4 ms·

"I get to spend 50% more time with my kids then almost all other dads (three days versus two). Fifty percent. It’s insane." Why not 'work' at home? I've worked

"I get to spend 50% more time with my kids then almost all other dads (three days versus two). Fifty percent. It’s insane." Why not 'work' at home? I've worked at home for the last 5 or 6 years, and get to spend pretty much all my time with my kids. Now that's insane.

dsr_ 15y ago
If you're working from home and you're spending all your time with your kids, you probably aren't working much. I have two kids. I work from home about 10% of the time. When I'm working from home, I have more time for the kids first thing in the morning and when I come home, since the commute is just opening the door. But when I'm WFH, it's not kid-time.
- mibbitier 15y ago
  90% of this job is "thinking". You can do that while you're playing with your kids. You can be looking after kids, whilst designing in your mind what you need to do next, planning out what code needs writing and how to solve problems. Sure, every so often I'll take myself away to a separate room if I need to work on something with my full attention, but that's rare. I don't feel the need to separate my life into "work" and "not work". I just do things when they need doing and when I feel like I want to do them. (Just my 2c, YMMV).
  - otoburb 15y ago
    I wish I had your ability to do multiple conscious tasks at once. I find that when I'm playing with my newborn child I miss certain interaction cues unless I'm fully engaged with him. I've certainly tried to do what you said as I used to think it was easy to think and play, but I often found myself distracted and ending up doing an injustice to both. Since I work remotely most of the time, I also try not to separate "work" and "personal" time. However, in order to stay productive, more often than not I need to sit in a separate room because being productive (mainly for pushing out deliverables) requires me to be sitting away from my child.

dsr_ 15y ago

If you're working from home and you're spending all your time with your kids, you probably aren't working much. I have two kids. I work from home about 10% of the time. When I'm working from home, I have more time for the kids first thing in the morning and when I come home, since the commute is just opening the door. But when I'm WFH, it's not kid-time.

mibbitier 15y ago
90% of this job is "thinking". You can do that while you're playing with your kids. You can be looking after kids, whilst designing in your mind what you need to do next, planning out what code needs writing and how to solve problems. Sure, every so often I'll take myself away to a separate room if I need to work on something with my full attention, but that's rare. I don't feel the need to separate my life into "work" and "not work". I just do things when they need doing and when I feel like I want to do them. (Just my 2c, YMMV).
- otoburb 15y ago
  I wish I had your ability to do multiple conscious tasks at once. I find that when I'm playing with my newborn child I miss certain interaction cues unless I'm fully engaged with him. I've certainly tried to do what you said as I used to think it was easy to think and play, but I often found myself distracted and ending up doing an injustice to both. Since I work remotely most of the time, I also try not to separate "work" and "personal" time. However, in order to stay productive, more often than not I need to sit in a separate room because being productive (mainly for pushing out deliverables) requires me to be sitting away from my child.