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> You might also want to learn how to handle your kids while working from home. Work was a respite from home. Then came WFH and remote-learning. "Just figure t

> You might also want to learn how to handle your kids while working from home. Work was a respite from home. Then came WFH and remote-learning. "Just figure things out" smacks of privilege. For starters, (almost) no one plans to be a single parent.

xboxnolifes 5y ago
I can sympathize with WFH with kids being challenging and even needing a change in norms if it continues, but I'm not sure how it quite applies to single parents in this context. If the single parent is working in an office, then they would need to figure out daycare for their children. If they WFH, they could still use the same daycare, or even save the money of daycare if they take on the burden of taking care of the children at home while working. Unless there was an underlying assumption that the office provided daycare that I missed. Or if this was more toward remote learning than remote work. Also, If the child is old enough to care for themselves at home, I don't see the issue of being in or out of office.
- Pet_Ant 5y ago
  It's a soft thing. "I can't, I have to be in the office" gave you an out. I spoke with a coworker who is expected to still make dinner every night because she is home during every day. There are other situations where you don't want some flexibility because it's not an option you want to openly turn down. It's complicated, buh coming into an office gave an equal slate with everyone else there. It gave boundaries for those with trouble establishing their own.
  - Buttons840 5y ago
    This all seems to boil down to "we should work in the office because some people have personal and family issues". You mentioned privilege, I would consider those who are able to set company policy based on their own personal and family problems as the ones who are privileged.
- mattlondon 5y ago
  > If they WFH, they could still use the same daycare, or even save the money of daycare if they take on the burden of taking care of the children at home while working. Depending on age, caring for kids is a full-time job. Perhaps even 1.25-1.5 full time jobs for 12-24 month olds. And even in those blissful moments when you don't need to be doing something specifically to care for them, they are either making noise or your brain is "on call" and splitting it's attention on work-and-watching-out-for-kid. It's hard. Luckily they sleep outside of work hours so parents can rest or catch up on work.

xboxnolifes 5y ago

I can sympathize with WFH with kids being challenging and even needing a change in norms if it continues, but I'm not sure how it quite applies to single parents in this context. If the single parent is working in an office, then they would need to figure out daycare for their children. If they WFH, they could still use the same daycare, or even save the money of daycare if they take on the burden of taking care of the children at home while working. Unless there was an underlying assumption that the office provided daycare that I missed. Or if this was more toward remote learning than remote work. Also, If the child is old enough to care for themselves at home, I don't see the issue of being in or out of office.

Pet_Ant 5y ago
It's a soft thing. "I can't, I have to be in the office" gave you an out. I spoke with a coworker who is expected to still make dinner every night because she is home during every day. There are other situations where you don't want some flexibility because it's not an option you want to openly turn down. It's complicated, buh coming into an office gave an equal slate with everyone else there. It gave boundaries for those with trouble establishing their own.
- Buttons840 5y ago
  This all seems to boil down to "we should work in the office because some people have personal and family issues". You mentioned privilege, I would consider those who are able to set company policy based on their own personal and family problems as the ones who are privileged.
mattlondon 5y ago
> If they WFH, they could still use the same daycare, or even save the money of daycare if they take on the burden of taking care of the children at home while working. Depending on age, caring for kids is a full-time job. Perhaps even 1.25-1.5 full time jobs for 12-24 month olds. And even in those blissful moments when you don't need to be doing something specifically to care for them, they are either making noise or your brain is "on call" and splitting it's attention on work-and-watching-out-for-kid. It's hard. Luckily they sleep outside of work hours so parents can rest or catch up on work.