The pros and cons of having the other half work from home – Mummascribbles

I guess it’s always been a bit of a dream to have the other half around the place more often, and when he took his current role as a contractor in Richmond – which is an hour and a half commute each way – we knew that we would be seeing him a lot less than we were. He would be dashing out the door at 7.15, and getting home at 18:30 at the earliest. But it’s only a ten month contract – we figured we could cope and so he started there back in November.

It became clear to him straight away that the other contractors did a lot of working from home. He mentioned it briefly, said how great that would be, and decided that come the new year, when he was settled and deep into the tasks they wanted him to do, he would see if he could do a bit of working from home himself every now and then.

The first time he did it was so that he could go to Zach’s school Christmas performance. And it was a success. All of the equipment worked, he got his work done, and he didn’t have to spend three hours commuting. It was a winner – and he liked it. He did it another couple of times at sporadic intervals, and again there were no issues. Not with his workplace or with him being at home. And so he hoped that it could become a bit of a more regular thing.

A few weeks ago, he started on another task at his work. He had been creating user guides for the new system that they have been developing and they needed to be interactive – to have a voice-over explaining each step. And there was absolutely no way that he could do that in his very small work office. In order for it to record properly, he needed to speak loudly and it would be disruptive for other people. And so the only thing he could do was work from home.

The first two weeks he did two days at home and three days in the office. And then last week he was at home for four days. It wasn’t intentional. He had planned to be home on the Monday and Tuesday, and then Oscar got poorly, the weather got pretty damn cold, and so he decided to stay working from home so that he could help with with the school run – so that I didn’t have to take Oscar out in the zero degree temperatures when he was feeling really quite rough with a cold.

We are now on week four I think. He was home yesterday and he is home today. Back to his now regular two days at home and three in the office. And while of course it is wonderful to have him here, and wonderful for him to not have to do that commute a couple of times a week – it does of course make mine and the kids days a little different to what we have been used to over the last four months!

Here are my pros and cons for the other half working from home!

Pros

Help in the morning

This is by far the biggest one. When he leaves at 7.15 in the morning, I have to do everything by myself. I have to get showered, made up, and hair dried. I have to get the boys their breakfast, make mine if it’s a straight to playgroup day, and get their teeth brushed, clothes on, and into their coats and out of the door. It’s not easy – not at all. Especially at the moment because Oscar is having regular morning meltdowns at the whole changing nappy and getting dressed requirement. I tell you, if it was Summer, he’d be on the school run in his pj’s!

So when he works from home, and gets their breakfast ready while I have a shower, and gets them dressed while I am getting myself ready, it is amazing! Somehow we still manage to find ourselves running out of the door at 8.30, but it’s with a lot less shouting from me – well except for the last part of GET YOUR SHOES ON and GET YOUR COAT ON!

Early dinners

I usually feed the kids around 17.30 and then the other half and I have our dinner once they are in bed. With him working from home and clocking off at 5pm, he sidles down the stairs, I ask him how his commute was, and then one of us makes dinner. Usually I am in the kitchen with Oscar whining at me, so it’s lovely to have him home to help with either the kids or the cooking!

Adult company

Particularly important for the days we don’t have playgroup, it’s really nice to have him in the house to just chat to every now and then. He usually calls me from work every day but it’s never quite the same as having an adult conversation face to face when you usually spend the whole day with a toddler!

Extra time with the boys

OK, so actually this is probably the most important one out of all of them (despite what I said up there – I was clearly being selfish). On a work in the office day, his train (if on time) arrives into the station at about 18.26 and he is home by about 18.35. We then either get the boys in the shower, or if it’s not shower night, he has twenty minutes of time with them before we take them up to bed.

On work from home days, they have their Daddy for a whole hour and a half extra in the evening. And of course they have the extra time in the morning too. It is so beneficial for them to have him here for that extra time. There are usually lots of giggles, lots of tickles, and lots of screams of Daddy, Daddy.  It really does beat a lengthy commute for him – even if it means he doesn’t get to play on his Switch that day!

Cons

Losing my desk space

Of course, while most of my day is spent being a stay at home mum, I do also spend nap times working on my blog. I usually take myself off upstairs, get settled at the desk in our bedroom, and spend a couple of hours doing whatever it is that needs doing. Only when he’s working from home, HE’S AT THE DESK!

It is his space. He’s there with his laptop and his monitor, taking up all the lovely space, and leaving me sitting on the bed like I used to before we got the desk. I don’t know why, but when I am sat at a desk, I am a lot more productive, so I blame him for any lack of blog work going on!

Big lunches

When I am on my own, I am a salad or small sandwich kind of girl. When he’s home, I am a massive chicken baguette kind of girl! Don’t get me wrong, it is of course delicious – but I am far better with my healthy eating when I only have myself to think about. Although I have to say, it’s handy when Oscar falls asleep on me unexpectedly and I still get lunch!

Confusion for the boys

It doesn’t affect Zach quite so much because he is at school all day, but the first thing that happens when he gets home, is that he heads straight upstairs to see Daddy. And the same with Oscar – he knows that Daddy is upstairs and so at regular intervals, he wants to go and see him. The first couple of weeks that we had him home were the hardest, but Oscar does seem to be understanding a bit more now that when Daddy is upstairs, Daddy is working. But it can create tears if he really wants to see him!

Distraction

Again, lacking in my productivity – I get less work done when he’s here because he distracts me. When Oscar is finally asleep for his nap, I head straight upstairs with the laptop to work – only he has been working solidly and is ready for a break. And so we usually end up chatting or, like yesterday, sit looking on Rightmove at houses that we have no intention of buying!

Less exercise

I was exercising far more regularly when he wasn’t working from home because I was doing it while the boys eat their dinner. When we eat dinner together on work from home days, there is no time for that exercise. Of course I could do it in the evening, but then Oscar might wake up.

Despite there being one extra con to outweigh the pros – the pros are far bigger than the cons are. We love having him work from home, love the early dinners and the extra Daddy snuggles. I just need to find another time on those days to workout!

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