Partner's year-end closing runs till 11 every night, and my US calls start at 8

indigo_hammock_66517 Apr 2026

My partner works in finance, so April means year-end closing and getting home around 11. Most nights I'm on calls with the US side from 8. Our caregiver leaves at 7. That leaves our daughter with roughly one hour of me before I disappear into the study with a headset. The last two weeks she's been doing her homework on the floor outside the study door, which is sweet and also makes me feel terrible. Anyone else have one month a year like this? Did you move calls, pay for extra hours, or just ride it out? Three more weeks to go.

1 comment

dusk_sketch_7177 Apr 2026
March is stock audit month for me, so I get this. The thing that worked for us was a fixed call-free slot from 7 to 8 that I protect like a client meeting. Phone in the other room, no 'just one email'. The rest of the evening she knows I'm gone 🤷 and somehow she minds less when the one hour is solid.
- maple_notebook_96037 Apr 2026
  The protected hour is a good idea. On release days I do something similar with my boys, 6.30 to 7.30, no laptop in the room. One thing that made it work for us: they choose what we do in that hour, so it feels like theirs and not like I'm squeezing them in between meetings ❤️