Kimberly Adams

My husband and I split up childcare and tried to do our jobs with the kids around.

But even when you hide yourself away in the house, your children will find you.

Let me send this one message and then I'm going to come downstairs and talk to you and daddy, okay?

For working parents, no days become this jumble of work and parenting where you feel like you do nothing well.

And I'm one of the lucky ones.

I can work from home.

I heard from lots of parents in the region who are exhausted.

Matthew Johnson manages a team of developers for a tech company.

He lives in Washington, D.C.

with his wife, who works in data visualization.

They have three kids.

This week, they had to take turns working and caring for their children, which meant taking paid time off.

They're still paying for child care, even though they weren't able to access it much of the week.

Johnson says it's taken an emotional toll, too.

Some parents have to oversee virtual schooling as well.

I monitored Will as he logged on to his first-ever online meeting.

And I'll show you how to unmute and mute yourself.

Mute means that no one can hear you.

In search of quiet, some parents are paying high schoolers to watch their kids for a few hours.

Others are calling in favors.