Most parents around the world chuckled along while watching Professor Robert E Kelly struggle to keep his composure as he was interrupted live on air by his two kids while giving an interview.
It was a poignant moment because the famous TV moment captures perfectly the struggle of balancing home life with work. And since lockdown, these boundaries have only become more blurred.
In this episode, I spoke with my friend Sheila about her struggles of keeping up with her full-time job while also suddenly becoming a teacher to her 7-year old son, Micah. Sheila works as a senior corporate tax software consultant, spending about 80% of her time training clients on using tax software. Not a mild feat from home considering constant interruptions from Micah!
Links
Children interrupt BBC News interview
In the Covid-19 Economy, You Can Have a Kid or a Job. You Can’t Have Both.
Working parents are hitting a wall. Employers don't want to lose them
Highlights
How Sheila coped with juggling 3 different jobs (mum, employee and teacher)
How she tried disciplining Micah on social distancing without scaring him
Dealing with being interrupted by Micah on work calls
What teaching has been like while juggling work
How Sheila got over her struggles of asking for help
On missing her colleagues
The idea of just not knowing how long we are going to be working from home is a bit scary. I’ve missed having conversations with people at work, having lunch breaks together and going out for drinks. It’s very strange.
On shopping during covid
It was hard at first going to the supermarket with him. I couldn’t leave him at home by himself. When we would go to the supermarket together, I would tell him to stay close to the trolley and not get too close to people - that was hard. He’s just a child and wants to run around and touch things. Kids just want to touch everything and be close to people.
On getting to know Micah better
I’ve discovered parts of his personality I didn’t even know he had, I mean he’s quite funny! I didn’t realise how funny Micah can be, he’s got some jokes. I didn’t realise he could make me laugh so much. It’s been nice to actually spend some time with him and see how his mind works.
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The Office Reset podcast #03: Parenting in lockdown