From my kids’ point of view, much of my work consists of me sitting at my computer and typing. There’s no need for them to differentiate between spreadsheets, e-mails, word processing, coding, or any of the rest of it. To them, it’s just daddy sitting at a computer and typing.

The other day, my wife and I had a little scheduling mixup that resulted in our 3 year old playing quietly in my office while I worked. It was only for an hour or so, and he did surprisingly well.

At one point during that hour, I leaned back, stretched, and took a drink.

“Hey! Daddy! Put your hands back!”

Um, what?

He repeated his shouted command. “Put your hands back! Back! Put your hands back! You’re working!”

I put my drink down and put my hands slowly back on the keyboard.

“There you go. That’s right.”

He’s not allowed to play quietly in my office while I work any more.