Switched to full remote last year and honestly I thought I'd love it but some days it's weird. My kids don't really get that I'm working upstairs. They'll knock on the door asking why I'm not playing with them. I've had to have conversations with my 7yo about mommy and daddy working. The commute saved is nice but the boundaries are harder than I thought.
That boundary thing is real. The kids don't understand the work is still work just because there's no commute. Hang in there, it gets easier.
Yeah man, the mute button gets a workout for me too. They think just because you're home, you're available. Takes a minute to find the rhythm.
I get this. Been full remote for two years now and the weirdness is real. The lines between work and dad duty get so blurry. One minute you're in a meeting and the next your kid needs a snack. It's not bad exactly, just takes getting used to.
That weird feeling is real. When I switched to full time at home, I had to basically tell my kids there are work hours and non-work hours, even though I'm physically there the whole time. It took a few weeks to adjust but it helped a ton.
The commute was actually valuable for decompressing between work mode and dad mode. You lose that transition when you're home all day. Maybe take a walk around the block before you 'end your day' even though you never left?
Being home all day sounds amazing to me but I bet it's a lot harder than it looks. You don't get those natural breaks where you're commuting or just with adults. How long have you been doing it now?
Remote work with kids around is a totally different beast than just working from home. The lines get blurry real fast. How old are your kids? That makes a big difference in whether it's actually manageable during work hours.
I've been doing remote for years now. Some days the quiet of not commuting feels amazing, other days I miss just having the separation between work and home. The trick is creating your own boundaries even when you're in the same space.
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Man, the isolation hit me hard at first too. I actually started going to the coffee shop a few days a week just to be around people. Helped me feel like I still had an identity outside of being dad and employee at the same desk.