The little one is about to permanently corrupt his big presentation, due today.
The first time I worked from home, way back in the early 90’s when the only people who worked from home were piano teachers and marijuana growers, my neighbor confessed, “I couldn’t do that. I’d be out playing golf every day.”
Now nearly 20 years later, lots of people work from home, and not all of them dash out to play golf in the middle of the day.
Over the years, I watched the collective mind-shift over working from home as cute novelty to modern necessity, supported by great advances in technology. (In 1993, a client actually asked me if I could receive packages at my home office. Yes, even back then, UPS delivered to condos.)
For me, working from home has never been without its hazards, like the three-year-old neighbor who would escape from his condo during what was supposed to be naptime to repeatedly ring my doorbell, because Mrs. Singer was always home. And nice. And paaaaatient.
But on TV commercials, working from home is often portrayed as a blissful juxtaposition of work with happy children playing in the pool 10 feet from Daddy’s office, which is, of course, marked as such with a construction paper sign festooned with hearts and butterflies in crayon. That’s where Daddy — and it’s usually Daddy — can take a conference call while sipping coffee and waving to the children, who never seem to run around on his wood floors while dripping with water and dirt or pop each other in the head right when the big client calls in.
As much as I love to work from home, blending work with children under one roof is rarely that seamless. Or clean. Take this Friday, for instance, when my husband, who normally works in a cubicle, was working from home, and I was trying to catch up on work before the holiday weekend started in earnest.
My children were home from school and playing rather nicely in the backyard, but 20 feet from my desk. I sipped my tea and waved to them out my window in a scene not unlike the aforementioned TV commercials. Moments later, my 13-year-old appeared at my door with a dilemma:
He has just one pair of eyeglasses, and he is too nearsighted to go without them. My husband works for someone else, so he can’t just cut out in the middle of the morning to bring our son and what’s left of his glasses to the optician, and so, I shut everything in my office down, including any hopes of catching up with work, and took care of it.
While we waited for the optician to make him a new pair (fixing the old ones will take a week, and he obviously needs a backup), I got a text from the mother of my son’s friend asking if he’d like to come over. So I texted my husband who replied with a simple “Y,” because he’s busy working, you see.
So I texted the mom back with a “Yes, he’d love to come over,” while walking around the supermarket to get a few things we need. Then my younger son called asking if he can have his friend over at our house instead, yada, yada, yada, back and forth, the glasses aren’t ready yet, here’s a slice of pizza while you wait, yes I’m “in the office” today, how about you call your friend yourself? do we need milk?…
See, Daddy’s workin’. Mommy? Not so much. Not today anyhow.
Two hours later, my son returned to the backyard to continue playing while I got changed and dashed off to a business lunch, where nobody knocked on the window and to hold up two halves of a pair of eyeglasses in the best ever metaphor of what it’s like to work at home with the kids around.
Today, the kids are at school and my husband is at work.
Golf, anyone?
Share, share, that’s fair: Tell us the worst and best parts about working from home.
Pssst! Hey, you! We’d love to hear from you. Anything. A little hello. A “that was funny.” A “I’ve been a long-time fan” or “I’m new here.” Let’s get the conversation started. Some of you provided such great quotes for my books, that I’d love for everyone to hear from you here, too. You are such clever fans, all of you. Thanks!
oh how I can relate. I LOVE working from home and being able to be there when my kids need me. However, I have to remind myself and my husband that I am NOT a SAHM – I do have to work. Working from home tends to be two FT jobs but I wouldn’t trade it for anything (well, ALMOST anything).
Geetha. It depends, of course, on your talents and your stomach for risk and working odd hours. WAHM.com (http://www.wahm.com/) has some suggestions and some great tips for avoiding work-at-home scams. I’d start there. Some companies let their employees work from home part-time, so you’d be able to at least be home a few days. Is your job a desk job? If so, you could probably make a case for working from home at least one day a week to start.
But if you do, you’ll need to carve out a working space and hours so that your daughter understands it’s not play time just because you are home.
Report back!
Jen
how i wish i could relate to the fun, trials n tribulations of being a work from home mum… I have a year old daughter and working a full 8 hours jobs. By the time i reach home, my daughter clings on me and doesnt let me out of her site.
I would be grateful if momies out there could suggest ideas on what work from home tht could be useful to me…
So relate to this! I work in an office part time and work from home the rest of the week. I enjoy the flexibility, but I was always torn about doing for my family and doing for my job. It took me four years to figure out how to manage.
I’ve always worked in an office setting, so I thought I would love working from home when I landed a great position in early 2009. Wow… it took time to learn! I work full-time out of my home for a pet treat company and started right at the time my kids were out of school for the summer. Talk about going crazy! Learning to WFH, manage the workload and not jumping to wash the dishes was hard enough, then learning with my then 13 yo son and 8 yo daughter at home, asking for this, asking for that, constant pickering, plus more… I wanted to lock them inside and run away!
Now a year later, I’ve learned to manage much better. It helps that the company I work for is completely understanding. The kid bickering still has not stopped though. The one thing that WFH has helped me with is my feeling of guilt when I have a sick child – I don’t feel like I’ve let anyone down if I leave work or if I have to call someone else to pick up my child.
I too can relate to the WFH thing. I get up around 5:30 or 6 (a little before my 2 YO) and get some work done, and then it’s all about him from 6-ish to about 8AM when I drop him off at school. I’ve been WFH since he was born, and had to find a groove to fall into as far as my routine – it has been much easier since he started school – we kept him home for 2 years and that was VERY tough and distracting for both of us – he wanted my attention and I wanted to spend time with him. But I do work for an IT Company and dealing with the antics of an infant while trying to juggle conference calls and webex sessions was tough! I do feel better now about spending the majority of the day concentrating on what I have to do while knowing he’s getting the attention he wants, and meeting new friends at school.
I work from home. Some days in complete solitude. On those days, I have trouble staying focused. I’m easily distracted even though I have list after list. Some days my 3 year old is home with me. He is my biggest fan and wants Mommy’s constant attention. Put under this kind of pressure, I find myself squeezing in pockets of work and being more productive because I have limited time and energy to get it done. It’s odd but after almost a year, I figured out the formula. Still working on how to maximize my time
Yep. And those kids want stuff: “Can I have a snack? Can I have candy? Why not? That’s not fair? Can you pour me some juice? I can’t reach the whatever-it-is-they-can’t-reach.” I didn’t realize I would become the waitress when I became the mom.
How I can relate to this post! My work hours start at 4 or 5 am depending on my deadlines and I go non-stop until my head hits the pillow. While I love working from home (my office also overlooks the backyard) it’s quite a challenge, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
However, I do wonder what it will be like when they are both in school full-time…
Perfect. This is the story of my life for the last 12 years.
I have never stayed home with the kids during the summer. I have always shipped them to camp or have been in daycare. This will be the first summer we will all be home together. I worry about getting any work done. But I just need to not stress about it and roll with whatever happens.
Uggg, Jen, I feel your pain. I’ve had my big girl home since March 26. She doesn’t go back until April 7. 12 long days. (And sheesh, why didn’t I become a teacher?!)
She went to a program one day. She had playdates on three others. Yes, my sitter was here, but she’s MUCH louder than the 21-month-old for some strange reason.
Working from home is wonderful. No commute. No suits. No socks most days. But, as I have experiences, your child screeches, “I’m not making any noise,” when you’re on the phone with a VP of a company, that cubicle starts looking pretty good. At least until the kids go back to school.
–KB
I can relate. Last week was spring break – my work-from-home day (Monday) was not so productive. This week the boys are back in school and I’m getting more done. Summer vacation is going to prove interesting…