Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

No need to throw shade at Gen X. My kids are in high school and I struggle to balance everything even with WFH. Much sympathy to parents with little ones. The baby days are so hard, and lets not pretend that all of the childcare spots that were available pre-COVID still exist.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. i just wanted a meeting without baby crying in the back. she had to stop/mute at times when it got really bad. i thought it's not too much to ask.

Do you know what was going on? Was this an infrequent “my baby is sick and can’t go to daycare, but I am willing to take this meeting with you instead of postponing” situation (in which case I would cut some slack) or was this a “I’m too cheap to pay for childcare” situation (in which case I would be annoyed).

Do any of you remember babies? You can shush, rock, cuddle and those buggers sometimes and they STILL cry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a colleague that has a 1YO and just never put the kid in daycare. Never mind that we aren't allowed to do childcare duties if we're working! ??? Both she and her spouse work from home, and DGAF I guess. Baby interrupts meetings w/ important people regularly.

Waiting lists for infant care are insane. 6 months to over a year based on my experience.

Do parents not get on wait lists as soon as they are pregnant? My kids were born in 2001 and 2005 and I got on wait lists when I was 3 months pregnant.

I honestly don’t know anyone without childcare at the moment and there are a lot of post COVID babies/toddlers in my neighborhood.

But I do agree with others that unless OP has evidence the mom isn’t using daycare, she really doesn’t have a valid complaint about the mere existence of crying.

Anonymous wrote:I have a colleague that has a 1YO and just never put the kid in daycare. Never mind that we aren't allowed to do childcare duties if we're working! ??? Both she and her spouse work from home, and DGAF I guess. Baby interrupts meetings w/ important people regularly.

My colleague has 4 kids under 4. She “home schools” them AND “works” full time. She’s Superwoman!

I have given up on expecting any work from her whatsoever. IMO she gives working women a bad name— she’s the reason people are hesitant to hire young women.

I say this guiltily as a woman with small children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked remote for 15 years prior to covid, and we had to have childcare. It's insane that people just...thinking they can work and take care of an infant now.

I have worked remotely FT since 2011. During that time, I had a FT nanny who came M-F to the house. I paid her a ton of money. Sometimes, however, you could still hear kids crying. Most of the time when I had a call, I asked them to go to the basement but sound travels. I can imagine that those who live in smaller houses would have issues.

How do people not understand this in 2023?

+1. I was remote working since 2009. I was lucky to have a huge house. If it was small, you could have heard the baby crying with my full-time nanny

I am much much more bothered by barking dogs than crying babies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been our last couple of weeks:

12/09 2yo positive for Flu A
12/13 4yo positive for Flu A
12/29 DH gets stomach bug
1/1 4yo gets stomach bug
1/2 2yo gets stomach bug
1/7 2yo tests positive for Flu B

I went 20 years without a sick day from work or taking off to watch a sick kid. My mother raised 4 kids and I recall she took off two hours once and was max at me. My wife’s mom had three kids and never took any time off.

Kids today need to toughen up. Heck at 5 I already had a job. I think at 4 I was shaving already.

I assume this is hyberbole. But when I was a kid, if we were sick, my mom (a teacher at my school) either left us home alone from the age of 8, or brought us in to school where we spent the day sleeping/hanging out in the "ladies lounge" that was a large bathroom with a couch, that only the female teachers could use. She would check in on us at lunch and tell us to go find the nurse if we felt super sick. She had no sick leave. When she herself got very sick one year, for several months, she had to take unpaid leave. The school told her they were being generous in letting her keep her job. And they weren't kidding. A teacher of mine got fired for missing too much time in her first year of work.

Fortunately my sister and I were usually very healthy but I have clear memories of spending a day at home by myself at 8, and she'd call once or twice to check up on me; and memories of snoozing on the couch in the ladies lounge at 6 or 7, and all the teachers coming in to use the bathroom would say "hi" and go about their business.

You can't do this now. Working from home with a sick kid is much better - if you can work, at least. Harder with a small child or a very sick child, obviously.

Anonymous wrote:I have a colleague that has a 1YO and just never put the kid in daycare. Never mind that we aren't allowed to do childcare duties if we're working! ??? Both she and her spouse work from home, and DGAF I guess. Baby interrupts meetings w/ important people regularly.

Waiting lists for infant care are insane. 6 months to over a year based on my experience.

I have a colleague that has a 1YO and just never put the kid in daycare. Never mind that we aren't allowed to do childcare duties if we're working! ??? Both she and her spouse work from home, and DGAF I guess. Baby interrupts meetings w/ important people regularly.

Mom of 3 here. I’d rather hear a crying child than your dog barking incessantly.

This is progress.

Anonymous wrote:I worked remote for 15 years prior to covid, and we had to have childcare. It's insane that people just...thinking they can work and take care of an infant now.

A lot of WFH parents have a nanny. I'm in tech thats why i know this.

There is a nanny in the home while they're working.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been our last couple of weeks:

12/09 2yo positive for Flu A
12/13 4yo positive for Flu A
12/29 DH gets stomach bug
1/1 4yo gets stomach bug
1/2 2yo gets stomach bug
1/7 2yo tests positive for Flu B

I went 20 years without a sick day from work or taking off to watch a sick kid. My mother raised 4 kids and I recall she took off two hours once and was max at me. My wife’s mom had three kids and never took any time off.

Kids today need to toughen up. Heck at 5 I already had a job. I think at 4 I was shaving already.

Daycares and schools are also more strict than they were pre-COVID-19 when it comes to run of the mill stuff with kids. Kids get sent home for the smallest things that used to be commonplace such as runny noses, headaches, sore throats, etc. My 9 year old figured this out last year and used it to stay home from school. When the school called me aout her having over 30 days of absences, I asked them what they wanted me to do when it's their policy to send a child home if they go to the nurse and complain about a headache or sore throat and have me come pick her up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

No need to throw shade at Gen X. My kids are in high school and I struggle to balance everything even with WFH. Much sympathy to parents with little ones. The baby days are so hard, and lets not pretend that all of the childcare spots that were available pre-COVID still exist.

There are no under 2 spots in my area. NONE. The only place with an opening is 1k per WEEK. Group care. Crofton/Bowie area.

I don't believe this for one second. Especially in that area.

in THAT area?

Anonymous wrote:This has been our last couple of weeks:

12/09 2yo positive for Flu A
12/13 4yo positive for Flu A
12/29 DH gets stomach bug
1/1 4yo gets stomach bug
1/2 2yo gets stomach bug
1/7 2yo tests positive for Flu B

I went 20 years without a sick day from work or taking off to watch a sick kid. My mother raised 4 kids and I recall she took off two hours once and was max at me. My wife’s mom had three kids and never took any time off.

Kids today need to toughen up. Heck at 5 I already had a job. I think at 4 I was shaving already.