The other day my 17-year-old son was complaining that I never make lunch for him and my other two children. I thought he was joking at first. I mean, first of all, my children are 12, 14 and 17 years old. They can certainly make their own lunch. But more importantly, I am working.
I don’t know if other home business professionals can relate but it is sometimes very difficult for the family to understand and respect your time working. My family has gotten better but obviously there are still some expectations that they have.
For a moment guilt attempted to overtake me. I questioned if I was somehow lacking as a mother. But then I thought about all the times I stop working to take my children somewhere. I thought about all the times I have rearranged my schedule around their lives so that I can be part of something important.
My response to his complaint about my not providing lunch was that he needs to pretend when I am downstairs working that I’m not even home. If we were like the typical family, he would have no choice but to make his own lunch.
I don’t know that my children really understand the benefits in my working from home. They don’t know what it’s like to have mom out of the house for hours. I think this can be something that is taken for granted.
I then thought about something my 14-year-old daughter had told me a few days ago. She was telling me that her friend has to walk by herself to her dentist’s office when she has an appointment. Her mom is working during the day and can’t take off for these kinds of things.
I don’t think it registered in my daughter’s mind how lucky they are to have me available. I somehow suspect it won’t be until my children are older that it will become a realization to them.
Meanwhile I will continue to enjoy the flexibility that I am sometimes afforded but still try to remind my family that I do have a job to do. Will I now make my children lunch? No, I won’t. That guilt lasted but a moment. My children are more than capable of fending for themselves this one meal.
Do your children have complaints that pertain to you working from home?
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