Working from home is just as valid as working in person… You just happen to be at home. You still have all of your responsibilities and tasks, you just do them from a desk in your house instead of doing them at a desk in your office. That certainly doesn’t mean you have time for another job on top of your existing work-from-home job. And childcare is a whole other job. Anyone who tries to tell you anything different is lying to you. Kids take a lot out of you, and that takes away from your job. It’s why we pay nannies and babysitters– we realize how big a job it is. 

It certainly isn’t a good idea to spring childcare on your employees at the last minute. That isn’t a great managerial tactic. If you’ve got kids, it’s you’re responsibility to take care of them. It’s not anyone else’s. It’s certainly not your employee’s responsibility. Sure, you pay them. But you pay them to do their jobs, you don’t pay them to babysit your progeny.