20 signs you are working from home with kids
The last year has been bizarre to say the least. If you are lucky enough to still have a job during this crazy time, you are probably navigating the insanity that is working from home… with little to no childcare. There are so many of us participating in this chaos, without being able to enlist granny, grandad or other family members to lend a hand. Whether you had school kids upstairs in a virtual classroom or toddlers that have had WAY too much screen-time today, you will be able to relate to these 20 tell-tale signs if you are working from home with children.
1. You have not once completed a task without getting interrupted.
2. You feel like your children are going from one meal to the next, constantly eating.
3. Your office has become any room where they are NOT.
4. You have run away from your kids when they tried to join in on a conference call.
5. You have shouted at your kids WAY MORE than you would have normally deemed acceptable.
6. Little fingers have made a grab for the keys of your laptop to try some typing while your back was turned.
7. You are not even embarrassed to admit that you have taken calls in the loo.
8. You have, without guilt, left your kids in the care of Netflix or Disney+ for far longer than the recommended daily amount screen-time.
9. You realised there is no such thing as a tea break or lunch hour in your current situation, so you plough through and snack on the leftovers of your child’s fifth lunch.
10. You have apologised to colleagues on the phone for the background noise, only to hear shouting on their end because they too are in this bizarre situation.
11. You began this whole thing with golden intentions such as routine and structure. However, the little ‘uns had their own ideas and now you are all still in PJs on day 715.
12. You have no idea what day it is and must refer to emails from your colleagues to find out.
13. You have considered not getting up in the morning and working a ‘night shift’ instead, while your kids are asleep.
14. Your child has to ‘show you something’ or ‘tell you something’ every time you get any kind of workflow going.
15. You have never made more empty threats in your parenting life.
16. You have never multitasked as much in your life- think boiling pasta, changing a nappy and filling in a spreadsheet, all at the same time!
17. Instead of an office chair, you are seated at a kitchen table, your teen’s study desk or maybe even tucked up in bed.
18. Your children have stopped you mid-work to perform false flu-like symptoms such as a cough, while proclaiming that they ‘definitely have IT’.
19. Any hard-copies or documents you have on your make-shift desk, contains a tell-tale work-from-home stain, like pasta sauce of jam.
20. You end up doing a lot more than your regular 9-5 due to the above interruptions.