Got called for two meetings today and had to mute myself three times because the kids were fighting over the iPad. Boss made a joke about it but I could tell he was annoyed. Wife is at the office today so I'm flying solo. How do you guys manage actual work when your kids are home? Everyone talks about how great remote work is for work-life balance but nobody mentions this part.
Man I feel this in my soul. Had a client call yesterday and my kids decided it was the perfect time to have a screaming match over a toy. I just kept talking like nothing was happening and pretended my internet was bad. Pro tip: mute button is your best friend, but also sometimes you just gotta reschedule.
This is my life right now. Had a client presentation yesterday and my youngest started screaming because his brother took his toy. I had to reschedule. Remote work with sick kids is basically a myth - it doesn't exist.
This is exactly why I try to schedule my 5am runs - it's the only guaranteed quiet time I get. When the kids are home sick, the whole day goes sideways. Your boss will understand. Kids come first.
This is why I switched to nights. Yeah the schedule sucks but at least I'm not trying to explain profit margins while someone's yelling for a juice box in the background. The struggle is real though.
Dude, I feel this in my soul. Co-parenting means I don't always have control over when they're home sick, which makes it even worse. My advice? Lower your expectations for productivity on those days and just survive. You're doing better than you think.
The muting three times thing is too real. I've gotten pretty good at the mute button but there's always that one meeting where you forget and everyone hears the chaos. Honestly thinking about scheduling important calls for when they're at school only.
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Two kids home sick AND working? That's not impossible, that's just actual hell. I had to do this once last month and I got through exactly zero productive work. Just told my boss upfront that I was managing a dumpster fire and we rescheduled everything. Honesty goes a long way.