The perils of working from home with young children

Note to self: fit a lock on the door.

The perils of working from home with young children

I work from home. I frequently do media interviews via Skype. I have a young child.

It’s a dangerous cocktail.

I’ve had an “unexpected visitor” sometimes join me live on air, but I’ve never quite had something like this happen.

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Well done to the dude for keeping his cool!

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

3 comments on “The perils of working from home with young children”

  1. snowman

    Priceless. I love the way the childcare assistant (I assume) comes round the corner in a 4 wheel drift legs spinning road-runner style.

    More seriously, the number of times conference calls at work get drowned out by children or dogs, it is rather frustrating. To be fair this chap wasn't expecting what happened!

    1. Bob · in reply to snowman

      "Childcare assistant", in Britain we normally refer to them as nannies. 'Childcare Assistant' is a pompous description just as "Vision Technician" is an equally stupid title for a Window Cleaner.

      Anyway I believe the woman in question was his wife – press coverage varies.

  2. william

    Things like this happen and most people treat them with humor if they don't happen all the time. But….

    If you have children at home, don't try to work from there. If you have no choice, get adequate off site child care. If that's not possible, set up a discrete area with locks, train your kids to stay away and be sure they have adequate supervision.

    Because if your kids constantly interrupt, don't be surprised if your clients and colleagues treat you with the same short temper they have for parents who bring squalling, disruptive brats to restaurants and theaters and inflict them upon others. After all, YOU had the kids, not them. And it's YOUR duty to control them so work gets done, not theirs.

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