Work From Home Couple

Back when my first son started first grade, and he was out of the house for a good 6-and-a-half-hour chunk of the day, he seemed to think time at home stopped once he stepped out the door in the morning.

Here’s what he asked us over his bowl of Cheerios one morning: “Do you wait for me when I’m gone?”

If only it was that simple. I’d love to spend a day sitting on the living room couch watching People’s Court and waiting for 3 p.m. when our son returned from school. I’m sure my wife would like to do the same.

‘Course, if we did that, the income flowing into our home would dry up. So, when our son is at school, we work. I’m either writing or interviewing or editing while my wife takes care of our 1-year-old. If that’s not happening, I’m usually feeding said 1-year-old or taking him on a long walk while my wife contacts the director of the latest play she is providing costuming for.

There’s precious little time for TV watching, unfortunately. (Well, maybe that should be “fortunately.” We just got cable last year for the first time. Have you seen the garbage that’s on during the day? And in the early mornings, when my youngest son loves to get up, there’s this one show in particular that seems to be popular. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s called “Paid Programming” and it seems to be one about 2/3 of the channels in the 5:30 a.m. time slot.)

If you work from home, you’ll often hear my older son’s question phrased in a more adult way, from your friends, family members or neighbors. People will say things like, “Oh, you’re so lucky you don’t have to work all day.” You may also hear, “Don’t you get bored sitting around your house all day?” People assume, wrongly, that just because you work from home you don’t really work. These questions go double for me because both I and my spouse work from home. People are surprised that either of us ever gets out of our pajamas.

This used to be bother me. It no longer does. That’s because I can’t imagine all the time people who do work every day from an office waste. Think about it: There’s the commuting time, whether workers drive in or take the train. There are the constant meetings that seemed to have been a part of every office environment. And there’s all the time spent bemoaning last night’s football games or chatting about last evening’s episode of Chuck with co-workers.

Besides, I know most office workers would love to work from home, even one or two days a week. The advantages are immense: You get to spend more time with your kids. You can take a break for a walk or a quick scan of the newspaper whenever you need to. You can work odd hours, early in the morning, late in the evening. You can be more efficient. And on those rare days when you do polish off your work more quickly than usual, you can knock off a bit early without the boss pointing at her watch.

So if you do work from home, don’t sweat the skeptical looks you’ll sometimes get from your commuting friends and relatives. Believe me, they probably wish they were in your shoes.

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