With more and more grandparents getting vaccinated, new options are available to people for child care as grandparents begin to feel safer about helping out.
Ontario’s Stay-at-Home Order permits people to leave their homes and to go into other people’s homes for the purpose of “attending, obtaining or providing child care.” So this means that grandparents can help out at their own home, or at the child’s home. And they can do so regardless of whether the parents are working in or out of the home.
However, the rules continue to ban indoor social gatherings. So looking after the grandkids does not mean grandma or grandpa can stay for dinner, birthday parties or other events once the parent or parents have finished working.
Grandparent child care is not available to everyone – grandparents may not be capable of helping out, close enough to do so, or may still feel unsafe. Parents may still require workplace accommodations, especially while in-person schooling remains closed.