Flexspace and co-working

(Note: my comments not recorded. They weren't that interesting anyway, but I enjoyed expressing them.)

What is this blend of daycare management & flex space. How much time would one need the time? Rick & wife do this limited time.

Aaron talking about sharing childcare with neighbors who work at home. When Catherine mentioned this on Twitter, within 30 seconds the thread lit up.

Beth: Need to burn off energy to handle kids. Balance kids needs with parents needs. A kids's disco: have the kids dance, & bunks for the adults. Sip & crams (sp?). How do you get the kids engaged while you get your needs addressed?

Eva: attempt to meet the needs of daycare for Cubespace customers. Planned for it, but found they did not have the space. Nor is there any daycare nearby -- a doggycare on every block! Challenge of starting daycare: capital-intensive (need special equipment), labor issues, licensing. A parent co-op would work around this. Many school co-ops work this way.

The reality of "working from home": not very productive. One person who was would work when the children are asleep, she must have had a coffee IV drip! The problem of a client who is more structured than the parent can be. We need a better alternative than plopping the kids in front of the tv while taking a meeting.

The play area at Freddy's -- would you trust your child there? Story about heading to the airport, stopped by Ikea. Many parents would drop their kid off at the mosh pit while going up stairs to get coffee.

Flexible hours at workplace.

Grade school children -- how to deal with after school. Beth could not let her child play soccer because the practice would be on unscheduled days. Had to plan this ahead of time for this year. The problem of the 6pm pivot becomes the 3pm pivot (when the kids are older than 5).

Aaron's neighborhood -- 2 blocks with children under 2. Artificially creating the extended family to look after children.

Rick T. the issue of socializing adults. Eva mentioned a group of new parents forming a committee to support each other in raising their kids. Work and children are very intermeshed.

Rick asked Eva about advice. Her response:
* Tap into existing resources as much as possible.
* A startup is a *huge* process; juggling work & kids is a difficult thing.
* Clustering -- home, daycare, work. Geographical sorting.
* Sense of financial commitment. Is this a co-op, or hire a shared nanny. "Great idea" vs. "great idea & here's the money". If people could this, it will lead to more billable hours.

Getting the kids & work nearby makes this work.

Beth talking about making the commute work -- awkward. "I have a hard stop at 2:00". Once you disengage, deal with the awkwardness, there is a crisis at work.

James: what terrifies about this parenting thing, all of us have kids, deal with the kids, then go back online for 4 hours & leaving our partners abandoned. The disconnect needed to raise a family doesn't help in other ways. Want to be closer to my family so I don't need to be online with Twitter.

Rick: Two sides of guilt. Guilt over the people working for, guilt over with family. Need to create false barriers; beholden to these barriers when rather go with the ebb-&-flow of events.

Beth: Are you hourly? Salaried is more flexible. Pressure of billable hours not as important.

Eva: When I am finished for the day, or my brain is done, I have staff who will tell me to go home.

Rick: The feeling that when you leave early, there is a fire waiting to flare up. Guilt over having to break promises with the child. Also guilt over not allowing spouse to have day off to do something other than look after kid. Need a third leg.

Beth: Architectural issues, need a triangular structure. Psychological issues. The triangular structure in kitchen design.

James: Have a chef design your kitchen.

Beth: the kitchens with an island in the middle that keeps you from getting around. That barrier is guilt in our case.

The problem of commuting. An hour taken away from being with kids, another lost billable hour.

A Google email group has been started on this matter. Need the info for signing up.