4 ms·
Do you have kids? Having a 4-year-old in the office all day while people are working is negligent child care, except in cases of temporary emergency. Dogs can
by trhtrsh 14y ago
Do you have kids?
Having a 4-year-old in the office all day while people are working is negligent child care, except in cases of temporary emergency.
Dogs can nap on the floor for 8 hours and be happy and not bother anyone.
- tptacek 14y agoAllow me to blow your mind: I have both kids (plural) and a dog (singular). If the point you haphazardly tried to make here was "it's impossible to care for a preschooler in a knowledge worker environment", I'm just going to say you're wrong.
- enraged_camel 14y agoSorry man. I want to agree with you - I really do. But I cannot envision myself both focusing on work and caring for a preschooler effectively. I might be able to do one well, but the other will necessarily suffer. Humans cannot multi-task, period, and research very clearly shows that switching tasks and contexts on a regular basis hurts productivity significantly. I think the idea of work-life separation exists for a reason. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
- rdouble 14y agoI've worked in open-plan environments that made it a lot harder to focus than when I had to babysit my niece. You just give the kid some crayons, an iPad of Dora videos, and some fruit roll-ups and they are occupied for the afternoon. In contrast, there is little one can do to make an office busybody leave you alone, for even a couple hours.
- girvo 14y ago> You just give the kid some crayons, an iPad of Dora videos > and some fruit roll-ups and they are occupied for the afternoon. Swap the Dora videos for Game of Thrones, and I'd be set for an afternoon there, too.
- tptacek 14y agoI'm not saying it works for every office, I'm not saying it has to work round the clock, and I'm not saying it's appropriate for every age. No office culture could have handled my daughter 10 years ago.
- encoderer 14y agoThere's an awful-lot of absolutism here for such a short comment. Funny the number of parents I know who have done exactly what you're claiming impossible.
- tptacek 14y agoWhat's really happening is that the thread is succumbing to nerdism; I made a statement that was too easily generalized, and then other people poked holes in the generalization.
- vidarh 14y agoEvery day, sure. But I've got a four year old, and when he gets busy with something (youtube lego videos...) he can be occupied for a long time without much need for constant attention. But understood the original premise more along the line that if the office is geared for it you can integrate work and life in other ways, such as eating a family meal at the office now and again, so you maximize the time you can spend with family even when you need to work late - not using the office as permanent every day daycare.
- pasquinelli 14y agoi worked at home and cared for a four year old. it sucked. in fact, i avoided it as much as possible. didn't work for me, but it might work for some.
- tptacek 14y agoTo be clear: I'm not suggesting that it's easy to keep your 4 year old in the office all the time.
- danielweber 14y agoI work in an office where people have had both kids and dogs in the office, on rare occasion. I was always surprised by the kids, because they were really quiet. My own kids are very noisy and would not belong in an office, but these kids were sticking around for an hour or two between one event and another, completely unnoticed by me until I saw them. It's no skin at all off my nose and benefits my coworker in some way, so more power to him.