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I Only Work Remotely

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171–180 of 222 posts

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#171
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is why people with children shouldn't also have jobs. At least one person needs to be at home to take care of the kids. However, with divorce so commonplace, you can't count on having one spouse earning an income any more, it's just too much of a risk, so I don't think anyone should have any kids at all. Having kids simply is not compatible with living in modern society. (No, this is not satire.)

What? Wow. You're kinda off the deep end there.

Do you have a solution? From what I see, parents simply have no time to actually spend with kids, they have to spend the equivalent of a full apartment rent on daycare, the cost of raising kids properly is utterly unaffordable, and the cost of living and healthcare makes it impossible for one parent to stay home instead of both having jobs, and the very high probability of divorce makes it foolhardy to enter into such an arrangement in the first place. On top of all that, the time needed to get an education and get established professionally makes it very difficult to have a kid before you're 30, and the older you are the higher the likelihood of birth defects or autism or Down's syndrome. Society isn't going to do anything to help you in raising your kids, so unless you're lucky to have some really great extended family or something, it's just way too much of a risk and an expense.

I fail to see how this is "off the deep end", this is just the reality of modern American society.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#172

YES. >when I’m forced to be in a chair in your office at 9am: > - I force myself to be up early and rush to work, feeling ill prepared > - I try to focus and be effective in the morning, but struggle and the day is off to a bad start, killing my mood and momentum > - I’m tired in the afternoon and cannot work effectively at my peak work time. I drink tons of coffee trying to kickstart my productivity > - I go home wh…

Just wake up earlier.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#173
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Wow. You're kinda off the deep end there.

Do you have a solution? From what I see, parents simply have no time to actually spend with kids, they have to spend the equivalent of a full apartment rent on daycare, the cost of raising kids properly is utterly unaffordable, and the cost of living and healthcare makes it impossible for one parent to stay home instead of both having jobs, and the very high probability of divorce makes it foolhardy to enter into suc…

the older you are the higher the likelihood of birth defects or autism or Down's syndrome

For what it's worth, we've been getting really good at identifying these very early with tests that also hold little or no risk to the mother and baby (e.g. NIPT with free-cell fetal DNA). Of course, if there's moral objections to terminating such pregnancies even in the very early stages, that doesn't help.

reality of modern American society.

Yeah, that explains a lot. I understand daycare and healthcare aren't really subsidized here, apparently American society has problems with distributing the costs of childbearing over the population in order to encourage it. I guess they'll keep the population demographics at a sustainable level by immigration or something.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#174

The most incredible thing for me was avoiding getting sick. Been remote about 4 years now, the number of colds I get went from 2 per year to about 1 every 2 years. I shouldn't have said that.

This stops working once you get portable germ carriers. Err, I meant kids.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#175
I only work remotely. I will travel for meetings that should be face to face, but slack, skype/hangouts, email and phone should be the main form of comms for day to day stuff. No open plans. No constant interruptions.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#176
post #137

> I am a night owl. You can tell me I have to have my butt in a chair within your line of sight at 8 or 9am, but that is very wasteful. This used to be me and I used to believe it was just the way things were. I'd naturally sleep 10+ hours until noon on the weekends, struggle to wake up for work, and then struggle to fall asleep before midnight. I had little energy for exercise and always felt stressed trying to find…

> 3. Put down screens like phone, laptop, and TV after about 8pm. The artificial, bright light throws off off your body's natural instinct to get sleepy when it gets dark. Spend some time preparing for the next day so you aren't stressed in the morning, and then read a book or something until you feel tired. I can confirm that this works, but this part's really killer if you have young kids since it means (very nearl…

I don't have kids but I can see where shutting off screens early would be a pain. Personally I will bend the rule to watch the occasional movie or TV show. For me the bigger benefit of having a stop-time is just avoiding the endless scroll of social media or getting lost in some rabbit hole like Reddit or HN. Additionally, I find it easier to fall asleep if I've spent a some time consciously preparing food, clothes, brain for the next morning and I can feel organized and calm than if I try to zone out watching Netflix or something.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having young children can place constraints on your ability to shift work hours away from conventional 9-5. Childcare/schooling/etc are not as flexible in the schedules they follow, and not everyone has a spouse/partner with sufficient free time to compensate for your unavailability.

Exactly. This is why people with children shouldn't also have jobs. At least one person needs to be at home to take care of the kids. However, with divorce so commonplace, you can't count on having one spouse earning an income any more, it's just too much of a risk, so I don't think anyone should have any kids at all. Having kids simply is not compatible with living in modern society. (No, this is not satire.)

The ability for one spouse to forego work in lieu of dedicating themselves to childcare is a privilege not enjoyed by a substantial percentage of parents. Besides that, the choice to have kids (or not) remains in this country one everyone is entitled to make.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#178
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Wow. You're kinda off the deep end there.

Do you have a solution? From what I see, parents simply have no time to actually spend with kids, they have to spend the equivalent of a full apartment rent on daycare, the cost of raising kids properly is utterly unaffordable, and the cost of living and healthcare makes it impossible for one parent to stay home instead of both having jobs, and the very high probability of divorce makes it foolhardy to enter into suc…

Many other cultures (and even many of my relatives) frame the task of rearing children as means to better ensure for your own care towards the end of your life, rather than as a high-risk endeavor comparable to purchasing real estate.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is why people with children shouldn't also have jobs. At least one person needs to be at home to take care of the kids. However, with divorce so commonplace, you can't count on having one spouse earning an income any more, it's just too much of a risk, so I don't think anyone should have any kids at all. Having kids simply is not compatible with living in modern society. (No, this is not satire.)

The ability for one spouse to forego work in lieu of dedicating themselves to childcare is a privilege not enjoyed by a substantial percentage of parents. Besides that, the choice to have kids (or not) remains in this country one everyone is entitled to make.

>the choice to have kids (or not) remains in this country one everyone is entitled to make.

What does that have to do with anything? I never proposed banning having children. I merely advocated against it.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a solution? From what I see, parents simply have no time to actually spend with kids, they have to spend the equivalent of a full apartment rent on daycare, the cost of raising kids properly is utterly unaffordable, and the cost of living and healthcare makes it impossible for one parent to stay home instead of both having jobs, and the very high probability of divorce makes it foolhardy to enter into suc…

Many other cultures (and even many of my relatives) frame the task of rearing children as means to better ensure for your own care towards the end of your life, rather than as a high-risk endeavor comparable to purchasing real estate.

I've heard of this, but what kids actually stick around to take care of their parents when they're old? In fact, isn't that rather cruel? By the time the parents are unable to take care of themselves (if they get to that state; lots of elderly people are fully mobile and capable of taking care of themselves), their kids will now have their own kids, and it will be flatly impossible for them to both have two jobs, take care of their kids, and take care of their parents all at the same time. That's an unreasonable expectation to have of your children.
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