It’s never easy to live your life with a toddler. Not only it’s a full time job, but you don’t get paid a penny. Working full time at home and having your toddler as your co worker is double the blast! Luckily, I have my other co worker, my husband, taking my shift so I don’t have a little monkey crawling on my head while I’m trying to focus. Sounds like a perfect plan right? Well, not so much for me. At least not during a pandemic.

Work life boundary

There is no such thing anymore. I even have a play area set up in my home office when my coworker is doing his thing. If I’m lucky, I could get at most 10 mins of quiet time. After 10 mins? Either I’ll be out of office or I’ll start to yell at my coworker for not doing his job. No not the ones on the other side of the laptop. They are all associated with my paycheck. I can’t really yell at my husband because then he would tell me how cold I am not to allow my own baby to play besides me. Oh speaking the pressure of working moms…

Unlimited working hours

It’s not 9-5 anymore. Not even 8-4 if working from home means flexibility. At the beginning, I told myself that I will log in my computer at 8 am and logoff at 4 pm not matter what. I even laughed at my co worker who had too much work and couldn’t finish by 6 pm. A week later, I realized I am the clown of them all. I do log off at 4 pm – because that’s my daughter’s daily bath time. But I have to log in again after she goes to bed to make up the hours because I could barely get anything done during the day. Not that I feel guilty, but I know if I wait it over the same drama will happen again the next day.

Trying to write homework inside the Disney World

Am I comparing the outside world of a pandemic to the Disney world. YES. If you live in the north where you still see snowflakes in the middle of May, and you have been watching the forecast every 10 mins to find the big sun ball, you will understand. Because right now, the only place you can go is outside – your backyard, your driveway and your side walk. And when that sunny day you have waited a week for is finally here, you have to be tied to your desk because it’s still in the office hour and someone is waiting for a stupid spreadsheet… That feeling really sucks!

What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner?

Those are the 2 questions I get to asked the most everyday, TWICE. Because my daughter is too young to eat anything hardcore like we do (we LOVE spicy food), I have to cook her meal separately. Then I feed her and cook again for us. Now because I’m pregnant, I can’t eat anything that only requires 5 mins of cooking time. That means 2 hours of lunch time. Not to mention how tired I feel after all these and just want a nap.

Vacation days

WHERE ARE YOU GOING? That’s the question that came to my head when my coworker asked about it during a team meeting. Having worked from home for 4 weeks, I desperately sent off the notice to my manager. I need a break! Even if that means having to get my old job back, which is watching my 1 year old daughter and racing with her when she is trying to get the leaf off my plants. I’d rather be with my toddler, even if she has poor communication skills. I really want to go outside, even that’s just the side walks…

Working from home isn’t as slacking as it sounds, nor is it efficient as you would think if you are a parent. But I’d rather stay with my baby during this catastrophic event and tell her what we have been through many years later.

How about you? If it’s under the safety protocol, would you prefer to go to the office or work from home if you are a parent?