COMPLAINING ISN'T ALLOWED WHEN YOU WORK FROM HOME
I am going on day 3 of my kids being snowed home from school. DAY THREE. They are here … at home … with me … all day long. Now, for pretty much every single parent:
THIS IS A MAJOR INCONVENIENCE
I love my kids … don’t think I don’t … I love them even when they are assholes … BUT, I have a job. I work. I have sh*t to do during the day. Some may say:
YOU WORK FROM HOME - SO YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO COMPLAIN
And to that I say: ohhhh yeah??? Watch me.
I do work from home. I created a job for myself where I can be at my house working. But the word WORK is the word we all need to be focused on: not the word home. My family depends on my income to keep things rolling around here … we are a two income household. Just because I work from my house doesn’t mean my income is less important.
Now, some would also say: but you can KEEP WORKING when your kids are home …
LMFAO
Really??? Ok, fine. Let’s pretend that’s true … that I can be as productive at work when my kids are home. I have a few options …
Throw them in front of the tv all day.
Give them an iPad all day
Ignore them when they fight or wrestle inside the house
Forget to make their lunch
Tell them they can play video games all day
The point is: I can’t just ignore my kids all day and work … and if I do that, I will still be interrupted constantly by their needs, questions, etc … which means I will get half the amount of work completed and it probably won’t be my best work.
We, as a society, need to stop looking at ‘work from home parents’ as people who don’t have a single excuse to not get sh*t done always … that the people who work from home are available at all hours of the day, can work from bed when they are sick, can magically parent AND work when their kids are home … if I worked for another company and called in to say:
I CAN’T WORK TODAY, SCHOOL IS CLOSED AND MY KIDS ARE HOME
there would be a very slim chance I’d be expected to do anything but be a parent to my kids. Sure, in some instances, the boss may say: ok, can you send a few emails from your home computer when it’s convenient? But in most cases, if you’re not at work: you’re not working.
Heather, you sound very naive to what WORKING PEOPLE deal with … maybe I do!! But the point of this is, work at home parents need to be given more grace and we shouldn’t be made to feel like sh*t because we aren’t able to work when our kids are home. We shouldn’t be shamed or guilted into ignoring our kids all day because it’s assumed that we are still home - therefore we can still work.
We need to start looking at our work space in our house as WORK - and it needs to be understood that we can’t always ‘attend’ even though the commute is one that can be made with little effort, wearing our pajamas, with the sniffles, and with a child screaming our name …
Now, will I be working today? Yep. With my kids here … in and out … I’ll do my best, as I always try to do … but it will come with a major side of guilt … because they are here, I am ignoring them, and they are (at this exact moment) playing video games.
XO~ Heather
