The other day I had my 1-1 appraisal with my line manager via skype and she asked me about my work/life balance and how I was managing with it. We both laughed as soon as she asked the question because the concept of work/life balance in our lives is a myth right nowđ.
Working and living in such close quarters has been a very interesting experiment for us, albeit one we didnât sign up for. On one hand, I get to see how my husband works and he vice-versa and we tease each other about how we have different voices and demeanours we take on when we are speaking to our colleagues. His voice gets deeper (he will probably deny this đ) and I get slightly shrill, upbeat and âBritish-likeâ in my accent.
Perhaps the most interesting of all my observations in this life experiment, is the way our working from home has impacted our children. It is probably one of our biggest sources of entertainment when we are having a stressful day at âworkâ. Iâll give you an example.
Since we began working from home, our children (the 8 year old especially) now have âoffice outfitsâ that they don every week. My son has a pair of chino trousers, blue polo shirt and a âfancy hatâ that he wears couple of times a week. He completes the look with a âbriefcaseâ and at a certain time of the day, he will call a âteam meetingâ to be attended by himself and his sister; in their bedroom. Then there is the mimicry of mummy and how she rings up GP surgeries, patients and hospitals chasing up test results, x-rays, referrals and setting up virtual clinics for our patients. They pick up my headset and amuse themselves by role-playing mum and all the funny things she says when sheâs on the phone. The other day, my son responded to my correction of his homeschool work with âThanks for the feedback, mumâ. It was such an unexpected and matter-of-fact comment that I only laughed after I had automatically responded back with âof course honey, anytimeâ
As amusing as this is to us and them, I sometimes wonder if (and how) this will impact their outlook on work and adult life. I know people say that it is good for your children to see you working, so I am leaning into that and hoping that they are right. It isnât always fun and games and sometimes emotions run high and we shout and cry and give each other the silent treatment. We are all new to this dimension of family dynamics and if Iâm honest we are winging it most of the time.
And when I feel like Iâm fit to burst, I will just hide away in the storage room under the stairs with a cup of tea and a Jammy Dodgerđ.
What have you observed in the dynamics of your family since you began working in close quarters with one another?
