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I disagree. I work from home as a new dad of a nearly 8 month old girl now. The first 3 months I took off work to be a full time dad, but since then I've return

I disagree. I work from home as a new dad of a nearly 8 month old girl now. The first 3 months I took off work to be a full time dad, but since then I've returned back to a 4 day work week and when I work Monday to Thursday I am not distracted by my baby girl at all. I have a separate room as an office, if the door is closed then it means no interruptions. My wife is still on maternity leave so she is free to do the majority of the child care during the working week. She respects the door is closed rule and knows that I cannot be interrupted then. However, WFH with a young baby has some MASSIVE advantages which I wouldn't be able to get if I was going to an office: - I get to spend time with my baby girl in the morning before I start work. I wake up at 6:30, it's by choice, I love getting up early and get half an hour of quiet and peace, drinking a coffee and watching breakfast news before the rest of the house wakes up. Then I get to cuddle my daughter for a while whilst my wife gets up and gets ready herself. By 7:30 or 8am I am in my office, often an hour or even two hours online before any of my peers and I'm already working away completely uninterrupted and get more shit done than so many others. - When I come downstairs to top up a cup of coffee, have a snack, eat lunch, etc. I get to see my daughter again. I get a chance to quickly give my wife a hand with something, or often I just have the opportunity to cook for us rather than her, which is a huge help if nothing else. - Because I start earlier than everyone else I can also finish on time and when I finish work then I'm immediately available to start winding down and spend time with my family and my daughter again. Overall I get more work down, I get more sleep, I am more refreshed, I even get extra time to have an outlet after work, playing tennis, going to the gym, etc. and I get to be a much much better husband and a very involved dad even though I have to work 4 days a week. This is priceless and if I had to go into an office I'd be less productive, more tired, more angry and irritated (less balanced life) and a worse husband/father.

deleted 4y ago
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anchochilis 4y ago
The key point is that someone else is watching the baby while you work. WFH is indeed wonderful for parents and families, but if you try to do it without childcare, you're not going to be working much.
- jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 4y ago
  If you don't have childcare, you can't go to the office at all though.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    If you do not have childcare you can not work... from home or otherwise and trust me your co-workers will notice and be annoyed by having to pick up the slack
- paulryanrogers 4y ago
  It's kind of absurd to conflate lockdown WFH of the COVID era with regular WFH. Folks who think they can do childcare and WFH are quickly disabused of the notion, unless they happen to have the most independent of children.
ryanjshaw 4y ago
Parent was indeed slightly incorrect. Up until maybe 2-3yrs they are little angels. Then everything changes. I would take 8 hours at the office over 8 hours with a high energy 4 year old. It would be way less exhausting.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  My experience would say up until they are walking/crawling (assuming they sleep). After that, it was 24/7 duty to watch for falls, climbing, and by 15months or so, they are stacking things to get to get to higher places. My daughter slept like an angel, my son has not slept through a single night since he was 5 months old. When people lived in tribes (or even villages), I doubt one or two adults were responsible 24/7 for a toddler. There are a chain of younger to older children playing and looking after each other, as well as elders.
  - ryanjshaw 4y ago
    Completely agree, especially on the last point. We've raised our kid with zero help due to geopolitics and economics, and it's clear this is not how nature intended things.
zdyn5 4y ago
Sorry to say but sweet docile 8 month old girl is EZ mode and very different from a 3 year old boy running around banging on your office door demanding your attention every 20 minutes. Source: have 3 yo boy and 7 mo girl, even with stay at home mom to help. The girl’s presence is almost unnoticeable during work hours unless I want to see her, it’s fully under my control. The boy is a totally different story. Wouldn’t get anything done if I didn’t go to the office.
- bsagdiyev 4y ago
  Will second this. I typically work later in to the day/night because our son is loud during the day and it can be hard to focus so I shift my hours.
  - reachableceo 4y ago
    So instead of setting boundaries and ensuring appropriate behavior and social skills for your child , you surrender to him and shift your work hours ? Why? That’s not healthy for either party.
    - SamoyedFurFluff 4y ago
      Do you have children? Children ages from 3-5 are still within dog category of intelligence. They are still learning volume, time, routine, self-control and attachment, and they are hardwired to explore their environment within the safety of adult supervision. They are not designed for the autonomous two-parent household left alone for most of the day every day.
    - CydeWeys 4y ago
      This is a very easy thing to say. However, I suspect it often does not pass the 'when the rubber meets the road' test.
    - disgruntledphd2 4y ago
      Please stop parent-judging. It's just a terrible, terrible idea in general. It's so very tempting (speaking as a parent) but it's never worth it. Just Say No.
radu_floricica 4y ago
I'm not sure how you disagree. It's still a full time job, done by your wife :) I never said there's a hundred feet range around every child which makes work impossible. Only that you can't say that you can "just watch" the child, and expect to do work in the meantime. People do try this, on occasion.
roel_v 4y ago
No offense mate but if your only experience so far is having an 8 month old, you don't get to have an opinion on this topic yet.
- helij 4y ago
  My experience is pretty similar to his and our daughter is now 6yr old.
newshorts 4y ago
The honeymoon phase will end man. When they are about one and half or two they will try to find ways to injure themselves nearly every 5 minutes the entire time they are awake. If you are the person responsible for keeping them safe while working it’s an absolute nightmare.
- watwut 4y ago
  Not sure if you noticed, there is someone else doing the caregiving. However, the big benefit OP gets is more frequent contact with the kid during the day. Both that setup and benefits of it are perfectly possible at one and half years old.

deleted 4y ago

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anchochilis 4y ago

The key point is that someone else is watching the baby while you work. WFH is indeed wonderful for parents and families, but if you try to do it without childcare, you're not going to be working much.

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 4y ago
If you don't have childcare, you can't go to the office at all though.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  If you do not have childcare you can not work... from home or otherwise and trust me your co-workers will notice and be annoyed by having to pick up the slack
paulryanrogers 4y ago
It's kind of absurd to conflate lockdown WFH of the COVID era with regular WFH. Folks who think they can do childcare and WFH are quickly disabused of the notion, unless they happen to have the most independent of children.

ryanjshaw 4y ago

Parent was indeed slightly incorrect. Up until maybe 2-3yrs they are little angels. Then everything changes. I would take 8 hours at the office over 8 hours with a high energy 4 year old. It would be way less exhausting.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
My experience would say up until they are walking/crawling (assuming they sleep). After that, it was 24/7 duty to watch for falls, climbing, and by 15months or so, they are stacking things to get to get to higher places. My daughter slept like an angel, my son has not slept through a single night since he was 5 months old. When people lived in tribes (or even villages), I doubt one or two adults were responsible 24/7 for a toddler. There are a chain of younger to older children playing and looking after each other, as well as elders.
- ryanjshaw 4y ago
  Completely agree, especially on the last point. We've raised our kid with zero help due to geopolitics and economics, and it's clear this is not how nature intended things.

zdyn5 4y ago

Sorry to say but sweet docile 8 month old girl is EZ mode and very different from a 3 year old boy running around banging on your office door demanding your attention every 20 minutes. Source: have 3 yo boy and 7 mo girl, even with stay at home mom to help. The girl’s presence is almost unnoticeable during work hours unless I want to see her, it’s fully under my control. The boy is a totally different story. Wouldn’t get anything done if I didn’t go to the office.

bsagdiyev 4y ago
Will second this. I typically work later in to the day/night because our son is loud during the day and it can be hard to focus so I shift my hours.
- reachableceo 4y ago
  So instead of setting boundaries and ensuring appropriate behavior and social skills for your child , you surrender to him and shift your work hours ? Why? That’s not healthy for either party.
  - SamoyedFurFluff 4y ago
    Do you have children? Children ages from 3-5 are still within dog category of intelligence. They are still learning volume, time, routine, self-control and attachment, and they are hardwired to explore their environment within the safety of adult supervision. They are not designed for the autonomous two-parent household left alone for most of the day every day.
  - CydeWeys 4y ago
    This is a very easy thing to say. However, I suspect it often does not pass the 'when the rubber meets the road' test.
  - disgruntledphd2 4y ago
    Please stop parent-judging. It's just a terrible, terrible idea in general. It's so very tempting (speaking as a parent) but it's never worth it. Just Say No.

radu_floricica 4y ago

I'm not sure how you disagree. It's still a full time job, done by your wife :) I never said there's a hundred feet range around every child which makes work impossible. Only that you can't say that you can "just watch" the child, and expect to do work in the meantime. People do try this, on occasion.

roel_v 4y ago

No offense mate but if your only experience so far is having an 8 month old, you don't get to have an opinion on this topic yet.

helij 4y ago
My experience is pretty similar to his and our daughter is now 6yr old.

newshorts 4y ago

The honeymoon phase will end man. When they are about one and half or two they will try to find ways to injure themselves nearly every 5 minutes the entire time they are awake. If you are the person responsible for keeping them safe while working it’s an absolute nightmare.

watwut 4y ago
Not sure if you noticed, there is someone else doing the caregiving. However, the big benefit OP gets is more frequent contact with the kid during the day. Both that setup and benefits of it are perfectly possible at one and half years old.