Discussion about this post

User's avatar
John Carter's avatar

I've been feeling a bit guilty for not doing something special for my paid subscribers, and since this post was a lot of work to put together (10,000 words, damn ... I think this is the longest thing I've written yet on Substack), I decided to put most of it behind a paywall. For now. I'll take it out from behind the paywall in a week, but paying subscribers get the first crack at reading this, and at ripping my ideas to shreds in the comments.

Expand full comment
Georgia McGraw's avatar

This is great, lots of sensible ideas. I will say that "idleness" is not generally a word that can be accurately applied to a mother looking after a nursing baby, unless she is a) neglectful or b) has an absolute potato baby, and they are rare.

Baby rearing is usually very hands-on and physical. My baby only started having reliable, >20min naps after 8 or so months, and that was my housework time. Previous, he usually only slept in the day being walked in the pram, and hated a sling. I've been able to do freelance WFH for 30-60min per day, but only since he's been about 14months old and naps better (and can mostly toddle about with me while I do housework).

My point is, there is not much WFH you can safely or reasonably do while looking after little babies/toddlers. School-age kids may be a different matter though, and even just losing the commute time is helpful for balancing child-rearing and paid employment.

Expand full comment
75 more comments...

No posts