Eoin Daly: Working from home leaves parents in the lurch

To put it bluntly, it is not really possible to ‘work’ in any sense while having a very young child in your care, and especially with more than one at a time

While there are challenges for all parents working from home, parents of babies and toddlers face a different, sharper dilemma. Picture: iStock/PA

When most people think of parents working from home, they probably imagine awkward arrangements with kids occupying themselves in the background while their parents spend the day on Zoom. The kids might work, half-supervised. on lessons sent from school, or even play together in a garden if they are lucky. 

That's a difficult, far from ideal arrangement, but it's just about doable for limited periods during a national crisis. It might involve more screen time and snacks and so on — not great, but possible to cope with for a while.