• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

The Pit Parenting Thread

Yeah, we considered doing a nanny for about 30min. Then realized our house is 1500sf, and with both of us working from home with no office/ability to close ourselves off... adding another person to the equation wouldn't really be helpful (especially if baby can still see us).
 
We are talking about rotating the houses or one of the families has a basement level.
 
We have two neighbors that do that. The two families use one house for the kids and nanny and then "commute" to the other house (like 5 houses down) to do work. Seems to work really well for them.

I'll just stick to spending all of my time in this basement, though.
 
I'm curious how other working parents of young school age children (Kindergarten/Elementary) are handling e-learning. Especially in its new, improved, and refined format !

Allegedly, my son's Elementary School is more or less maintaining a regular school schedule, with all classes occurring on MS Teams. This is compared to the slapdash Spring where everything was an asynchronous assignment and the kids never even saw their teacher.

Anyway, I can imagine a fair amount of facilitation required throughout the day. Is anyone considering an 'E-learning Support Program'? In Forsyth County (NC) they're being offered by Kaleideum, Imprints, and Salem Swim & Gymnastics to name a few. They're grouping kids in small-ish groups by age where a facilitator will ensure they're all in class and on track.

Our two main, conflicting concerns are 1) we're unsure how available we'll be as working parents to assist in this process from home and 2) there's no way one poorly-paid facilitator is going to do that much better with 8 kids all doing 8 different things. Plus, it's not hard to imagine outbreaks occurring at these quasi-school settings. Thoughts?
 
This is the first time where I am glad my kids are in daycare (which is operating somewhat normally and without incident since 5/18...so far) as opposed to school
my kids are 4.5 and 2.5 y/o and ever since the first was 3 months old and I had to stroke that first daycare check I've been impatiently waiting the beginning of kindergarten and an end to the income drain that is daycare, but for now, it's so much better than school. Hopefully this is all over or figured out in the next 12 months and when my oldest starts kindergarten things will be pretty normal
 
We have a rising kindergartner. She is currently in daycare (recently re-enrolled same as bacon) and her daycare is actually going to offer a private kindergarten option, not just a monitoring/facilitating online learning option. We’re probably going to go with that - it’ll have real instruction, the curriculum is going to be equivalent to public school as far as prep for first grade, and the class size is limited to like 10 with same precautions as daycare. If it didn’t have those precautions or limited enrollment I wouldn’t feel comfortable with it.

If something changes with that program, such as a positive case that shuts it down we’ll just enroll in regular school and somehow figure it out coaching her through the online stuff while we work.
 
I'm curious how other working parents of young school age children (Kindergarten/Elementary) are handling e-learning. Especially in its new, improved, and refined format !

Allegedly, my son's Elementary School is more or less maintaining a regular school schedule, with all classes occurring on MS Teams. This is compared to the slapdash Spring where everything was an asynchronous assignment and the kids never even saw their teacher.

Anyway, I can imagine a fair amount of facilitation required throughout the day. Is anyone considering an 'E-learning Support Program'? In Forsyth County (NC) they're being offered by Kaleideum, Imprints, and Salem Swim & Gymnastics to name a few. They're grouping kids in small-ish groups by age where a facilitator will ensure they're all in class and on track.

Our two main, conflicting concerns are 1) we're unsure how available we'll be as working parents to assist in this process from home and 2) there's no way one poorly-paid facilitator is going to do that much better with 8 kids all doing 8 different things. Plus, it's not hard to imagine outbreaks occurring at these quasi-school settings. Thoughts?

Our son is only turning 2 in October, but he’s started at The Montessori School in a couple weeks. They seem to have a good plan, and they are committed to keeping the toddlers as in-person as long as possible. Our pediatrician is pretty insistent that he’s not really at risk at all, just his caregivers, family, and friends. I think we will probably try to limit contact with grandparents for a while.
 
We have a rising 5th and 7th grader as well, who will also be doing a more regular schedule this fall (as opposed to the free-for-all that was this spring's "distance learning.") We're anticipating just having to help them through their days and make sure connections are good, but supposedly their mom is looking into a neighborhood pod. With them being older they're a little more self-sufficient, but both kids have track records of getting distracted/not actually completing work.

I'm not looking forward to this, that's for sure, but I'm thankful we are at least well-connected, educated ourselves, and have devices for everyone. It make my stomach hurt to think how much discrepancy there will be between the 'haves' and 'have nots' in this arrangement.
 
Our public school in Atlanta is virtual for the first 9 weeks (at least)... Impacts my rising 1st grader.

There is a local daycare/preschool that had the misfortune of opening up right as the pandemic hit, which has pivoted to offering classes for K & 1st Grade with our public school's curriculum/assignments.

So, instead of my wife trying to homeschool our 6 year old while also watching our 4 & 2 year olds, we can pay to send the 1st grader to this "normal" school where she'll complete the BS virtual work she's supposed to do (which takes maybe an hour), learn some things from actual teachers, then play/interact with other children outside.

Sucks that it isn't available to (or affordable for) everyone... I know there are some families where either both parents work or there is only one parent in the picture, and I have no idea how they will be able to deal with virtual schooling.

Feels like a lack of schooling is doing more harm than good... I understood why they closed in the Spring (it's easy to shut things down), but the decision to reopen is a lot more difficult (and I suspect it'll get pushed out until 2021).
 
I'm not looking forward to this, that's for sure, but I'm thankful we are at least well-connected, educated ourselves, and have devices for everyone. It make my stomach hurt to think how much discrepancy there will be between the 'haves' and 'have nots' in this arrangement.

Yup. It sucks.
 
Little lady is now 9.5 months old and at her first day of daycare. Technically her 3rd day, I guess, but she started March 16th originally, and then the world closed the next day so she only attended 1.5 days the first go-round. She has no recollection. We did change providers, because the original place was upping prices to $1910/mo for the infant-3yr olds. Now we're "only" paying $1550/mo, and I actually like the place a lot better for various reasons (mostly just the warmth I get from the director and instructors).

I never, ever imagined I would have the opportunity to be home with my baby for the first 9.5 months of her life. I feel really fortunate for that, but holy hell the last five months have been SO HARD. Working full time in a demanding, analytical role AND caring for an increasingly-mobile baby... is damn near impossible. As much as I miss her right now, today has been so easy. Only having to work and not half looking over my shoulder to keep her entertained/keep her from beelining for cords/the fireplace is almost alarmingly easy. Plus, lunchtime? I just got to feed myself when I was hungry without that coming in 2nd behind prepping/feeding/cleaning baby. Incredible.


Yeah. We switched providers and paid two months without him ever attending. His last day in daycare was 3/16.

We finally just pulled him because I can’t justify the cost with no end in sight.

We are interviewing a potential nanny share. We currently split daycare duties with our neighbors and it’s pretty tough. Two almost two year olds that try and kill each other and themselves multiple times a day.

This is basically us right now trying to figure out how to make it work. My wife's maternity leave (aka unpaid FMLA, thanks NC!) basically was ending right as the pandemic started so we just called it quits on her going back after 12 weeks and she's been home since. Tomorrow's her first full time day since mid-October and she's, understandably, kind of a wreck dreading tomorrow. We're lucky that her mom is retired and going to help out as much as she can but I genuinely have no idea how this is all going to go. Her mom is also super-immune compromised so we've been reluctant to even broach daycare to this point not to mention the whole going into school thing. What a time to be alive.

Again, super lucky we've been able to all be at home since March together and have some options but fuuuuuck.
 
Started potty training this morning. Ten minutes in and he’s already peed on the floor. Pray for us.
 
First day of school for the 1st grader at the facility I mentioned above.

My wife dropped her off and said that it looks like a complete clusterfuck... So we'll see what my daughter says when she gets home later.
 
Hopefully she won’t say, “Daddy, it was a complete clusterfuck!”
 
Hopefully she won’t say, “Daddy, it was a complete clusterfuck!”

Ha. She said it was fine. 2 of the 3 Zoom calls she was supposed to join were without incident... The 3rd was a music class that only 1 kid (of 12) was able to get to work. She enjoyed getting to be around the other kids the rest of the day. Abbreviated day, though... Was only like 8am-12pm. I think Thursday is the first "real" day... 8am - 2:30pm.

I think she's going to get sick of being on a computer all day every day very quickly. Says the guy who, since the pandemic started, has been sitting in front of his computer all day everyday.
 
I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the running thread, but at what age is it physically appropriate to start letting your kids jog with you? The 5 yo loves, absolutely loves to run. She already does 5-6 mile hikes pretty regularly and without complaint, and when my wife and I golf, she spends most of the round running beside the cart from shot to shot. What's the ideal age and distance to let her accompany me on my jogs, and should I worry about physical ramifications at this point?
 
I'd definitely check with the pediatrician on any physical ramifications (editing to add: we were basically told it's fine, you don't really get into trouble territory until it's like hours and hours a day or more specific intense training like gymnastics for hours and hours), but ultimately if kiddo is enjoying it and the one instigating it, I don't see the harm in allowing it - as long as it is fun and what she wants to be doing. If she decides halfway through to walk, don't go all "nope, you wanted to run so we are running! pick it up!" (not that you'd do that, but yeah. just don't turn her enthusiasm against her.)
This sounds very similar to my stepdaughter, and she was basically allowed to do the activity she wanted. With going on runs, it was usually like "you can do the first loop with me!" and the first loop of whatever would be about a mile, with her setting the pace. That always seemed to be ok with her. Years later she still loves to run (most days. some days when it's offered as a suggestion she 'hates it') - but if it's her idea, we usually roll with it. Kids are pretty good at self-regulating, and if you feel like she's going to hard you can always play the parent card and rein her back in or encourage her to take a break.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I run w/ my 6yo from time to time... But I'm always aware that it is usually going to end with us about a mile away from our house. She talks a big game, but then reality hits when she gets tired (and it hits suddenly). So it makes for a nice walk back together.

Now that she rides a bike well (and with it being so damn hot), we've been doing more of that than running of late.

We did a 5k together last May (2019) when she had just turned 5... It was a mix of running/walking, but we plan on doing the same one every year so that she can see her improvement. Of course, that got canceled this year, so nevermind. HUGE IMPROVEMENT COMING NEXT YEAR, THOUGH!
 
Our public school in Atlanta is virtual for the first 9 weeks (at least)... Impacts my rising 1st grader.

There is a local daycare/preschool that had the misfortune of opening up right as the pandemic hit, which has pivoted to offering classes for K & 1st Grade with our public school's curriculum/assignments.

So, instead of my wife trying to homeschool our 6 year old while also watching our 4 & 2 year olds, we can pay to send the 1st grader to this "normal" school where she'll complete the BS virtual work she's supposed to do (which takes maybe an hour), learn some things from actual teachers, then play/interact with other children outside.

Sucks that it isn't available to (or affordable for) everyone... I know there are some families where either both parents work or there is only one parent in the picture, and I have no idea how they will be able to deal with virtual schooling.

Feels like a lack of schooling is doing more harm than good... I understood why they closed in the Spring (it's easy to shut things down), but the decision to reopen is a lot more difficult (and I suspect it'll get pushed out until 2021).

I miss actual teachers teaching my kids. A lot. Virtual does not count at all.
 
Back
Top