My husband is going to start working from home for the most part now. Our son is 1.5 and is a daddy magnet! I know he will want to follow his dad into the home office and want to play since he knows daddy is home. In the morning, we usually wave dad off until the car is out of sight so our son can see dad physically went to work. Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas on how to keep him from crying at the home office door and how to help him understand dad is at work?
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Sadly he’s only 1.5 so he is not gonna understand daddy works. He just sees daddy behind the door. Daddy is at home. Suggestions are to not let him see daddy go in, daddy lock the door behind him & you communicate through texting etc, if he needs to leave. So you can take him to another area until daddy finishes what he’s doing & goes back to work until he finishes.
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Have dad go to work then take kiddo to a room and dad can sneak back in. Keep his normalcy
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Tell him daddy new office is in this room. And when its time for him to go to work have him walk down the hall and wave goodbye to each other.
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Do the same thing but he comes right back and sneaks into the office and lock the door
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Wave dad off at door and havr him sneak back in!!!
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Have him lock the door when he doesn’t need to be disturbed. My husband has been working from home since March. This and “leave Dad alone. He’s working.” works here.
Wave dad off the same way then go somewhere in the house so dad can sneak back in
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Omg one and a half…just out smart child. No means no, make sure dad has his space to work. Maybe take the baby out in the stroller, or have a play date. Parenting isnt that hard. (I raised 6)
Explain that dad works at home now and while he is working he has to leave him alone in his office. Then set up a fun area for him to have his play office in the living or family room with a t.v. On cartoon’s. Tell him while daddy works he has to work in his part of the house and his work is to have fun while dad works.
We have that with my almost 15 month old n I just go into another room n lock the door or go into the garage or wherever.
She’s super attached to me and don’t do well with dad so we are working on a 110% virtual environment again as of today so when she’s not at daycare and I have to work it’s hard
I put on the heater and work from the garage with a hotspot some days. But I am thankful for the days she’s at daycare
My 17 month old is a daddy magnet too. He doesn’t work from home, but if he’s cooking with bacon or something that pops, he needs her out of the kitchen and away from him. Not sure if they really understand at that age.
The wave him off and have Dad sneak back in, on its face, sounds good, but Dad is eventually going to need to toilet and eat.
So, unless where Dad is working has an en suite bathroom and you are cool with bringing him food, you’re going to have to teach your child not to bother Dad.
Let the child say good bye as usual and then go to another part of the home so that any video conferencing or meetings are not disturbed by any crying or commotion.
As to the bit about “keep him from crying at the…door” you are more than capable of preventing the child from heading to that part of the house, and keeping him from disturbing your spouse.
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Hes a year and a half. Not going to.
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Make a production of dad “going to work” in the morning and saying goodbye. And be sure to announce his arrival when he “gets home” at the end of the day. We do this and it helps tremendously.
Luckily you are there to take care of this… i work from home since this pandemic, and have my daughter who just turned 3 to take care of too…you need to take control
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2 choices :
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Avoid the issue - Try to avoid him seeing Dad go into the room. Have him text you so that your son doesn’t see him if he needs to come out for any reason.
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Deal with the issue head on - Wave and say bye to Dad as he walks into the office. “Bye Dad, have fun at work. Love you!” Blow kisses, etc whatever you normally do to say bye and then walk away to do something else. “Come on, it’s breakfast time! We’ll see Dad at lunch” or whatever and keep him away from the door. A safety gate might help if he’s insistent. They have low ones for $10 at Walmart that are easy to put up and take down. You could even say bye at the safety gate instead if that’s feasible. The safety gate could be a signal that Dad’s working.
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Maybe keep the same morning ritual as if dad is going to work like waving n him driving down the road a bit n waiting for an ok text from u to come back n sneak in while u distract y’all child by playing with toys or going into the backyard for a bit or going into part of the house where he can’t hear or see him come back in, then wait for a text letting u know he’s in the home office. Communicate by text n don’t let ur son see u go to the home office when bring his dad lunch or anything that the dad will need if the dad needs to come out go into another room with y’all’s son with door shut n wait for him to text that he is back in the office once more or maybe slowly get y’all’s son use to the new change by slowly reforcing his attention on something else until he gets use of dad being home more
Maybe try dad still leaving in the car and then sneaking back home and just going straight into his office without your son seeing him lol x
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Teach your son daddy has to work maybe make a red light/green light sign when it’s red he needs to leave daddy alone when its green he can visit daddy. Dad needs to keep the door closed while working if he needs to lock it so be it.
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Put a gate up to keep him away from the office door
Dont let him see Daddy go in there. Have daddy lock the door. Take baby into another room or different part of the house so daddy can go in there. Also try to keep baby occupied when Daddy must use bathroom or kitchen to eat something
Distraction. Keep the door closed, take your son for a walk or to go do something. Tell dad to stay in that room and not to come out unless the house is burning. 
Distraction is key. My little guy is also 1.5 and obsessed with daddy. Daddy was home for a week, laying in bed, recouping from kidney failure. Little guy KNEW he was home and insisted on knocking on the bedroom door every few minutes.
My kids are 3&4yrs and if dad’s in the home, it’s go time!!!
do the same thing… wave daddy off until he gets inside the home office and closes the door. i think it would help if he isn’t allowed into or near that office room at all. that way he’ll know when daddy goes in there he shouldn’t try to go there
My suggestion would be that routine is going to be your best friend. Keep up with the routine of Daddy “leaving” the house, only instead of walking out the door, he walks into the office. Have him spend time with your son in the morning, and then say goodbye and go to work. Then when the work is done, he “comes home” by just walking out of the office and giving your son a big hug and acting as he normally would when he gets home from work.
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Since he sees dad physically leave for work, he thinks dad is there at home for playtime because he “has come home”. Show him daddy’s office and tell him that this is where daddy works. Tell him that when daddy is in his office working, we can’t disturb him. Give daddy a hug and kiss and wave goodbye when daddy goes into the office and closes the door. When daddy is working, the office door needs to be closed at all times. Then go about your normal day with your son. At 18 months, this will be a hard concept, but be consistent. Maybe you can all have lunch together. If daddy takes short breaks, maybe they can play for a few minutes or read a story. Develop a routine and stick to it. It will take a while, but it will work.
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Have your husband drive away keep baby occupied while he comes back and goes to office and locks the door. Keep baby away from that room so he doesn’t hear him in there…he’s a baby not the boss
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You could do the waving him off thing like you normally do only with him going into the home office. Like ok daddy is going to work and wave at him from the door and then shut the door
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Have daddy take breaks so that your son knows he wont be in his office forever.Babies have 0 concept of time,youre there and then youre not.Especially since this is new routine for him too,not understanding why his dad is home but cant play with him all day.
I actually built a wall and a outside entrance. Worked for me.
My husband works from home too. My daughter bursts into the room when hes on the phone or trying to do something. Hes made it a habit to come out at least every couple of hrs to say hi and spend 5 mins with her and definitely makes time for hugs and kisses before nap. Have your husband try that for a week or so and see if it makes a difference
He’s to young to understand why dad cant play and locks him out. I would suggested dad to walk out front door after hugs and waves. Then you take him to another part of house and for him quietly enter in back door or whatever is closer to his office.
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Just have him start saying good by at the office door instead of the driveway. It will be all about repetition, and keeping up with it till he understands. Try to distract him with a toy, or breakfast.
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Perhaps consider this a chance for dad to spend more time with his son. A large number of jobs from home don’t require your full attention, perhaps dad can work for a little then come out and play, then back to work for a while. The little guy isn’t going to be little forever. Take advantage of this.
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Make a stop light for dads door red means not allow green means ok. Have dad open door or turn green during short periods during the day as he can to allow for the transition and little session of dad time.
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That’s a big ask for a kid that’s 1.5. Just have him say bye tell him daddies working and redirect so he focuses his attention elsewhere.
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Simple. He is not allowed in home office while Daddy is at work. He will quickly learn the new routine.
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these are all gold ideas you could always give him a picture of him an daddy together to hold onto.then,o e of just daddy on foor of office. tell him this just for daddy to work. other one of which he is holding onto is for him n daddy playing at home… when daddy has lunch break remind him that’s his picture …time.
We have a baby gate between the office naturally because it’s in front by the door and I have that blocked off, so my son knows he can’t go there anyway. We just say bye to him like we always do and he goes into his office instead of out the door. My son’s so funny, he hears daddy set down his work phone and asks “all done working?!” Everytime 
You can’t. Your husband needs to find a space away from your son.
Good grief. If you have to ask advice about this how do you function daily…
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Ignorance basically. Let him cry and carry on. He’ll get over it
Fake it till you make it at that age. Hes too young to have it explained to him.
Have dad pretend to go to work, then sneak back in.
Maybe now is a good time to add some special playtime in a different room so daddy has a chance to sneak in
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Wave daddy “off” sneak him back in and let’m get to work!
Have him leave like regular, distract the kiddo while Dad comes back in, and let him lock the door:)
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Easy ,Take care of your son well your husband works smh that simple!
Make him his own work station. So he can copy and work too. Staff meetings lunch the whole shebang. He wants to be daddy give him random art projects to complete by the deadline. If hes willing to learn why not let him.
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I can’t help but the work from home struggle is real.
Don’t trick your child into thinking dad is going off to work. It’s not sustainable; he can’t hide from his child all day; he’s eventually going to see him. Keep him out of dad’s office. Establish a routine of play with dad before work, at lunch and after work. You’ll have to keep baby active and busy while dad works.
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My Suggections
- Maybe leave like normal sneak back in through the office window, but make sure the office door is closed. OR
- Stick a small table and chair (try to make it similar to your husband work area) in office for your son so when your husband is working your son can be working too. OR
- Set a few distinctive alarms through out the day when they go off that’s the times your son can have daddy time but sent another alarm sound to say daddy has to go back to work.
Let him walk outside and say bye going to work and you take him in the other room while dad comes in and goes to his office.
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I think your expecting a lot from a baby…
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Have him wave him into his office and say daddy’s at work now. Either way you’re probably gonna have some fits for a bit I’m sure just gotta push through them though
When our kids were little my military husband was getting his masters at AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology). He had an office in the basement for non in person school days. I taught the kids if the basement door is shut then daddy is NOT available. If its open he is. Another officer at the same college taught his 5 kids that if Daddy is wearing a hat then he is in school mode. When he took it off the kids nearly tackled him daily. At lot of students at AFIT have families so they come up with things like this. A one and a half year old is fully capable of understanding routines and rules if you are consistent with them. Our youngest was less than a year when he started school. It lasted 2 years. Neither kid bothered my husband.
Wave him off into the office
At 1.5 yrs old …Close the office door until he is done and put a gate up to keep him away from the door
If his job doesn’t realize that he’s home with a baby, it’s on them. There will be times he’ll have to close the door and your son will cry, absolutely. But he needs to be transparent with his job and say, look, there’s a baby here. Can’t hide from him all day long.
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Its so hard my boy just turn 3 with special needs Im trying yo work from home to he throws things at me hits over the head with things ams for my face yells so Im always on mute so I go in different rooms to hide from him with doing zoom on computer.Its hard working at home with kids doing distist learning its a nightmare.
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