Freelance translator parents - lucky people

Monday, 6 December 2010

As some of you may know, we have a little boy, Tom, who will soon be 2 years old. Given that Nik, my wife, and I both work from home, I as a freelance Japanese-English translator and she as a celebration cake artist (http://www.lilypadbakery.co.uk), we've always been slightly concerned that Tom would grow up thinking that Mum just bakes cakes and Dad just plays on the computer all day. Today, however, was something of a watershed in my appreciation of how lucky we are.

Most of the time, Tom goes to nursery two mornings a week so that Nik can have some much-needed free time to bake and decorate her cakes. We've long needed to give the house a serious clean, though, as we're planning to put it on the market before the end of the year, so I took the day off and we booked Tom into nursery for the whole day (8.00am to 6.00pm).

Ordinarily, Tom plays on our bed for a good half hour in the morning before we get up, comes down to see me in my office mid-morning before Nik takes him out anywhere (which she does every single day), sometimes has lunch with me, comes down for another play in my office around 3.00 after his afternoon nap, at which point we share a rich tea biscuit, and then gives me a good 40-minute pummelling in the lounge after he's had his tea and I've finished work, and before he has his pre-bedtime bath. It's a routine I've grown extremely fond of, and one that I've come to take somewhat for granted.

Today, though, I only saw Tom for about 20 minutes this morning and then for about half an hour after he got back from nursery. That was it. No mid-morning looning around in my office and no afternoon tea and biscuits together, and I genuinely missed them. These activities have become vital for punctuating my working day. Then it occurred to me: that's all most working parents ever get to see of their toddlers, and in many cases not even that if, say, they have a long commute. This is one (more) reason I would find it incredibly hard to go back to being a company employee and have to "go to work". I don't think I could cope very well with losing this happy working environment I've grown to love. I also hope that Tom, as he continues to develop and become more aware of his surroundings, learns to appreciate how fortunate we are as a family. Any other freelancers out there with kids of a similar age? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Tom and me