Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I’m a parent who works from home. Every day, I set up my laptop and punch away at the keys writing this amazing goodness that theGrio requests of me. I’m blessed and highly favored; I write for a living. Now, this setup is pretty good; of my four children, three of them are in school (the fourth will be going to school very soon) so my days are usually pretty manageable. I’m not a person who needs absolute silence to concentrate and write so one kid running around while I’m being creative usually doesn’t throw me off my game.
But Friday is a holiday in my children’s school system. In honor of Veterans Day, three of my four children have the day off (oddly, my daughter’s high school is in session while the elementary and middle schools associated with her private school are out). And baby, it is loud in this house. My kids have been yelling for hours. They’re sitting in each other’s faces yelling not because they’re mad but because that’s how kids speak to one another in close quarters.
They’re also running, heavily and frequently. I ask my kids to rush all the time, and they walk. I need to write something, and they’re moving like a herd of elephants who just drank a pack of energy drinks. These kids sound heavy; I don’t understand it at all.
The point here is that it is loud and chaotic in this house, and I still have to write. The circumstances are not ideal, so how do I get it done?
Not well. Not well at all.
For starters, not only are my kids here, one of their friends is here so it’s louder than usual. But what that means is I have to pay attention. It’s one thing for me to let my kids tempt broken limbs and pain but I can’t let somebody else’s kid get hurt. So not only must I…
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