I feel semi-caught up after two weeks away from my desk. This involved staying up to work until 11 p.m. last night so I could record podcasts when the house was quiet. I don’t feel completely prepared for my book launch on Tuesday, but then again, I never do.
In any case, it’s been a week full of softball and baseball. My husband and I both made it to our daughter’s softball game last night and got to see her score two runs. She looked so cute with her braids, batting helmet…and bright pink mask.
I experienced what I am trying to view as a funny work-from-home meta moment. I was doing a webinar for a repeat client, presenting my new material on how to work from home productively and ambitiously. Our sitter was with the baby, trying to get him down for his nap. The 5-year-old was given an extra computer turn, which can normally occupy him for hours but…not this time. About 45 minutes into the webinar he came into my office and proceeded to do his best to be the new star of the show. I am pretty sure audience engagement was higher for this segment. In retrospect, my mistake was in acting startled when he came in, which he picked up on and ran with. I think if I had played it completely cool and had him come snuggle with me he might have then been content to just wave at the audience and play a game on my phone. Lesson learned.
The Philadelphia Marathon is officially canceled in November. I was already behind on training, but now I’m going to dial down my ambitions. I will do a long run this weekend but probably top out around 13-15 miles this fall. It’s not that I don’t have time. It’s just…not a priority.
Photo: This child is less likely to interrupt a webinar
I work at a clinic and spend time on the phone with insurance companies, specialty pharmacies etc. This week I’ve had several instances of talking to someone at a call center and hearing children in the background. Cute baby!!
Yeah… it’s really a bummer about all the races. A few friends and I had planned out this whole big weekend running the Wineglass Marathon in October and happened to make the decision to pull the plug on the trip the same day that the race organizers cancelled the marathon. The only race that I think has a good chance of actually running is Disney, and that filled up in like 2 minutes. It’s definitely hard (for me at least) to maintain that level of training without an actual race in sight. I told my running group that I wanted to be 100% sure we were going before I ran any disgustingly hot 20-milers!
We are no longer working from home…..we are living at work!! 😊
Regarding marathons, my husband had specifically run 9 NY Road Runners’ races so he could get a sport for the NY Marathon this year, which is an anniversary year. It’s cancelled too. Oh well. I’m still optimistic that these events will return if not next year than in a few years. At least running can continue solo or in small groups. And while I miss group exercise classes, there are always DVD’s!
I work for a middle-sized tech company (who touts itself and is a work/life balance one) in California. Starting in April, there is a Zoom series where the C-level and SVP-level people are interviewed one at a time for an hour – to share how they are WFH, what is working for them (and what is not), and answering fun questions like their music tastes and favorite coffee preparation.
With what I can only assume as a group agreement, all those who have kids have had their kids come say hello during the interview. A few just sat on (or crawled all over or played with the phone or read) on their parent for a while before running off, or colored in a corner. Others told us a bit about their Lego/drawings, what they think their parent does for work, etc.
The internal messaging at the company was that they want to support parents, and seeing that it includes leadership at least some of the time helped to believe that they mean what they say.
You could totally teach your kid what to do if they ARE on video – try to keep quiet and not interrupt, but ok to wave hello (or similar).
I wouldn’t have thought before but I do lock my home office door when doing webinars or for really important meetings. And naps.
@Marthe – locking is definitely an option. But less helpful once the child decides to cause a distraction — which could mean banging on the door loudly, pounding on the piano in the next room…
Yes, I know the privileges in my answer. It implies a separate office and someone else who watches the kids.
@Marthe – in theory I had both of these! Kids can be tricky 🙂