ILLUSTRATION: MARK MATCHO
By 

What has it been like for kids watching their parents work from home this past year?

Remote work and schooling during the pandemic have given a generation of kids an unprecedented close-up view of their parents’ jobs. Children overheard our conference calls, made unexpected cameos on Zoom meetings and heard our exasperation at bosses’ last-minute requests.

For many kids, it has changed the way they see their parents, how they view work and what they want to be when they grow up. Here’s what five kids around the country had to say.

Moseti Phelps
Age 6
Silver Spring, Md.

For much of the pandemic, 6-year-old Moseti Phelps did remote schoolwork alongside his mom, Brigit Phelps, who has been working from home as an assistant bank manager. He watched her handle customer inquiries and train new hires; she worked with spreadsheets, sent emails and held video calls.

Moseti Phelps, age 6: ‘The thing that’s not interesting is that it goes on all day.’

PHOTO: BRIGIT PHELPS

The rising second-grader has formed his own assessment of her responsibilities. “She tries to get money for a bank,” says Moseti. “Sometimes there are emergencies,” he recounts, when she had to take her laptop upstairs to a bedroom (typically for a customer discussion or meetings that needed “silence and participation,” Ms. Phelps explains).

He’s ambivalent about pursuing bank work himself. “Maybe,” he says. “The thing that’s not interesting is that it goes on all day.”

Kaili Milano
Age 8
Ashburn, Va.

The rising third-grader says she is still not quite sure what her father, 49-year-old Anthony Milano, does for a living. “It’s a lot of typing and listening. Sometimes he looks up stuff on his phone,” she says. Her dad’s home office is always a busy place of quiet activity. “There is a big monitor on his desk, a laptop and his phone. And lots of messy papers.”

Kaili Milano’s take on her dad’s job: ‘It’s just calls and typing and typing and typing.’

PHOTO: ANTHONY MILANO

Usually, she can hear a quiet hum behind closed glass doors—unless she and her younger sister start quarreling. “He’ll get mad and start waving,” she says.

Mr. Milano, an engineering manager for a content management services company, says the hand signals sometimes work and sometimes don’t. “It’s been challenging,” says Mr. Milano. This summer, he has gotten used to taking his work with him on the road to summer camp while Kaili plays hockey. “I’m able to get what I need done. I hide out in the corner and take my calls.”

Would Kaili like to have her dad’s job for a living? “No!’ she says. “Because it’s just calls and typing and typing and typing.” Her preferred career: veterinarian.

Leo Alexander
Age 10
New York

Before the pandemic, 10-year-old Leo Alexander often accompanied his actress mom to auditions—but he never got to go into the room. “I didn’t really get to see her in action,” he says.

This past year, they were often both at home, with Leo doing virtual school and his mom recording auditions or doing them over Zoom. “I am seeing her in a new light,” he says. His mother, Jill Abramovitz, has performed in shows including the “Beetlejuice” musical on Broadway.

Leo Alexander says he is seeing his actress mom ‘in a new light.’

PHOTO: JILL ABRAMOVITZ

He has been able to help her prepare, reading lines for characters ranging from ex-wives to doctors, for everything from TV commercials to crime series to sitcom parts.

He says he is surprised at what a good actress she is. “Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to the character and my mom has been whisked away to another planet.”

But his glimpse behind the scenes hasn’t sold him on a career in show business. “I don’t think so. I have seen what goes into it and how hard people work just to pursue that living,” he says. “If you want to be in musical theater, you have to be in it. Because it’s hard.”

Gian Spadaro
Age 10
Berlin, N.J.

Gian Spadaro, a rising fifth-grader who attended classes virtually this past school year, says he gained new appreciation for how hard his mom works, juggling her job as a real-estate agent as well as owning a website that sells pet products.

Gian Spadaro with his dogs.

PHOTO: HEATHER SPADARO

“She works very hard,” he says. “It’s probably stressful to have two jobs.” His mom, Heather Spadaro, also looks over her son’s schoolwork during class breaks, answers questions on long division or spelling, and makes snacks such as ham-and-cheese or peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

He says his favorite thing about seeing his mom work has been studying her sales technique. “She’ll be talking about the houses, and people will tell her what they want in a house and she’ll tell them she’ll find the right one for them,” he says. “She’s good at finding houses for people.”

Donovan Garrido
Age 11
Tampa, Fla.

Donovan Garrido, a rising sixth-grader, says he enjoys overhearing his dad, Chris Garrido, work as a financial adviser. “The words he uses are different than when he is talking to me,” he says. “He talks about numbers and money and savings accounts or life insurance policies.”

Chris Garrido with his son Donovan.

PHOTO: CHRIS GARRIDO

Mr. Garrido, a financial adviser, says since his downtown Tampa office closed last March, he has worked from his younger son Adrian’s former bedroom, which the family helped transform into an office. (Seven-year old Adrian moved to a slightly smaller room down the hall.) “We had to take off the stickers that Adrian put on the wall and move the fish tank and make sure the fish didn’t fall out,” Donovan says.

Donovan has gotten a sense of the ups and downs of workloads and deadlines. “Sometimes he has days when he has a lot of work and then some days hardly any work,” he says. One recent light workday meant an impromptu after-school fishing trip. “We went to Lake Park as a family and my brother caught a turtle.”

Once, Donovan asked his dad if he liked his job. “I asked him, ‘Do you like having all that work?’ And he said ‘Yeah, it’s good. It’s good for us, it’s good for business. It’s more money and stuff.’ ”

Still, Donovan isn’t sure whether he would want to be a financial adviser when he grows up. “Sometimes it doesn’t sound the most interesting, but other times it seems like a fun job. But I don’t love the sound of getting up at 6 o’clock and getting home at like 8.”

Write to Anne Marie Chaker at anne-marie.chaker@wsj.com

Appeared in the July 7, 2021, print edition as 'HowYour Child Views Your Job.'