A reply to you mentioned noise-canceling headphones. That doesn’t work for me, because the kids want to engage and play with the parents when they’re at home. It’s not just a matter of noise.
That said! I still agree with OP’s sentiment. I find that I’m much more relaxed without having to worry about the commute. More time to help the kids get ready and just enjoy the moment. More time to walk them to school.
Before, I would be a ball of stress trying to get people out the door in the morning so I could catch one of only two buses that could take me across the bay to work.
Same thing in the evenings. More time to pick them up, walk home, take serendipitous side adventures and help foster their curiosity. I love it.
I would still not accept working from office jobs though.
Not much of an outlier.
57% have both parents working full time
28% have one parent working full time and the other not working at all.
The remaining 16% is one full time, one part time.
As another commenter pointed out - while not the majority, it's definitely not an outlier.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/comparing-characte...
So, less common, but not an incredible outlier.
At no income level is it lower than 20% stay at home parent though, so not too much of an outlier in any case.
(And when they're not being loud, they're being cute, and it's a tempting and easy distraction to go spend some time with them in the middle of a work day.)
In this sort of dynamic, I see working at an office as a fairly healthy option. I know it's a bit of an outlier (SAH mother + WFH father), but I'm definitely more productive and less stressed out working from an office.