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Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

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Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#251

Post by jossclimb »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #25
jossclimb wrote: post #12

I have been remote for 11 years now and have two children 9 and 12. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had spent the week out commuting between the hours of 7am to 7pm, we would have lost out on so much bonding time with their daddy being an integral part of their life. I managed to be highly productive, build a career, yet be there for bath times, tucking into bed, school plays / sports days, nursing…

Well said! Did you ever in that time get any pushback from an overzealous boss about going back to the office?

Nope, luckily all my bosses have got it and were remote too (one of them spends a few days a week in the office). I produce what they need, can be relied upon and will travel to customers / tech events / all-hands when needed.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#252

Post by sgtnoodle »

bradstewart wrote: post #246
sgtnoodle wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. We have a 5 month old and a 4 year old, and my wife broke her leg with a compound spiral fracture two months ago then subsequently developed vertigo and hearing loss from unexplainable inner ear damage. I can't say preschool has helped us out much, either. After the whole family became violently ill from a preschool norovirus, I've now been plagued with an upper respiratory infection going on 20 days or so. I…

Thank you for this. Similar situation here, 2.5 year old and a newborn, and I have been having serious trouble keeping my head on straight. I've had so many viruses since the older one started preschool 8 months ago, I can't remember what feeling good feels like. The lack of sleep from trying to help my wife feed the newborn on top of keeping a norovirus-infected toddler away from said newborn in-between my own trips…

Have an internet hug! I'm not afraid of your germs, and I take immunosuppressants. I have heard that a 2.5 year sibling delta is the toughest with a newborn. Hold in there! We've been fortunate that our first daughter absolutely loves having a little sister, and she's old enough to mostly understand that babies are precious and fragile.

Our older daughter got hit with the norovirus a couple days before we did, so by the time it took us down she was over it. We didn't take any special precautions to isolate the baby, given that she most definitely got exposed the same time we did. Luckily the baby never developed any major symptoms. My wife was totally screwed with her broken leg. New lifetime achievement personal low. I had a 60 minute window between when she became violently ill and I did, which I used to build her an elevated makeshift bed close enough to the toilet that she could stand up and pivot on one leg. It was luxuriously memory foam padded. Our older daughter had the opportunity of her lifetime: camped out in the living room with the TV remote, Disney + button, no bed time. She's was so sweet and concerned though, that she kept checking in on her mom every half an hour until she passed out from exhaustion. I myself had a relatively tame night; all of my indignities could be kept between me and the washing machine.

A couple weeks ago our dog started vomiting on the mat by the back door of our kitchen. My wife started urgently shouting at me to do something. I kept doing whatever I was doing at a snails pace, probably staring at the hot water kettle or something. She got progressively more frustrated with me, "what are you doing?! Vomit! Hurry!" I turned to her and said, why are you shouting at me? Do you want me to feel stressed out about it? My sole purpose in life right now is to clean up vomit, wipe butts, and be spat up on. Of course Ollie's throwing up right now, it's the perfect compliment to my morning coffee. Just look how masterful he is, our entire house is hardwood and he intentionally walked over to that absorbent floor mat. Let me brew my coffee and enjoy a few sips. Then I'll grab some paper towel and the folex, the trash can, gag two or three times, and then it will be all fixed. I'm an expert at this.

I don't really know what I'm rambling on about anymore, but I was quite amused by the fact that I happened to throw up twice from coughing fits while typing out this post.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#253

Post by Thlom »

em-bee wrote: post #135
Thlom wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Norway most kids start kindergarten when they are 1-2 years old, it's not really a problem for most. Probably much more fun than hanging with their mother all day. Some have shorter days the first year(s) depending on parents work schedule etc. Kindergarten is heavily subsidised by the state, so that makes it affordable for everyone.

Probably much more fun than hanging with their mother all day for a 2 year old? hardly. more research on this topic is needed. i found at least one german report that claims that there are significant risk factors for early daycare that negatively affect the development of children and their relationship to the parents: bad quality daycare, lack of motherly sensitivity, spending more than 20 hours a week in daycare,…

Well, in Norway most children have been attending kindergarten from they are 1-2 years old the last 20 years or so, and I don't think there's been any reports of developmental issues in these kids.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#254

Post by Lolaccount »

louison11 wrote: post #27
stuaxo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ban them full stop. Huge amounts of people don't have enough money to participate in the economy at the same time as billionaires show themselves to be useless or worse, ban them and have a decent basic income - let's say current min wage + some %

And see all billionaires disappear to whichever country doesn't do that? The point of remote work, is that a lot of wealth is now very geographically volatile.

Capital does that already. Doesn't matter where the meat person resides now.

As they say, follow (and act on) the money.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#255

Post by Lolaccount »

sokoloff wrote: post #10
Lolaccount wrote: post #4

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

I will defend the freedom of speech for literal Nazis, even though I don’t want to hear Nazi speech. I think it’s fair to estimate that policy is extraordinarily unlikely to be enacted in the US.

Really? I'd just imprison the @assholes. But you do you.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#256

Post by Lolaccount »

nextlevelwizard wrote: post #52
Lolaccount wrote: post #4

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

>Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. Why draw the line at billionaires? BTW is your are of expertise to talk about Musk or what should and should not be banned?

It's obviously said in jest to highlight the hypocrisy of these @ssholes and others of a similar ilk. Your interpretation and the focus of your response says more about you than it does about me.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#257

Post by lurking_swe »

lynx23 wrote: post #71
flangola7 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that's not acceptable is micromanaging bosses and the attitude that business is more important than family.

If family is more important then your paycheck, why dont you resign? Why should someone without a family invest more at work just because you consider work a secondary thing?

how do you think you were born and raised into this world? did your parent(s) quit their jobs after you were born, stop earning any income, and raise you in a cardboard box on the steeet? do you expect only millionaires to have children? jesus…have some empathy. Life is more than work work work.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#258

Post by em-bee »

Thlom wrote: post #253
em-bee wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably much more fun than hanging with their mother all day for a 2 year old? hardly. more research on this topic is needed. i found at least one german report that claims that there are significant risk factors for early daycare that negatively affect the development of children and their relationship to the parents: bad quality daycare, lack of motherly sensitivity, spending more than 20 hours a week in daycare,…

Well, in Norway most children have been attending kindergarten from they are 1-2 years old the last 20 years or so, and I don't think there's been any reports of developmental issues in these kids.

not development issues, but mental healh issues. they have been rising in the last decade, in norway and many other countries too. and early kindergarten might well be a factor. there is not enough research to know if that is the case or where this comes from.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#259

Post by drekipus »

treis wrote: post #133
drekipus wrote: post #5

I had my firstborn from my new fully WFH job, in the middle/tailend of the pandemic. It has totally been a blast having the little one around. I work in my living area which is open plan into my kitchen, so I get to see her learning how to eat out of the corner of my eyes when I'm in work meetings, etc. My personal suggestion: if you're working from home with children, don't try and seperate and go into the study; do…

Newborns/infants are way easier than toddlers. Game changes once they get mobile and destructive. My wife is down two laptops due to our little guy.

Thanks for the heads up.. yeah, we're starting to see some destructive proclivities develop already..

It will be a fun ride in the future!

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#260

Post by helij »

tyoma wrote: post #136
Draiken wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure maybe having kids around might sometimes affect your productivity, but how is that any different than being in an open office? Phone calls, people talking around you, movement everywhere, unwanted taps on your shoulder and a lot more. Unless your job provides you with a closed office where you can actually focus on, it's pretty much the same as having kids around. When I worked in an office I remember the most p…

I’ve worked at an open office and its nothing alike, at least with young kids. There’s screaming and crying, if your help is needed, it needs to be right now , kids wont take no for an answer, etc. When I was in an open office, people generally kept a reasonable background volume my brain could tune out. As adults, they respected my answers the first time, and certainly no one screamed at me.

Kids are different. I didn't have any of the above issues. Once kids get older it's even easier.
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