"Dad, can you get me a snack?" "Dad, he's looking at me!" "Dad, what are you typing?" "Dad can we go outside?" I'm on back-to-back Zoom calls with a 6 and 8 year old essentially demolishing the house behind me. Somehow my boss thinks I'm "just not as engaged in meetings lately." No joke, I'd rather commute 2 hours than deal with this. The camp doesn't start til next month.
One of our dads got permission to do 7-10am work block with video off, then take a real break during lunch, then work afternoons. Talk to your manager about something like that? Most people get it once they realize summer break is actual chaos.
Not a scam, just a reminder that corporate america doesn't account for actual human logistics. They assume your kids are in camp or daycare. The system is broken.
Have you tried running a summer camp schedule at home? Like actual scheduled activities with 'snack time' so they know when to ask instead of random interruptions?
The 'dad he's looking at me' is the worst because you can't solve it from a Zoom meeting. There's no winning there.
to join the conversation.
Summer break working from home is literally impossible. Every meeting I'm muted with a smile on my face while one kid is yelling about juice in the background.