DH and I both get 5 weeks of leave each year and we have more in our leave banks. We could easily take 8 weeks off if we wanted to. My BIL has a job that allows him to work from abroad for a few weeks at a time. Their family went to Europe for the whole summer last year. He worked for 4 weeks, took vacation for the rest.
Not everyone is bound by 2 weeks of vacation and not everyone taking long vacations is doing something nefarious.

Some people take a leave of absence or even quit their job and get rehired

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d bet they are “WFH.” Just like all the folks at Costco and the driving range, and the carline at half day camp.

What are you insinuating?

That people who are supposed to work 40 hours a week are actually working 20.

Man there are some bitter commercial real estate developers on this thread.

Can think of a million options op, here are a few:
Teleworking with local family or nanny support
Changing jobs, delayed start date for trip
Summers off (education-teachers/professors/coaches/admin)
Sahp/working parent joins only part of the time
Sabbatical
They need a break from you and your kid and are avoiding you

Some jobs are more amenable to vacations like this. My DH works in an office that recruits heavily from universities in Asia and the Middle East that happen to have very strong programs in an area of engineering where they need a lot of expertise. It's common for many of these colleagues to travel home for 3-4 weeks, using all their PTO or saving it up over several years for a trip like that, so that they can spend extended periods with their family. It just gets built into the culture of the workplace and even the American workers will take similar trip now, for instance taking a month off the summer before a child goes to college, or doing an extended trip for a big anniversary, because the office has found ways to accommodate this kind of travel. The people who do this take fewer long weekends or random days off, so it evens out.

Anonymous wrote:I’d bet they are “WFH.” Just like all the folks at Costco and the driving range, and the carline at half day camp.

What are you insinuating?

I've read on the childcare forum that nannies usually take 2 months off to go visit family. Maybe the parents are nannies?

Office job, maybe teacher. The people saying it’s fake WFH are nuts.

I’m on a month vacation now. I get 6 weeks / year.

I currently have 37 vacation days banked. I could easily take a month off. I can also work from anywhere with solid Wifi.

Could be they have use or lose PTO. I have coworkers in this situation that have to burn through PTO before the end of the fiscal year. Granted they are rarely parents, but it happens. Or they plan for it all year, or are working some while on vacation. There are flexible workplaces that can accommodate this!

Also - I go to half-day camp pickup during my WFH workday! It's during my lunch hour and I'm back in less than 45 minutes. I don't understand the issue. I complain to DH about all the ladies of leisure who are not rushed in the carline at all. MOVE IT I have to get back to work!

Could be family wealth. I have been asked this by a friend. We travel extensively, I don’t work and my husband works for a startup so it ‘doesn’t add up’. Do I think it’s odd to ask people about their money situations, yes, but I’d rather someone be direct than talk behind my back or make assumptions.

I’d bet they are “WFH.” Just like all the folks at Costco and the driving range, and the carline at half day camp.

Ask them?

My DD's friend went on vacation (Turkey) and they are still not back a month later!! Both parents work too, what do they do? How does work let them both off for a month?