Work and Home: Keeping Two Worlds Apart
Being a dad comes with a lot of hats: partner, provider, friend, employee, coach, toque, Blue Jays, neighbour, son. Other than that one dad who toured with Ringling Brothers, most of us find juggling that many balls difficult.
The economy is doing us zero favours. AI raises questions about the environment and our kids’ future jobs, while layoffs loom over our own. Our control is limited. But the feelings created by that lack of control can trickle into our homes, draining the energy from the household.
When Dad has a bad day, everyone feels it. It’s not your kid’s fault you forgot to staple a cover sheet to your TPS report. It’s not your partner’s fault Jan from accounting brought sardines for lunch. And the players you’re teaching to bunt have no idea what a sales quota is—or that “parking-lotting something” could mean anything besides meeting at the minivan for Gatorades.
Since 2022, Ontario workplaces with 25 or more employees have needed a disconnecting-from-work policy. Turn off the notifications. Put up the out-of-office response. Sit in the parking lot, crank the dad rock and scream until the tension leaves your shoulders. Leaving work at work helps us become the dads our kids need. Emotional spillover is real, and healthy boundaries teach emotional regulation by example.
Extra shifts can help the household budget. Night classes can model motivation and growth. But coming home to stew over your phone—and doom-scroll because your VP took credit for your slide deck—doesn’t make a happier family. If stress follows you home, name it: “I had a rough day, and I was short with you. That wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry.” Repair conversations show kids that mistakes aren’t permanent to them.
Be the partner who makes their person feel supported, the neighbour who lends a hand, or the coach who teaches forecheck, backcheck and paycheck—by living healthy work-home boundaries. Those 18 years go quickly. Your employer doesn’t deserve to steal minutes from the people who will have your back, whether you work in the mailroom or run the corporation.
Jeremy McCall is a married father of 3, a social services case manager, and known as “The Dadfather”, being the founder and Past President of Dad Club London.
