Dad yells at mom for letting their toddler shout and play loudly while he was in a meeting in his home office: 'I hope whoever was on that call heard you being horrible to your wife.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jan 22, 2026 8:00 PM EST

How is he supposed to work while hearing so much screaming? 

Remember five short years ago when everyone was working from home and laughing about the little idiosyncrasies of that reality? People were much more forgiving of a dog barking in the background during a meeting than they would've been in 2018. But now we're five years out from that period of history, and the standards of professionalism in an at-home meeting have increased. No more is it cute or funny when nobody can hear you talking over a video call. You're expected to be as professional when you're working from home as you are when working from the office. 

It's not always easy to control your environment when you're working from home. If you have young children or pets, they might want to burst into the space where you're working because they can't conceptualize the gravity of your work. If you're lucky, you have a home office that you can claim on your taxes. If you're not lucky, you might be stuck taking meetings in the bedroom or kicking your family out of the living room so that you can speak to your coworkers in peace. 

It's a very honest mistake to yell at your roommate to come downstairs while they are locked in their room during a meeting. But if you show no remorse for interrupting their work, you might not be a particularly considerate person to live with.

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  • A happy toddler boy in the bedroom at home having fun
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The mom in this story let her toddler make a ton of noise while playing in the room next to his dad during his dad's meeting. While everyone knows that you can rarely control a toddler's noise levels, you can pick them up and bring them downstairs if they're disturbing the peace.

  • Am I the bad guy for asking my wife to keep our toddler under control?

    I work from home in an office upstairs. I told my wife this morning that I had a high stress day and would be on calls most of the morning.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • Man in black sweater using macbook pro
    via LinkedIn Sales Solutions

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Whilst on one of these calls I could hear our toddler in the adjacent room shouting, banging and generally having a very fun, albeit loud, time.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • I wasn't quite sure why he was up there given that I had expressed a need for quiet and we have a playroom downstairs.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • Interior design on a kindergarten classroom
    via Curated Lifestyle (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • It was interfering with the meeting that I was already stressed about so I excused myself and went next door, asked my wife what was going on and why our toddler was making so much noise, and to keep it down or take them downstairs.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • The answer was that they were getting ready to go out.. but it very much looked like playtime.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • The noise stopped and I rejoined the meeting. I checked my phone afterwards and saw a message from my wife - "I hope whoever was on that call heard you being horrible to your wife".
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • Which feels like a huge overreaction. I didn't shout. I didn't use harsh language, I just firmly asked what is going on because it was disruptive and I had communicated that I needed quiet.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • AITAH? I feel like I handled it reasonably. You can't stop a toddler from making noise, but you can absolutely keep them somewhere in the house that isn't disruptive.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • I shouldn't have to explain that or get demonised for expecting it.
    via u/Varrock-Lobster
  • DellaDiablo I'm just going to guess that the issue is with how it was communicated. Tone can change the most reasonable request into a condescending and cold instruction, rather than a request. NTA for the request, possibly the AH for how it may have been uttered.
    via u/DellaDiablo
  • Sad-Structure4781 NTA. You clearly communicated ahead of time that you needed quiet, and it's reasonable to expect your wife to manage where playtime happens during an important call. You didn't yell or insult her, you addressed an immediate issue that was impacting your work. Toddlers are loud, yes, but adults can plan around that, especially with a playroom downstairs.
    via u/Sad-Structure4781
  • blue_eyes_forever NTA Honestly if the roles were reversed I think we would say this is weaponized incompetence. You aren't asking for much by asking for the play time activities be away from your office and meeting... it sounds like your house is big enough.
    via u/blue_eyes_forever
  • Waltekin Just to toss this in: headphones are not the answer. Likely he already has some. They are not good at filtering out shrill voices (toddler shrieks). Also he still has a microphone for when he talks, and that will pick up the toddler noise as well. His wife screwed up, and needs to own it. Sure, he was probably not 100% polite when talking to her, but that's totally understandable. NTA
    via u/Waltekin
  • Interesting_Kale9680 NTA. She's a SAHM because you work - your request was totally reasonable. FWIW I'm a woman.
    via u/Interesting_Kale9680
  • AsethDearnight Nah, NTA. You clearly informed her beforehand, there is a playroom downstairs, she disregarded you while you were stressed, and her reaction afterwards was very much over the top while she could have apologised.
    via u/AsethDearnight
  • sexybigbooblatina >AITAH for asking my wife to keep our toddler under control This question is hilarious.
    via u/sexybigbooblatina
  • TreeDog4466 NTA My wife works from home all the time and when we're being noisy I just take the kid to a less-close room. She is being inconsiderate and playing victim.
    via u/TreeDog4466

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work from home toddler meeting wife parenting husband Office dad loud mom playing
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