How to respond to the people who say “WeLl CaN’t YoU jUsT wOrK fRoM hOmE?”

[gainesvilledave]

@col8lok8 Same. Been doing it for 3 years, but I’m so burnt out. My job is high demand, but I do have childcare assistance at home in the afternoons and 6 hours on Tues, Thurs. I just deal with fires in the mornings and respond to emails and work on projects where I need to focus and can’t be interrupted in the afternoons/evenings.

 

[smileyface50]

@gainesvilledave I’ve been repeating this to others who have been downvoting my other comment - at the end of the day it all depends on how demanding the job is. I’ve stated multiple times my job isn’t that demanding and my company is VERY flexible and understanding with having kids at home.

 

[noam111g]

@col8lok8 You gotta do whatever ya gotta do. Your kids will learn a different and valuable resilience. I like who mine are turning out to be, despite my flaws and rough times. You'll appreciate teaching her to self occupy.

 

[thowra]

@mahyrah I’m a full time single parent and I worked from home while I had my child when he was aged 3-5 before he started kindergarten. No daycare. It was not easy. I would not recommend it but I did what I had to do.

Nap time was my only savior.

 

[naturallynaphtaly]

@mahyrah I was just recently told this and point blank said I work from home already

I'm the chef of the house
Personal shopper (hygiene products, cleaning products, food, etc)
The nanny of the baby I also have to make sure we have formula which now takes me 8-9 stores to find the right kind which is always fun to run around with a newborn (hubby is not always home)
The maid of the house which does floors, bathrooms, kitchen, constant laundry.

There's 4 full time jobs in there why would I get a 5th?

Also I'm in school trying to get a degree for personal growth but I'm very serious about it like my life depends on it. Economy worries me and eventually if things keep rising like this I need something I can survive with also my husband does a job that's dangerous to his life so if something happens to him I have to raise my babies and provide.

 

[abby564]

@mahyrah Why do people care if you do what is right for your family? I have a fantastic job with great benefits and my husband will be a sahd until he wants to work again and that works for us. Some of my family think it’s great and some people like to make comments about him not working once the baby is here

 

[thorvald8]

@mahyrah Tell them to mind their business

 

[ivacast]

@mahyrah "work time is work time whether it's at home or the office."

 

[samuel977]

@mahyrah I work from home full time and take care of my daughter (11 months) full time. It's HARD. My husband is home with me three work days out of the week - hoping to turn that into all 5 days soon - and even those days are hard. I'm lucky to have a very flexible job where I can get up early and get some work in before baby gets up and work after she goes to bed. Those people are dumb.

 

[chriscomplex]

@mahyrah No thanks, I'm just not that desperate. I feel that working from home without childcare is something that is a last resort, you know? It's burning the candle at both ends, and either the job or the kid will suffer. Probably both.

 

[kandywandy]

@mahyrah Honestly I’d say “thanks for the input but my situation works for me, I’m able to give my full attention to my baby.” A little passive aggression never hurt anyone

 

[kallankurup]

@mahyrah I WFH and honestly I find it offensive that if people imply that I’d be able to add caring for an infant on top of it. I’m an engineer and I work damn hard and need to be completely focused. I barely have time to feed myself while I’m working let alone be responsible for a full baby.

My baby isn’t here yet but I’m pretty sure when I’m caring for her, I’ll find it offensive if someone implies that that is so simple I could just work alongside it.

People are clueless.

 

[argem17]

@mahyrah I'm working from home with week, my teen has covid, so I'm keeping my very energetic, teething, 7 month old at home. I'm also pregnant again to add to the fun. Yesterday was such a horrible busy day for me, my new project started, it was emails back and forth. I had to take a few breaks to scream into a pillow. I wish I could leave my baby on the floor to play, I have 2 dogs that are crazy also because I'm home. It got to the point where I said fuck it, cut work out early (my boss is aware I have my infant with me, he is understanding and is frequently in the same situation when his kids are sick). It's impossible, I can't get much done, I can't play with her.

 

[latvdevelopment]

@mahyrah As someone who works, and has an 18 month old who is sick this week - IT IS VERY HARD TO WORK FROM HOME.
I mean, I’d say you can do one of those two things well - take care of your kid OR work from home. Not both.
Tell those people to pay your bills - or come watch the kid.

 

[faith1st]

@mahyrah Just laugh at them.

I thought I could WFH and take care of baby when I had my first, too. Oh, how naive I was. Ended up having to work nights til 2am and then nap with the baby during the day to get things done. Luckily my work hours were flexible like that.

 

[m3iceman]

@mahyrah “Oh my gosh, thank you SO MUCH for offering to come watch LO during my work hours!! So my schedule was usually 7-4, if you could get here by 6:30 so I can get ready for they day that’d be great” then I just stare at them with a straight face. Because “if you can push a certain choice onto me, you’re certainly offering help…”right????

 

[mclintock]

@mahyrah Yeah it's a ridiculous expectation. I decided to keep working after my first baby so we put him in daycare. The days when he's out of school for sickness or just because the daycare is closed that day (happens a lot because they're run by the public school district), are super difficult. I don't get much work done and he's sitting in front of the TV more than I'd like. He's a toddler now so it's a bit different but still. Now I have a second baby but I'm on maternity leave. I'm not sure how we're going to handle the days off school with two! I might have to hire a babysitter.

 

[ralphlaureen]

@mahyrah Lmao imagine having time to WFH with a baby or toddler. My kids are in daycare and I WFH.

 

[velden777]

@mahyrah I work out of the home and thats hard enough figuring out sitter etc. I could NOT imagine trying to work while my LO is awake and home with me. I would nothing done.

I would tell them they are welcome to take my child while they work from home and get back to me on how it went.

 

[caxyxn]

@mahyrah My husband is WFH some days and he would never be able to do both full-time. I can ask him for help occasionally like to put our toddler down for a nap or take out the garbage for me but he’s on work calls a significant portion of the day/just doing projects that he wouldn’t be able to focus on while watching a child. Being a SAHM is a full-time job for me; if I wasn’t doing it, I would be paying someone.