My husband and I both work from home and while we’re lucky to have excellent childcare, there are times when work and home life cross paths. Sending out last-minute reports or preparing for meetings can leave any parent on edge when you’re also being yelled at by a toddler for serving their milk in the wrong cup. A lot of times, I end up yelling and feeling stressed out. In my better moments, I’ve picked up a trick to find a laugh or two by talking to the kids like they are my coworker.
I overhear my husband’s work calls a lot because we both work from home, so I hear all of the corporate jargon that he uses. Sometimes he brings that language into home conversations and tells me he has a “hard stop on bath time at 7 pm” or that we “need to backfill the baby oatmeal.”
It feels absurd to have the corporate world and home life collide in this way, but I like to take advantage of that absurdity by talking to my kids like a coworker. The confused look on their faces may be just enough to move you from frustrated to laughing.
Here are some examples:
Try consoling a crying baby like answering an email
“I agree with you, baby. The boss is setting an unrealistic timeline for such a heavy lift. A strong reaction is appropriate here. Let’s table this project and focus on the low-hanging fruit for now.”
The toddler screaming at you for opening her banana the wrong way
“Listen, there seems to be a disconnect here. Let’s put a pin in this discussion for a time when we’ve both had time to reflect. For now, the banana can be delivered as is.”
Siblings fighting over a toy
“Let’s all take a step back and assess the root of the problem. This is a resource management issue. We need to understand the downstream effects of the supply shortage.”
