Working from home - Tricky.

I don't have to tell you all the advantages of working from home. Time and money saved by not having to drive all the way into the city. Preventing ozone layer depletion and green house effect (she says, skipping off to hug that tree). Potential road rage incidents avoided by not having to sit for 476 hours in the rush hour traffic. (Why the fark do they call it 'rush hour' traffic? The traffic is not moving at all, never mind rushing anywhere.) 

The extra hours I save by not sitting in the traffic I get to spend with my kids. Which makes me happy. Which makes me a better worker. Which makes my employer happy. Everybody wins. Win-win-win. All round winning and happy campers.

Of course working from home is a lot trickier now that I have kids. They are totally disinterested in my entreaties that ‘mommy is busy: go play outside / watch TV / call Rose’.  They get completely childish about it and insist on sitting on my lap / playing on the ‘puter’ (if you ever get a garbled note from me, you know where it comes from!) / hitting me on the head with their toy golf stick (true story!)   

Working from home when they know I am around clearly does not work.   

And so I resort to that age old parenting solution of trickery and deception.

I hide away. In my study. Perfect!  They don’t know I am there and I can work in peace. It means whispering on the phone and holding my pee until I can come out between 12 and 2 when they nap, but it is a damn sight better than sitting in the traffic.

Unfortunately however, I can’t just slip away into my study.  They will want to know where I am and I can’t just suddenly vanish in the mornings. That would be unfair.

Here is where the real subterfuge comes in …..

I store snacks, water and a comfy outfit in the study, get dressed in my decoy work out (a frock that looks v workified, at least to a toddler), say good bye as I usually do “bye bye my darlings, mommy is going to work, I love you. Kiss kiss” and in my car I get. I drive out the garage, waving goodbye to a smiling Kate and a crying Adam (the crying only lasts 1 minute, so Rose tells me.  Still sucks) and up the road I go. Rose then picks Adam up, gives him a hug and takes the two of them outside to hang up the washing / go visit a friend / play on the play gym etc.  She gives me a ‘all clear’ call on my cell phone and I zoot back into the garage, nip into the study, slip into something more comfortable and tra la!  I can work in peace and quiet. Clever me. 

It really does work out best for all.  I get to spend more time with my kids and I am around if there is an emergency or I need to take them somewhere.  I really do work harder at home than in the lovely open plan office at work.  Quieter, fewer distractions. Plus I have this fucked up work ethic that says while it might be acceptable to VERY occasionally surf the net / update your blog etc while at work (not that *I* ever do that!), doing it at home would be like stealing.  Or lying.  Because your boss is trusting you that when you say you are working from home, you really are working from home and not on the beach etc. 

I am really lucky that IBM allows for flexible working arrangements.  Working from home is a great option.  And luckily there aren’t too many times I have to work in complete darkness.  (I only have to do this if they are climbing on the couch right outside the window. Like this morning.)

 

 

Comments

[Judy]

Oh, the things we go through for our kids, huh?

You're right, though. Keeping the "routine" is best. Consistency is what makes them feel safe and stable.

I wonder if I could teach preschoolers from my bedroom. Ew, no, on second thought, I don't want my work coming home with me! Two kids is okay - ten more in my house would drive me over the edge here!

[pink]

Working from home is definitely a challenge. Before Miss Pink started going to preschool three days/week and I had a sitter here, I would have the sitter get P interested in a game/toy and then sneak out. Usually she would forget that I was in the house unless she came up to the 2nd floor and saw the doorway to the 3rd floor (my office).

One tip about the computer (not sure if this is applicable in SA): Fisher Price makes a "Laughtop" play laptop for kids that Miss P LOVES! It has really helped when I'm on my laptop and she wants on mommy's 'puter. (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=900002&e=storeproduct&pid=37486&section=pre_fun2learn)

[Karen Shanley]

As an author, home and office are one and the same. Makes life easier on my daughter and dogs. But, there are days when I just need to get in the car and go somewhere, anywhere, to get away from--not my daughter or dogs--but the house! It can get claustrophobic.

[Sheena]

BRILLIANT!!!!!!

LOVE THE FACT THAT U STILL HIDE AWAY EVERYDAY... U KNOW THAT WHEN THEY GET TO LIKE, 4YRS, THEY'RE NOT GONNA FALL 4 IT THO, RIGHT?

OH WELL.... LUCKY YOU IN THE MEANTIME. WISH I COULD HAVE THAT OPTION... LEAVING FOR WORK AT SIX A.M. SUCKS DONKEY B*LLS! ESPECIALLY IN *RUSH* HOUR TRAFFIC.

[Menita]

Hilarious!

[Carmen]

Too funny! I was LOL at your description of hiding away. Very cloak and dagger stuff.
I agree that working at home is a much better option than being in an office. One thing that you miss out on though is the socializing and gossiping. LOL. But I agree, being near the kids is the best option.

[Edna B]

After school, when I'm needing to work in the 'puter room, my seven year old has taken to firing up the lap-top and playing either Age of Empires or Super Mario. Both games have inane repetitive boppy tunes. She just refuses to turn the sound down or use headphones. Never has there been more incentive to start dinner or do some washing.....This tends to make me more efficient in the few hours of peace that I have, and motivates me to do housework. Win/win! (ummm. I'm yet to work out why doing housework is a winning situation)

[Nickie]

Brilliant plan! I'm very impressed.

[Cristy]

I've never been able to work from home, but man I've tried doing online school courses! Impossible! Unfortunately I don't have a rose or an office. Hmmm I need both of those.

[e]

I wonder how long that'll last? Hopefully for long enough to get them into the habit of not bugging you at random (say 13/14, based on personal experience). And how cheated they'll feel when you tell them in 20 years' time that you were upstairs all the time. They'll put you in a home, you know... ;)

[baggage]

Ha! I wish I could pull that off!

[Louise]

Hilarious!

My only challenge with working from home is my dog. It is AWFUL when he starts barking in the middle of a conference call.

Busted!

[jc]

When they get older, I wonder if they'll figure it out right away or will they think the room is haunted from hearing furtive rustling and whispering all day when they KNOW Mommy is at work.

[Heather]

OH!!! What I wouldn't give to be able to work from home. Once my youngest hits 2, I plan to branch out a bit, but it will still be very light work with a highly flexible schedule... We'll see! Kids change everything!

[Sassy Belle]

I was a nanny for a dad who worked at home - his kids were old enough to understand that he had to be left alone. But it was great for me - if they truly got out of hand (the monsters) I could go to dad and it'd get straightened out in a jiffy pop of a second.

Poor Tertia, working in the dark! It's bad for your eyes!

[Jodie]

Hey Sassy Belle - "jiffy pop" - love it!!

The DH of a friend of mine works from home. The kids say goodbye to Dad, he goes into the office and basically doesn't come out except at lunch and "home time". But that would never work for me - I'd be just like you, backing out of the drive!

You're a great Mum, and good on your company for being so flexible. Sounds like you handle the responsibility really well, I'd succumb to the lure of TV for sure ;)

[thrice]

Wow, that's a great scam, but seems like a lot of work. I'm wondering if you might be better off teaching them that "work time" means business, now. When they figure out the scam all too soon, it might be harder to rein them in. Just a thought. Y'know terrible twos vs. terrible threes?

[oliete]

Hi Teria,

I can relate to this article so much. I work from home too, I am fortunate enough to work for the HR Department of the best IT retail company is SA and my boss and our director are wonderful in affording me this option. Both of them are mothers too and understand the challenges so I am truley blessed. I do spend a considerable amount of time on the road going to our stores for interviews or conducting training and stuff but hardly ever during the "rush traffic". I agree - I work much harder in the comfort and quietness of my own office - that's a fact.

Big shout out to my bosses Jandri and Pamela, thanks so much for the flexibility and for trusting me enough to know that I am working when I say I am.

Hope you guys are fortunate enough to find similar employment agreements with your companies!

Regards
Oliete

[Terri]

I work at home too as a medical transcriptionist and it is a challenge. I have no door on my office in the family room so the kids are not even allowed down here while I am working. It irritates the heck out of them. Luckily, I only work on Daddy's days off, so he takes them out and about doing fun stuff while I sit in my dungeon...I mean office. I really need to move this sucker upstairs.

[kayce]

Perfect idea....that is driving away and coming back! I've been trying this stay at home work thing and man is it a challenge!!!! I'd much rather sit and read or play on the computer.

[Suzie-Q.]

Do you do everything in reverse when it is time to "come home from work" at night? Do you have have Rose take the kids out, call you, then you zip back into your work clothes jump in the car, drive around the block and pull up to the house pretending you are just arriving?
I am imagining this and laffing my arse off!!!
When I am at home and need be upstairs and undisturbed, I just put on an Elmo or Dora video and VOILA! They lose total interest in my whereabouts for the entire day! Or, if i need to leave the house I have my Nanny take the twins out back and blow bubbles, then, I sneak into my car in the garage and make my great escape.
Kids are amazing!
I tried to work from home, but, found my kids too distracting and couldn't get anything done. Just knowing they were here was enough sometimes!

[Bridget]

That has to be the funniest and most real thing I've ever heard! It's a jungle out there...and in there too!

I live the same life that you live...almost as if we are in a make believe land.

;)

[Jade]

Working at home would NOT be an option for me if my little girl were to be at home at the same time. Nowhere private to go and hide, and every time I am working my laptop she wants to be on my lap working with me. :-(

[SCY]

Haha! And here I thought the power station had gone down in CT again... GREAT ploy! I must remember that for when I finally get my own family... (Plse God let it be this year!)