Objective: Our paper aims to examine whether and how families’ socioe- conomic status (SES) affects the stresses they face in balancing child care and employment due to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused daycare centers to pe- riodically close and reopen due to local infectious diseases and political reg- ulations. Meanwhile, many employees were forced to work from home. This new situation has created significant challenges for families, especially moth- ers, in balancing family and work.Method: Using a large longitudinal survey of approximately 8,000 German parents, with up to 10 data collection points between November 2020 and Au- gust 2021 (approximately 35,000 parents per month), we used random-effects panel models to examine the longitudinal effects of pandemic-related changes on several stress indicators, including child affectivity, caregiver stress, and family climate.Results: Our study found a clear positive effect of daycare reopenings for all income levels. Affluent families reported less stress when adopting a more traditional family model, i.e., the male breadwinner model. Less affluent families were most negatively affected by the switch to home-based work.Conclusion: The results suggest that the living arrangements of affluent two-income families were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. Poorer families reported the most problems with home-based work and had less flexibility in organizing their division of labor.