work each. Luckily my son still naps.
Anonymous says
Check out the Cosmic Kids Yoga videos on YouTube. They’re pretty adorable.
Anonymous says
+1 to Cosmic Kids.
Anonymous says
Late reply, but ABC phonics was a great app for letters.
CPA Lady says
I went a little bananas yesterday and stocked up on food, medicine, etc. And then placed a toy order.
But it’s tax season and I HAVE to be able to get some actual work done while I’m WFH. My husband normally works from home and I’m thinking maybe if we take shifts that will help? There will be a lot of screen time, for sure.
We’re pretty well stocked on craft supplies, sidewalk chalk, stomp rockets, etc.
Things I ordered:
– a huge cardboard castle that my kid can color
– a water table that she can play with on the back porch
– a marble run
– one of those velcro catcher with tennis balls yard games
Cb, as far as yoga videos, my kid really likes the Cosmic Kids videos on you tube.
Anonymous says
Hey, CPA Lady, out of curiosity, are there any rumors about tax deadlines being pushed back? I’m in IP, and I’ve heard nothing from the USPTO, except for all in-person meetings (interviews with Examiners and hearings) will be switched to electronic after today. Not that I really expect to with electronic filing and all…but curious.
Sorry to go off-topic!
CPA Lady says
Yeah, there are rumors, but we’re still working as fast as possible to get as much done as we can. A lot of business returns are due Monday, so we’re frantically wrapping up the last of those. We still have a ton of individual and trust returns to get out in the next month.
I honestly am not sure how we’re going to handle some of our clients. We have a lot of older/elderly clients who don’t do well with technology and need a lot of hand holding to walk them through the process of signing e-file authorizations, handling payments, etc. Other than getting work done while trying to take care of a cooped up young child, it’s my biggest concern this tax season.
lsw says
Where did you get the cardboard castle? Amazon? My son had fun playing with one of those when childcare was provided at a recent event and we wanted to pick up one for emergency stay home situations.
CPA Lady says
yep! They have a lot of options. shipping is a little longer than usual, but such is life. I assume we’re going to be quarantined for a good long while.
Anon says
If I’m being completely honest, when our kid’s schools eventually close I anticipate my 4 and 5 year olds watching hours and hours of the Lion Guard (on Disney+. They are addicted).
But, the things that keep them entertained for longer than a few minutes that we will also do:
1) Nothing self entertains my kiddos for longer than magnatiles, hands down.
2) Close second are those wood block sets they use to build, like with the rectangles and wood poles and triangles and stuff.
3) We got an Osmo this year for XMas and it has been very good at keeping them engaged.
4) Legos!!! Especially projects that are for maybe just a little older than your kids are at but you can work on together and take awhile. You can also buy books that have ideas for other things to make with your existing legos, but you do have to accumulate a lot first in order to do these.
5) The Alex craft kits are great.
6) Those things where they “excavate” dinosaurs from the eggs by digging.
7) ABC Mouse when needed.
Good luck!!
anne-on says
Older kid (2nd grade) but a Google Classroom is being set up by the mom’s in his class. We’re uploading the school’s required curriculum and any other ideas/suggestions for content they can do. The kids are planning to google hangout with each other, and they have computers/kindles sent home. I also went a bit nuts ordering handwriting and math workbooks and we also have science and art curriculum (homeschooling) books at the moment. Have started a list of all the open outdoor spaces for him to run around in, but our libraries and museums are all closed already.
Ms B says
Please recommend your workbooks. The Kid is the same grade as yours; spring break camp got cancelled and we are worried that school will be shut down the week after, so we need to pick up enrichment activities.
anne-on says
Good luck, it is SO hard. For writing we’re doing Handwriting without tears (printing and numbers) and then, intro to cursive and cursive without tears (if school is still closed by April). The school he’s in uses Singapore math, so I bought the supplemental books they suggested. I also got this for reading comprehension:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439517796/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
We have a book of writing prompts and he has to write 5 sentences every day after either reading those, or about the book he’s reading (school requires 30 minutes of daily reading). I also picked up this for science:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1478738693/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this for art:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874778271/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Anonymous says
Beast Academy math workbooks are really great. My teacher mom recommended them to me, and they start at 2nd grade level. They’re comic book style with fun ways to think about math concepts + exercises. My son is a little young to do them independently because of his reading skills, but he enjoys them if I read the stories to him, first.
Anonymous says
My kids are 2,4 and 6. It is rainy today. I sent them outside to dig for worms in rain coats and boots.
I’m sitting at the kitchen table working and watching them in the back yard. They’ve been out for an hour. I expect everyone will need a bath soon but I got some emails out.
Pogo says
Ha, somewhat related, we are ordering worms for a worm composter and we told my son they can be his pets. He was THRILLED and this is my forever momhack when kids ask for pets now.
Ms B says
We are hitting up the puzzle store this weekend to stock up. At your kids’ ages, I highly recommend the Melissa & Doug floor puzzles – fire engine, dinos, alphabet train, safari and underwater all got heavy play at our house. Bonus: When your kids age out of them, many libraries accept puzzles in good condition.
Anonanonanon says
My 9 year old will be fine, I’ll just let him play video games. But my 2-year-old….I don’t know what we’re going to do. She cannot play by herself. Guess she’ll learn.
Anon says
Can the 9 year old play with the 2 year old? I know that’s often just wishful thinking.
Anonanonanon says
He could and I would ask him to for important calls, I try to avoid having him become babysitter because I’m sure it’s not fun for him, but desperate times…
Anonymous says
Why do you assume it’s not fun for him? My oldest loves playing with her little brothers. Ages 2-3 were the favorite because they were old enough to dress up/play with but not so old that they have opinions on how the play should go and are just terribly excited that the big sibling is playing with them.
Anonymous says
Buying BusyToddler Playing Preschool for my 3 year old. Each “lesson” takes 45 mins/day followed by an independent activity. Thanking god the weather is nice. Will get out the water table, scooter rides, walks, we can plant our veggies/flowers soon (they’re prepped and been growing inside).
Agh nanny question says
What’s everyone doing about nannies? My office has gone work from home but I expect workflow to be light. DH will be work from home starting Monday – probably actually working at least some. We have three kids five and under including an 11 month old so honestly life would just be easier with our nanny. (If kids going to be home for weeks, would be ideal if one of us could focus on older two and one on baby)
I’ve already told her to stay home if sick or unwell or if she feels uncomfortable and that we’d pay her regardless. But on interests of flattening the curve should we have her stay home? We’re already avoiding my older parents. I’m in Houston so we’ve had our first couple cases of community transmission. Oh and she drives her own car to work.
Anonymous says
Driving to work in her own car means that her staying home will do little to flatten the curve and she likely needs the income so I would continue to have her come at this stage and reevaluate in a week.
For people are WFH and whose nannies commute via public transport – allowing changed hours so they can commute at off peak times would help with social distancing (like in Italy with everyone sitting 3 feet apart on subway).
Anonymous says
Have her come and work
Audrey III says
Wondering about this too. I had the same convo w/ my nanny this morning. Her husband is not working (and not being paid) b/c he works in events services for the federal gov’t and many events have been cancelled. She is in her early 50s and she wants to still come help us with the kids. We are in DC area, and she lives 5 minutes from us and drives her own car.
Anonymous says
I would have her come. Risk is low and routine is very good for children. I’m focusing on maintain low risk routine things as much as possible within the concept of social distancing.
NYCer says
Our nanny (mid-40s) is still coming so long as she is feeling 100% healthy.
Anonymous says
What if you’re not feeling 100% healthy?
I have allergies normally and am just a gunky person. And we’ve suddenly gone into pollen-spring, so I’m a coughing mess today. Which would be OK if we hadn’t just had our first cases, which we did yesterday in a building I was in earlier this week for several hours while eating (so hands near face). OK? Not OK b/c not 100% OK? I have no idea what to do.
Anon says
I’m in the same position and opted to work from home for the morning to see if it gets worse or stays the same. It actually got better after my allergy meds so I’m keeping an afternoon appointment and will run into the office for the last hour of the day to sign stuff. If it got worse or if I spike a fever throughout the day I would have cancelled. I still have a sore throat, itchy eyes and phlegm but I know I get them every year at this time.
NYCer says
Honestly, I don’t know the right answer either. It is coming up on allergy season which only compounds the issue. Maybe check your temperature and use that as a guideline? Although I would hesitate to go out much with any sort of cough.
I do think that sneezing and runny noses are generally not symptoms of COVID-19, so I would be less concerned about either of those.
Pogo says
Keep taking your temperature constantly. My son came down with a cold this weekend, which I caught. I monitored him every few hours over the weekend, then did the same for myself once I got it. I do not believe you can have COVID19 with no fever spike. However, our potential contact was very low and I had no reason to believe we had been exposed.
Jessamyn says
I cancelled our babysitter for spring break. My friend who is a pediatrician said to assume everyone is infected. Well, if I’m making that assumption, I wouldn’t have the babysitter come over. I’m planning to WFH and watch the kids, and if my work says I have to take sick leave or PTO to do so, so be it.
AnonATL says
Are shag rugs practical in a kid’s room? I’m in nursery-decorating mode for our first, and I can’t imagine trying to keep a high pile rug clean of kid mess. Not to mention hidden toys to step on…
Happily taking suggestions for rugs around this price point that aren’t high pile or shag. We have dogs. Prefer something solid colored or at most with stripes for a little boy’s room.
Happy friday y’all!
Pogo says
I would never do shag in a kids room. Nope. Sorry April, good luck with that lol.
AwayEmily says
I have very clear memories of stepping on BROKEN GLASS in a shag rug when I was five. My foot got all cut up. Of course, broken glass can happen anywhere…but it’s a lot harder to spot and/or clean up when it’s in a shag rug.
Anonymous says
I stepped on a pin in shag carpet when I was a kid. Broken glass is much worse!
NYCer says
+1.
Anon says
We have shag carpet and it’s been fine. In my experience, kids don’t really get the floor dirty. Maybe in the blowout diaper stage (the first six months) but if you always set them on a blanket or activity mat it won’t affect your rug. There are a couple stains on our carpet but they are due to me spilling a drink.
Anonymous says
I had a shag rug in my room as a kid – it was the 70s – and found it helpful for doing headstands. I would grab the shag for extra balance assistance. It was green – see 70s – and I liked that it was like grass. No problems with it.
Anon says
We have a shag area rug in our kids room. It’s been fine.
lsw says
Ruggable just came out with washable shag rugs and I am intrigued!
anonn says
We have a smallish one in her room as a play area, like 3×5, she loves it, and I like that it creates the play-zone for the room. No issues, we can throw it in the wash if needed. We don’t eat in bedrooms, its not in a path that would get walked on frequently, I assume the cleaning ladies vacuum it….. We have a low pile rug in the rest of her room.
WWYD? says
I know everyone is probably tired of these … but help! My boss and several other coworkers, all with a lot of seniority/respect and levels above me, just returned from a large event in a very high risk city with community spread (think top places you should not go right now.) I’m currently pregnant. We don’t have community spread yet where I am and no one is talking about working from home. Everyone is pretty much business as usual. I don’t want to overreact or come off as criticizing them for going (although frankly it was totally unnecessary and I am frustrated by it). But I’m honestly scared. What would you do?
Anonymous says
I’d lie (if necessary) and say that my doctor recommended I WFH for a few weeks. But I’m pretty sure I could have gotten my doctor to help me out in that situation.
Anonymous says
It’s Friday. By Monday, if they aren’t very sick, or alarmed that they can be, you should be OK. From this. At this moment. I think that community spread is just going to come anyway.
Anonymous says
Is public health not advising for people coming from places with known community spread to self-isolate for 14 days? We don’t have it yet but that’s the main advice right now. Stay in your office today and definitely talk to your doctor this afternoon about WFH for next week.
Anon says
Annoyingly it’s only people coming from other countries who are being asked to self-isolate, not NYC and Seattle, etc. it makes zero sense.
SC says
Same here. My company just sent an email asking us to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from foreign travel. We almost certainly had community spread here during Mardi Gras over 2 weeks ago (several other states have “first” patients who traveled to New Orleans for Mardi Gras).
Pogo says
Correct. The only people quarantined in my office currently have family members who just returned from Italy; we also have some people who will be in quarantine when they return from Germany. For whatever reason, travel to Seattle or NYC isn’t mentioned (though we don’t have offices there so it would only be from personal travel, or family).
Spirograph says
At this point, it seems like willful ignorance at best or complete irresponsibility at worst to let people travel to a high-risk area and then waltz back into the office. I’d talk to your doctor ASAP and then call your boss to say you’re going to finish out the day from home and wfh next week.
anne-on says
I’d have my doctor write me some sort of note about WFH. You know your practice, but there were several ‘kindly’ types vs. the ‘brisk/brusque’ types at my practice, and I’d have leaned on the former to talk about why it’d be best for you to WFH for 2 weeks (or whatever) until the cases flatten out.
Any pre-exisiting conditions they can truthfully mention? Pregnancy decreases the efficiency of your lungs anyway so it is, in and of itself, a massive risk for any other respiratory illnesses.
Anonymous says
Earlier this week I learned that co-workers would be permitted back into the office after returning from Washington. I e-mailed HR and included links to comparable organizations’ policies requiring self-quarantine for people returning from WA, NY, and CA. Within 48 hours, HR had issued a self-quarantine directive. So I would go to HR and request that they formulate a blanket policy, rather than requesting an individual WFH arrangement.
Michigan says
Last night, Michigan’s governor closed all schools for three week. Because of spring break timing, my kids are off now until April 13. Wednesday, my husband was told to WFH indefinitely, and I just got that same direction today. I had to cancel vacation to the west coast that I have been planning for 9 months. I am sad and disappointed and find this a very bold move, but I understand why we are doing this.
I’m dreaming of renting a house somewhere warm and setting up shop for a month.
Anonymous says
Idk why you find this a bold move
Anonymous says
It is really disruptive for working parents and really bad for poor kids who rely on schools to feed them 9 months of the year (our school serves free breakfast daily in addition to lunch), especially if their parents have to take off work to care for them over this period of time. I can’t live for a month on a week’s worth of income and I doubt most people can.
Anonymous says
It’s disruptive but necessary. South Korea shut things down much quicker than Italy. Italy’s death rate is like 8 times higher than South Korea because they waited too long. Other countries are learning from that and trying to flatten the curve sooner. A large percentage of the population will be infected as no one has an immunity to this but if the curve can be flattened, the hospitals don’t get overrun and the death rate isn’t so bad. It’s not that deadly is decent hospital access can be maintained to treat the worst cases.
Anonymous says
The calculus is that in my SEUS city, >50% of the students in public schools are very, very poor. Their parents live hand to mouth at best. Closing the schools mean that the parents who work lose 25% of their monthly income per week, and we may close for 2-3 weeks. But it gets worse, b/c their kids often get 10 meals/week at school (free breakfast + free lunch), so their expenses go up as their income plummets.
Private schools have already cancelled for 3 weeks (1 week of spring break + 2 other weeks). Public school activities are cancelled. School is open b/c certain harm to many > uncertain harm to few. BUT it is a really, really tough call and I suspect they will revisit it depending on how things go (we got our first cases yesterday, just 2-3).
Y’ALL: donate to food banks and it may help schools decide to close
Spirograph says
Yes, but it’s also really disruptive if the healthcare system collapses and a bunch of people die. It’s a lesser of two evils situation.
I am holding out hope that there will be some financial safety net legislation passed. I, personally, will be fine, but there is a lot of need out there. My county is committed to continuing to provide food to kids who need it. I’m not sure what the exact plans are, but solving for food is a lot easier than solving for death.
Anon Lawyer says
A lot of districts are working on ways to make sure kids still get fed.
Anonymous says
There is really no precedent for this though, esp. if cafeteria workers have kids and esp. if school buildings themselves shut down. I think that they need to figure it out before closing schools.
Extra anon for this says
Cascading economic and societal impacts. A lot are closing against the advice of their local health official. It is going to impact our healthcare system- a lot of the staff in nursing homes, for example, are hourly workers who are going to make the choice between paying more than they’ll make an hour for a babysitter or not showing up to work. They struggle to have people show up for snow days, so imagine this.
It is going to affect nurses, many of whom are not the primary breadwinners in their family and may quit if schools are closed for an extended period of time, they’re not getting paid overtime for extra hours, etc.
Public health workers do NOT get overtime at most health departments (it’s very easy to classify them a salaried exempt and pay them $40K/year in a HCOL) and were already spending extra money for childcare due to working 12+ hours a day on these outbreaks. Now they have to find and pay for childcare for 13+ hours a day with schools closed, I imagine some are going to quit.
Also, there is a fatigue factor. So you close for two weeks before there are any cases associated with a school. then what happens two weeks from now if it’s more widespread and then public health is actually recommending closures of 4 weeks or so. next thing you know, they have been closed for months
Michigan says
It is a bold move because there are 12 confirmed cases in Michigan. In my district we have a high percentage of kids who are food insecure and count on getting breakfast & lunch at school. Most kids have two working parents, not all of whom can work from home. I said I understand from a public health perspective why they are doing this, but there are far reaching implications.
Anonymous says
Many school districts are figuring out how to get these students fed. I’m not sure if that’s the case in Michigan, but it is the case elseware. I’m in Maryland fwiw where all schools are closed as well. If you feel compelled, donate to your local food babk
Anonymous says
I honestly don’t see how this works unless the school buses drive bagged breakfast/lunch to the stops kids get on for the bus each day. Parents with multiple kids aren’t going to be able to handle getting kids somewhere to eat 2x/day (and is that a good idea if you are supposed to social distance)? Not everyone has a car and IDK if you want lots of people/kids on buses.
I want something to work, but our school feeds about 25% of our kids two of their daily meals and those kids often go to summer programs that the school district runs partially just to be fed there. School breaks are tough even. This will be much longer and churches in my city are shutting down so that’s not going to be an option.
Anonymous says
I’m sure you know this but testing is incredibly limited, and most experts believe way more people have it than the tests suggest. The Ohio governor said their best estimate is that 100,000 people in the state have it, and they have only five people who have actually tested positive. If it scaled linearly, 12 positive tests would translate to over 200,000 people who are positive for it in Michigan.
Cb says
Some parent colleagues have been joking about renting a big house and setting up a co-operative. 6 adults, 3 children, we could rotate childminding and cooking duties, and each get some work done each day.
anne-on says
Reach out to the other parents in your kids class and in your neighborhood, start a text chain and see what people can do. Lots of people are impacted by this and if you can offer help/solutions this is the time to do it. I already trade chunks of time with the neighbors during snow day (I’ll do 9-12, feed the kids lunch, if you do 12-4 and handle snack) and am trying to set up something similar now. I’d rather be managing 6 kids for 4 hours and then have 4 hours of peace than trying to half work/half parent.
Anonymous says
Isn’t this like the opposite of social distancing though?
Anonymous says
Exactly. And then when someone starts coughing . . .
anon says
. . . vote them off the island.
Anon says
It’s an improvement on school though. School is 30 kids to a class. Sharing child care with a neighbor is 4-6 kids. The reality is you are only exposing them to one other household instead of a bunch of other households.
Cb says
Yes, but I guess it is more contained. I’d only do it if everyone was WFH? We take public transport to get to work and nursery, so sticking at home is definitely better. We may meet some friends for a walk in the woods because we can maintain distance.
Anon says
There are no cases in my county yet, but my friends and neighbors won’t even do outdoor play dates at this point. I believe a lot of people take social distancing to mean “no avoidable contact with anyone who isn’t immediate family.” I understand why, but my toddler is going to be so sad not having any other kids to play with.
anne-on says
I trust the parents we’re doing it with, and yes, any kid (or parent!) who is sick will pull out. I think this is safer than school (limits the group) while still maintaining SOME sense of normalcy and routine and without the kids (and adults) losing their minds. If our town moves to full on quarantine we’ll stop, but right now we’re not there in our area.
Anonymous says
Kids can spread it even when they are asymptomatic so once the kid is sick, you have already likely been exposed.
Anonymous says
I live in a relatively rural town (23000 in the Midwest) with a lot of income disparity. Our school district put out some guidance yesterday that is essentially a bunch of if/then statements about what will happen after spring break (which occurs the 16-20 with conferences today). I was so pleased to see that they’ve made plans for sack breakfasts and lunches for any students who want them with drop off delivery available.
Anonymous says
This is the solution I think. Use the bus drivers to deliver food from the schools. There doesn’t even need to be person to person contact. Cafeteria staff prep and bag food, drivers take it and drop off at set points on route (not necessarily every house but every street or whatever). Even if they dropped off two days of meals every second day.
Also, this keeps low wage workers like cafeteria staff and bus drivers employed.
Fertility Treatments/COVID-19 - Update says
Went in this morning. They are considering fertility treatments non-elective so anyone who is currently cycling will continue. But, if the cycle doesn’t work they may suspend indefinitely. Not letting my brain go there at this point…. She said they are strongly encouraging (1) social distancing; (2) no bringing family/friends to appointments – patient only; (3) hand sanitizer as you enter and exit the actually office space, even use an alcohol swab as you use the pen on the sign in sheet.
Interestingly, had I not asked, she wouldn’t have discussed it at all with me. Her gloves were off and shew as half way out the door when I stopped to inquire. There’s been no messaging from them through their online system or any other way about these new requirements/ recommendations/procedures.
She said the vast majority of people are moving forward, though there have been a few cancellations initiated by the patient due to COVID-19
Fingers and toes crossed.
SF says
Ways to collaborate well with your spouse when you’re both work from home and your three year old’s preschool is closed for the foreseeable future? What kind of compromises or plans have you set up?
Working on finding at least part time babysitting but it’s not looking positive and I don’t want to hate my husband in week.
Anon says
We’re doing 90 minute shifts beginning at 9am with our 2 year old. We determined AM/PM wasn’t fair because if she naps long/short someone gets screwed. We figure 90 mins is enough time to get some material work and phone calling done vs a shorter window.
We’ve also agreed explicitly that neither of us are doing life saving work. There’s no, “I know I’m watching her right now but I have to take this call…”… hard pass on all of that. These are extenuating circumstances and people are simply going to have to wait (I write this as someone who works in Big Finance in client services/time sensitive transactions so there’s very little that generally waits in my world but I legit DGAF right now).
We’ve also considered asking our daycare teacher/babysitter to help mornings if this doesn’t work out. TBD if she’s even available, but she’d be our first call. Nana and Papi help a ton but I won’t let them in my house right now as they’re part of the most vulnerable population thanks to age and underlying conditions. Daycare is currently open but we fully expect the word later today that it’s closed for the next two weeks.
Anonymous says
Divide and conquer
Emily S. says
We’re thinking each parent will take a block of time to be on parenting duty while the other works and then switch, like, I work (in a room with the door shut) from 8-12, we have lunch together, then I am on parenting 100% from 1-5. On duty parent will try to get kids out of house for at least some of the time so that the house will be totally quiet. If need be, we can either or both log back on after bedtime and theoretically work from 8:30 p.m. on. (I say theoretically because I am not a night person.) That plus sending kids to my in-laws (who usually watch one kid 2x week) for 2-3 days a week. A polite way of saying how it will color my relationship with DH is, I think, to say it will be an adjustment.
Beth @ Parent Lightly says
We try to time block but it’s not always fixed. When WFH with kids here we compare schedules in the morning to see when each person has important meetings/deliverables. Then we try to rearrange our calendars so we’re not both on meetings at once. If that does happen, we park the kids in front of a movie. I also CANNOT focus when both my husband and I are on the phone in the same room. I go to a different room and close the door if we’re both on a call at the same time. Also I find we have to clean up more to keep it from feeling yucky so I task the kids with that to break up the screen time since mommy and daddy are working too. So far, grandma is comfortable helping which is awesome and we will probably try to get some babysitting as well. My husband and I WFH together for at least a few months full time plus Fridays for years so we have a pretty good system.
Anonymous says
5-7 am, everyone works while kiddo sleeps (if you don’t have an OK to Wake clock, now could be a good time to consider it).
7-8 am, everyone has breakfast
8-11 am, one parent works, the other watches kiddo
11am – 12:30 pm, everyone has lunch, some together time, and kiddo gets down for nap (or switch off if there are important meetings at this time)
12:30 pm – 2:30 pm, naptime, everyone works
2:30 – 5:30 pm, parent who didn’t work in the morning works, the parent who did work in the morning watches kiddo
5:30-7:30, everyone has dinner, playtime, bath, get kiddo to bed
7:30-10:00, everyone works and/or has downtime as necessary
This is our typical kiddo is sick schedule. Hubby and I take it day by day on who needs which block of time for calls, etc. If necessary, screentime can help if there is an overlap that can’t be avoided, but someone is still going to need to be the responsible person if something comes up.
Anonanonanon says
We’re looking at a similar model.
5-6:30 both work
6:30-7:30 both tied up with kids
7:30-9:30 parent A work
9:30-11:30 Parent B work
11:30-1:30 toddler in her room napping/resting, both parents work
1:30-3:30 Parent A work
3:30-5:30 Parent B work
5:30-6:30 try to have all hands on deck for dinner, bath, bed
6:45 both log back on for a bit to try to knock out some emails etc.
Anonymous says
My 68 year old mom (no underlying health conditions) is flying home today from a conference in a major US city with multiple COVID-19 cases (but not Seattle or one of the big hotspots). Obviously, in hindsight she shouldn’t have gone, but none of us have a time machine. My city and my parents’ city currently have no cases. My parents were supposed to come drive to visit us next week. Given that my dad is 71 and has multiple underlying health conditions, I believe he’s the person in our family most likely to die from this, and I’m thinking it might make sense to have my mom come alone and drive straight to us, so she doesn’t infect my dad. DH and I are working from home and schools are closed, so I’m not too worried about us infecting her and if she infects us I think we’ll likely be ok (I have some underlying health conditions but my doctors have told me I’m overall low risk given my age and the nature of the conditions). Does this sound logical? I feel weird exposing myself, my husband and my kid to someone I think may have the virus, but statistically we’ll be a lot better off if we get it than my dad would be. My mom refuses to go to a hotel in her city – she’s either moving back into my dad’s house or she’s coming to our house, and coming to our house seems like the lesser of two evils at this point.
Anonymous says
No. Do not have her come to your house if you have underlying health conditions. Send her pictures of the people on ventilators in the ICU in Italy lying facedown because people survive better that way. Explain that you do not want that to be your Dad and that credible sources advise that 30-70% of the population will get this.
I highly suggest that your Dad not your Mom come to you. And she stays home by herself.
Anonymous says
Have your dad come to your house and your mom stay in their house alone for 14 days.
Anonymous says
My dad doesn’t drive, so he has no way of getting here unless he comes with my mom or flies, which he understandably doesn’t want to do.
Anonymous says
Can you or your DH not go pick him up? Having your mom stay with either him or you seems like a really bad idea given your respective health issues.
Anonymous says
I’m not worried about my own health. I have a pre-existing medical condition, but not heart disease, high blood pressure, lung disease, or an immune deficiency and I’ve consulted with my specialists, who have told me they don’t believe my medical condition is linked to worse outcomes from COVID-19 and they believe I’m overall very low risk given my age (early 30s). In contrast, my dad is 71, male (a risk factor in and of itself) and has two of the above conditions that are known risk factors for complications – I think any doctor would agree he’s orders of magnitude more likely to have serious complications from this than I am.
We can’t pick him up – it’s a 10 hour drive one way, there’s no way we can do that round-trip twice in the next week. Also, my mom wouldn’t agree with that. My mom has basically said the only things she’s willing to consider are coming here (with or without my dad) or staying home in the same house as dad. Given her requirements, I think having her come to us is overall the safest thing?
Anonymous says
Is your kid in daycare? Is he allowed to attend if he’s had contact with someone from a known location with community spread? Those might be other factors to consider. Can she self-quarantine in her own home? Like do they have a separate guest suite she could use? It’s mild in many cases but it can also be serious in younger people so I don’t see exposing yourselves unless there are really zero other options.
Anon says
None of these are good solutions. Are you and your kids planning to stay at home while your mom is there? If not, then the risk is that she exposes one of you who could bring it into your city and easily expose someone else who could die of the virus.
Anonymous says
@Anon at 3:37, daycare is closed and DH and I are working full-time from home. No plans to go out into the community at all, except for essentials like groceries and would of course stop even that if any of us became symptomatic. I think having my mom come here is better for society at large, because if she visits us she won’t leave the house at all. If she was alone with my dad, she’d need to leave the house for groceries, etc., at least as long as she wasn’t showing symptoms.
Anonanonanon says
NOVA folks- governor just sent out a release ordering all K-12 schools in virginia closed for a minimum of two weeks.
Boston Legal Eagle says
Ok, another question re: COVID. My dad (early 60s, no history of pneumonia or other respiratory conditions) helps us out with watching sick kids. He’s offered to come over if our daycare is closed. This should be ok, right? He would drive here and none of us have or are planning to be in contact with high-risk areas (beyond the usual risks of us working in the city).
Anonymous says
My parents (67 and 70) are willing to help as long as kids are asymptomatic. Honestly I’m even getting nervous about that, but for the moment we are going to go with it.
JD says
Any tricks for treating Hand/Foot/Mouth in adults? My husband caught it from my son, and he is absolutely miserable, can’t sleep because of painful, itchy hand lesions. We’re already stacking ibuprofen and tylenol, using a lidocaine lotion, and oral benadryl.
Anonymous says
Time and popsicles.