Been working from home for 2 years now. I get to see the kids more, eat lunch with them, pick them up from school. But my boss keeps asking why my project is behind and honestly I have no idea how to explain that I was helping my 5 year old find his shoes at 2pm yesterday. Any tips for actually getting work done while the kids are home?
Same boat here. Some days I'm convinced remote work is the best thing that ever happened to me as a dad. Other days I feel like I'm doing both jobs at 60% capacity instead of either one at 100%.
Two years in and still struggling with this balance? I thought it would get easier. Right now I'm going back to the office 3 days a week and honestly I think that might be the sweet spot.
I get this completely. The flexibility is incredible - I can actually help with homework instead of hearing about it second hand. But yeah, the distraction factor is real. My brain keeps switching between conference calls and what's in the fridge.
The pick up thing though - that alone makes it worth it. I couldn't do that with my schedule and I miss it every single day.
Have you tried setting a specific lunch boundary? Like eating with the kids but keeping your work stuff completely separate during that time? Might help your brain actually switch gears instead of staying half in work mode.
Set some hard boundaries with work hours if you can. When I was remote full-time I had to literally close my office door and tell the kids 'dad is working now' during certain windows. It helped me actually get stuff done.
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This is such a real tension. You get more time with them but then you're also trying to get work done while they need stuff. Hard to fully focus on either thing sometimes.