Ever thought about how work is just work & domestic tasks and parenting are just ‘work’?

Ever thought about how work is just work & domestic tasks and parenting are just ‘work’?

By Lou Tuininga, Software Developer

April 2020

 

In the pandemic situation we all currently find ourselves in, families are trying to find a work-life balance when work and life have been haphazardly thrust together. For most of us things were ambling along ok - there were routines and shifts and evenly distributed tasks. Then Coronavirus came along and the root core of our lives changed. I’ve been trying to find the best way of doing things and balance out the following:  

  • be a great parent
  • be a great employee
  • be a great teacher (keeping in mind my kid isn’t old enough for proper home schooling - I recognise this is going to be on the list for many people who want their kids to be able to spell their own names.)
  • be a great partner
  • be a fully present, functioning person

So I am super lucky to be able to work from home. I’m lucky to have a job. I’m lucky to have a kid and a spouse. These are all privileges. But all of these combined do add up to many different duties and jobs.

We are now working out who is doing what and making sure our calendars don’t clash because someone needs to be there to keep an eye on the 4 year old who is on the trampoline, training for the 2036 Olympics while we have important client meetings and important deadlines as well, and what’s for lunch and do we even have enough food in the house as people having been panic buying and have you washed your hands for 20 seconds after the postman gave you that parcel, can you just watch the kid I have a meeting, no don’t come in I’m on a call, why is the dog barking, I’ve forgotten how silence sounds, oh right yeah, the meeting, “hi guys”….and breathe.

So far I’ve concluded that if I focus on being what I can be e.g a fully present, functioning person that the rest will just come naturally because those are sort of a part of me anyway. A lot of us are in the same, if not similar, boat. There are reasons society usually functions the way it does with schools and workplaces and restaurants and various other places that work for us. Hopefully it won’t be too long till we can get back to these very normal things.

 

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