WFH and taking advantage? (Children)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have children who are older (college up). Am I the only one who gets annoyed when I'm on a call with a wfh person and the baby or toddler is ok their lap fussing or crying? And you're trying to have a work meeting?

May be unpopular opinion but I think wfh people should still have sitters or daycare or help. But then they whine about the cost. I get it. But Hou had to pay for this prior to covid! And now you save on not having to commute but yet you're too broke for childcare?

I think childcare should be mandatory for wfh up until maybe the age that kids are legally allowed to stay home alone. Age 10? Not sure.

I'm sure I'll get hate. But curious of other people's thoughts.

No hate. Childcare is mandatory for WFH at my fed gov employer. Here and there, exceptions get made -- the parent working from home when they have a sick child (where the only other option is for them to take off) or phone calls outside of typical business hours - early morning or late evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I WFH sometimes and believe me, I never WANT my toddler to be home from daycare.

Agree the norm should be to have childcare coverage during working hours.

When there are multiple young children in daycare just please be aware that sick days are frequent, especially if one kid is an infant getting illnesses for the first time. So the employee in question may not have much choice, and you may actually be getting more work out of them if the choice is WFH day vs. sick day with no work.

Yea but before covid and the advent of WFH these days were far fewer. Clearly lots of mothers are taking advantage.

I think it’s actually the opposite. Daycares and preschools have gotten much stricter and - frankly - weirder about allowing kids to be there while they’re getting over minor sicknesses.

(Also, sexist much?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wake up and smell the coffee. This isn’t 2020.

Right. Nowadays women can openly fleece their employers and the taxpayer.

Men don’t have children? Your misogyny is showing, in addition to your lack of intelligence.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how anyone is able to actually work without childcare while at home with a baby/toddler/preschooler. Husband and i both WFH full time and had a full time nanny and now full time preschool/summer camp. But even with the nanny, our kid loved to pop her head in the door occasionally. Which we were ok with because it was a short snuggle and off she went back to her nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I WFH sometimes and believe me, I never WANT my toddler to be home from daycare.

Agree the norm should be to have childcare coverage during working hours.

When there are multiple young children in daycare just please be aware that sick days are frequent, especially if one kid is an infant getting illnesses for the first time. So the employee in question may not have much choice, and you may actually be getting more work out of them if the choice is WFH day vs. sick day with no work.

I’d rather they take a sick day.

Yeah, you say that until you have a time sensitive project with an inflexible deadline that they're supposed to be on.

OP you sound like a jerk. And I'm someone who doesn't generally like kids or have patience for kids.

Well I have three siblings and somehow my Dad made it raising 4 kids without us bothering him on a workday once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, wake up and smell the coffee. This isn’t 2020.

Right. Nowadays women can openly fleece their employers and the taxpayer.

Men don’t have children? Your misogyny is showing, in addition to your lack of intelligence.

Sadly, the burden of child rearing is on women in most countries including the US. Remember when you took maternity leave and your husband took a few weeks max? That was your own misogyny showing when you went along with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I WFH sometimes and believe me, I never WANT my toddler to be home from daycare.

Agree the norm should be to have childcare coverage during working hours.

When there are multiple young children in daycare just please be aware that sick days are frequent, especially if one kid is an infant getting illnesses for the first time. So the employee in question may not have much choice, and you may actually be getting more work out of them if the choice is WFH day vs. sick day with no work.

Yea but before covid and the advent of WFH these days were far fewer. Clearly lots of mothers are taking advantage.

I think it’s actually the opposite. Daycares and preschools have gotten much stricter and - frankly - weirder about allowing kids to be there while they’re getting over minor sicknesses.

(Also, sexist much?)

This.

[Anonymous]

I have a college age kid and wish someone would acknowledge how much money working parents spent on child care when it was completely taboo to hear a peep from a kid on a conference call. Now you see every taffy and squirming toddler and no one thinks a thing of it

[Anonymous]

I agree but I think a cut off age is more like 6 or 7, although certainly kid dependent. The child should be able to mostly interrupt no more than a random chatty coworker stopping by a work desk.

Prior to COVID people who WHF had to prove they had childcare up to a certain age. I think that should still be true and I think it is, for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I WFH sometimes and believe me, I never WANT my toddler to be home from daycare.

Agree the norm should be to have childcare coverage during working hours.

When there are multiple young children in daycare just please be aware that sick days are frequent, especially if one kid is an infant getting illnesses for the first time. So the employee in question may not have much choice, and you may actually be getting more work out of them if the choice is WFH day vs. sick day with no work.

Yea but before covid and the advent of WFH these days were far fewer. Clearly lots of mothers are taking advantage.

Are fathers taking advantage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a college age kid and wish someone would acknowledge how much money working parents spent on child care when it was completely taboo to hear a peep from a kid on a conference call. Now you see every taffy and squirming toddler and no one thinks a thing of it

So angry and bitter. Maybe be happy the next generation of women have more flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a college age kid and wish someone would acknowledge how much money working parents spent on child care when it was completely taboo to hear a peep from a kid on a conference call. Now you see every taffy and squirming toddler and no one thinks a thing of it

We are still spending money on child care!!! But I had to keep my toddler home for literal weeks last year due to covid quarantines, closures, and actual covid. SEVERAL WEEKS. I was *still paying.* Thank goodness it's getting better now, but I hope we can find some kind of happy medium in work culture between "pay for childcare in THIS economy?!" and "any sign of your children's existence will hurt your career."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree but I think a cut off age is more like 6 or 7, although certainly kid dependent. The child should be able to mostly interrupt no more than a random chatty coworker stopping by a work desk.

Prior to COVID people who WHF had to prove they had childcare up to a certain age. I think that should still be true and I think it is, for the most part.

Yes, pre COVID I WFH a few days every week - once my youngest started Kindergarten and we didn’t have the nanny, I’d let the kids come home in the bus instead of go to aftercare those days. They didn’t get home until after four anyway, it was really rare that I would have calls at that point and I would typically wrap up around five. They were just say hi, get a snack and chill while I finished up my day.

[Anonymous]

The “take advantage” myth again?

Look, remote work is here permanently. It’s not changing. Deal with it. The way we work has shifted for good.

[Anonymous]

During and immediately after the pandemic, I was fine with whatever people needed to do to get by. But as someone who pays a ton for good child care, yes, I am beyond annoyed to see someone’s kid in a meeting. It’s not 2020 or 2021. There is no excuse.