If you work from home as I do, Thursday's interview with Profession Kelly is every "work from home (WFH)" Parent worst nightmare. As someone who works from home, I cringed, I empathized and most importantly I laughed my a%$ off at the site of Professor Kelly, his wife, and two kids navigate this new quandary. Don't get me wrong, working from home is a blessing. It allows the modern mother or father to juggle all the growing competing priorities of life; being a spouse, parent, sibling, employee and much more.

It allows for true work-life balance. But… and there is a BUT, the same privilege that allows you to have a balance can sprout in its place a different type of plight. None so evident as what we saw in Professors Kelly's interview. Honestly, this video is so iconic for multiple reasons. First, his daughter strolls in, with not a care in the world, completely oblivious to the situation she has just created. I myself have had situations like this, and if it was not for the mute button and lack of video, I am not sure I would still be gainfully employed.

Second, the cutest baby comes running, obviously following in her sister's steps. Third, his wife slides in as if sliding for a baseball base, waiting for the umpire to shout "safe", as she huddles the children as best as she could out of the room; probably wishing she could just puff and disappear. I can only imagine what is going through Prof Kelly's mind, "Will I work again, will this go viral, oh God." Honestly, with more companies opting for their employees to WFH, these types of situations are likely to be on the rise.

Three Things We Can All Learn From These Situations

1. 1. Lock the door – I cannot say this enough. Even if you must change the type of door you have to enable you to lock it, this is something you should do. It's much better to have your children knocking than have them just plain burst through the door during a pivotal interview. If your house is built like mine, you can even lock all the doors in the corridor/hallway leading to your office space.
2. Develop a color system – Another thing you can do is have a color system, a card on the outside of our door. If you place a red card on the outside it means DO NOT ENTER. This can be a back up to locking the door. Green means it safe to enter.
3. Talk to your children – One thing that has worked for me is; I talk to my kids. Every time I disappear for a conference call or a meeting, I tell them. Mum must take a call and you cannot come downstairs. I will be back soon and we can talk, play, eat together or whatever then.

As embarrassed as Professor Kelly must be, the truth is, people, work from anywhere and everywhere. And if they have children, pets, or just others with their lives, work and life will eventually collide. It's just a matter of fact.

Here's the full clip

-Nina Lewis – Kinkless Founder –