Childcare and Work During the Pandemic An Ordeal for Mothers and Fathers

Many people are in the same situation as Michael Priester and his wife: Both suddenly found themselves without childcare. Six-year-old Jan’s school remained closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. And the Priesters could no longer take 15-month-old Jonas to his child care provider—precisely because of her pre-existing health conditions.

At first, Michael Priester explains, they were told the children might be able to get emergency childcare. One phone call followed another. In the end, nothing came of it for the family, who lives in Kamen (North Rhine-Westphalia). And a struggle to balance work and childcare began.

“I really want to pitch in with childcare and take some of the burden off my wife,” emphasizes Michael Priester, a service advisor at the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Dortmund. The Priesters got through the first few weeks by using their vacation time. That was followed by reduced work hours—on a weekly rotating basis.

The strain remains high

The strain remains high in many families. Numerous parents report how difficult it was—and still is—to return to work at the office while simultaneously ensuring childcare. One thing is also clear: Childcare and working full-time from home? That doesn’t work—especially not with young children. Creative solutions are therefore often needed.

IG Metall is advocating at the political level for working mothers and fathers. Continued pay for parents who currently have to care for their children at home must be improved and guaranteed for as long as daycare centers, preschools, and schools are not fully reopened and accessible to all children. At the same time, the federal and state governments must work to expand childcare options—as long as the infection situation allows. IG Metall calls on employers to support employees in this ongoing crisis through flexible work arrangements—whether at the workplace or while working from home.

“It just brings us closer together”

Michael Priester and his family are hoping that a certain sense of normalcy will return as soon as possible and that the children can be cared for as they were before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially since there’s now plenty to do at work: the sales floor and auto repair shop have since reopened for regular business. Customers are coming in.

However, the 40-year-old has found one silver lining in the difficult situation that has lasted for many weeks: “My sons are now interacting with me in a completely different way because we’ve been able to spend so much time together. It just brings us closer.”