Do you remember the 1983 movie, “Mr. Mom,” where a furloughed Michael Keaton is stuck at home navigating the complexities of domestic life? He quickly has to learn the ropes of the daily routine, manage the constant flow of interruptions, and save his son’s woobie from their possessed, mind-of-its-own vacuum named ‘Jaws.’ Life kind of feels like an eerily warped version of that beloved John Hughes film lately, right down to the self-doubt and crazy beard.
Comparing today’s reality is a very generous comparison, in that the only REAL similarity is that my husband IS home with the kids all day and IS growing a crazy quarantine beard. And while there are no Joan, Ron or Herb (to do clean up in aisle 9), there is a certain familiarity to how our lives, during this pandemic, have taken on a whole new gender role reversal.
With my husband working from home, he not only has to try to manage his workload, but also has to be the one to help our daughters with their virtual schooling throughout the workday. If you are new to all this virtual technology, as I’m sure all of us are, you have probably heard, “You’re doing it wrong,” on numerous occasions – probably most often from your child. Technology can be amazing, intimidating, frustrating and life-changing all at the same time. I’m so grateful my kids are able to use it to continue learning, connect with peers and friends, and make this time at home beneficial. More importantly, I’m thankful my kids have my husband to help in this regard, because it makes my head spin.
All of the sudden, my husband’s ’Kanban Board’ method from work is also helping to guide schoolwork, household chores and all daily tasks.
Yes, we did build daily chores into the kid’s daily routine; my house is run like a ‘mostly’ well-oiled machine because of it. It’s pretty amazing to come home from work to a clean house, with dinner in progress, and only some extraneous homework or reading left to do. A girl could get use to this! Now, I just need to figure out how to get rid of the quarantine beard…
