Lemme Get Back To You

Solutions for the Pressure Cooker of Family Quarantine

Our advice columnist has the answers — plus, how to give thanks and give back

Melvin Backman
LEVEL
Published in
5 min readApr 9, 2020

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Illustration: Michael Kennedy

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Like so many other folks, I’m working from home and sheltering in place with my wife and two kids, including a toddler. But it’s not a big house, and we’re all here all the time. I love them, but I’m just trying not to lose it. Homeschooling, childcare, domestic duties, marriage: How do I preserve my sanity right now?

TThere’s a reason people love working from home — well, endless reasons. It’s more comfortable, there’s no commute, you can focus on doing actual work instead of office small talk. But up until recently, “working from home” came with certain assumptions: your kids are at school, you aren’t living through a national emergency, you can go outside without the risk of breathing in death. And now, here we are. You and your wife might be figuring out new work schedules and workflows, your kid’s trying to figure out remote schoolwork, you’re trying to figure out remote schoolwork, nobody knows how to stay out of each other’s way, the dishes are piling up, there are toys everywhere. There aren’t…

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