Health & Fitness
Is that work? (aka: Struggles of working from home)
Working from home has is perks. But, do your kids recognize all the positives, or do they just see you as working all the time?
Today is Memorial Day. We had planned to make it to our family’s cottage on Lake Erie, but the weather turned, so we had to make other plans. The kids, of course, were very much looking forward to the cottage - we had been talking about it for days! One thing they were excited about, in particular, was going fishing!
Enter “Plan B” - we have a pond in our neighborhood, so once we decided the cottage was not happening, we headed out to the the pond to make the best of the day until the storms hit.
Although we didn’t catch anything (we rarely do!), it was a great time! Isaac has been learning about fishing in school - how to put the hook on the line, the different types of fish, the various lures - so he helped a lot.
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Overall, a good time together.
After getting back to the house and relaxing for a bit with my older son, Isaac, I decided I’d take a few minutes to write this post. As I sat down at the kitchen table (intentionally NOT sitting at the office desk, so I didn’t appear to be “working”), Isaac asked what I was doing. My answer: “I’m going to write a blog.”
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“Is that work?” he pushed.
“Hmmm. Not really,” I replied.
“Good. Because it’s a holiday. You’re not supposed to be working.”
Any small business owners reading this? Anyone who works out of the home, full or part time? You’ve likely heard this before.
You know what I have never heard?? Anything remotely close to…
“Thanks, Dad, for picking me up from school when it was raining.”
“Boy, that’s great that you came to have lunch with me, Dad.”
“I sure do appreciate you bringing me the shoes/lunch/book/homework I left at home this morning.”
“I love that you’re home every day when I get home from school, Dad.”
“It’s great that you can make it to my soccer/tennis/play/musical at 3:00 on a Wednesday.”
“Thanks for working late after we go to sleep at night instead of not getting home from work until 7:00.”
…or a million other things that COULD be said related to the POSITIVE side of being self-employed and working from home!
What I know, though, is that even if they don’t recognize it now, some day, sooner or later, they WILL see it, and hopefully say that “It was awesome to have dad working from home, running his own business, setting his own hours, so he could spend time with us.”
And, THAT is why, even though it hurts to hear them say it, I know I’m doing the right thing.