If you scroll through social media, the life of a remote working parent looks like a dream. You see pictures of parents typing away while a sleeping baby rests peacefully in a sling.
In reality?
It’s a lot more like a high-stakes juggling act. It’s trying to finish a client proposal while your toddler decides that 10:00 AM is the perfect time to perform a concert. It’s the constant mental shift from being a professional to being a protector, often in the space of a single breath.
However, beneath the chaos of working from home in Nigeria, managing the network downtime, power grid issues, and the environmental noise, my wife and I discovered something profound. Being a remote working parent isn’t just a career choice; it is a gateway to intentional parenting.
Work-Life Balance? Not Really!
We often talk about balance as if it’s a 50/50 split. But for the remote working parent, it’s more like a blend.
Before we moved into this rhythm, the traditional path seemed like the only way to provide. You leave before the sun is up, battle the traffic, work in a cubicle, and return when the children are winding down for sleep. You provide the finances, but you miss the moments.
By choosing the remote path, we traded the corporate office for a front-row seat to our daughter’s life. We realised that intentional parenting isn’t something you do after work; it’s something you weave into the day. It’s about being available for the marginal moments; those small, unplanned interactions that happen between Zoom calls.
The 18-Month Case Study: Why Conversation Matters
People are often surprised when they meet our 18-month-old daughter. She’s already articulating words with a clarity that many expect from a much older child. Some ask us what we did or how we did it.
The answer is much simpler: We are just there.
Because we are both in the house as a remote working parent team, we are constantly in her world. When I’m making something in the kitchen, I can explain what I am doing to her. When my wife is taking a break, she’s reading her a story from her books. Because we aren’t drained by a four-hour commute, we have the emotional energy to actually talk to her, not just at her.
This is the core of intentional parenting. It’s the decision to use the flexibility of remote work not just to slack off, but to lean in. We’ve found that the more we talk to her during the day, the more she flourishes. We aren’t just watching her; we are engaging her mind.
The Hard Thing About Doing It All
I want to be real here. Being a remote working parent is one of the hardest things we’ve had to deal with, and we envisage it will only get harder as our children increase.
It requires a level of strategic sacrifice that most people don’t see.
-
It’s the sacrifice of a quiet workspace.
-
It’s the discipline to stay focused on a deadline when your child is tugging at your trousers.
-
It’s the late nights spent catching up on work because you chose to spend the afternoon teaching your daughter a new word.
But we see this struggle as an investment. We are choosing the unconventional path because we believe that the return on investment, a child who feels seen, heard, and taught, is worth more than any corporate promotion.
Starting the Journey of Intentional Parenting
This post is the beginning of a conversation. Over the coming weeks, we’re going to look more closely into what intentional parenting looks like in a digital, distracted world. We’ll talk about creative ways to teach and engage a toddler during work hours and how to build a home environment that fosters independent thought from day one. That and many other things we’re discovering in our own journey.
Being a remote working parent isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about having the courage to say that our presence in our children’s lives is a priority, not a “side hustle.”
Are you a remote working parent? What is the biggest challenge you’ve found in this lifestyle? Share your story in the comments below.
