More and more people are working remotely these days, and depending on the status of lockdowns in various countries, this includes news anchors.

We’ve all heard and seen the Zoom horror stories, where people are caught doing something silly, which probably could have been avoided.

Then there’s the plight of the parent. If you have a toddler in the house, there’s little you can do to prevent the inevitable – they will probably want your attention at the worst possible time.

Children intruding on live interviews isn’t, however, something new.

The Guardian compiled a list of some of the funniest parenting disasters to happen on live television over the years.

Because, while the adults of the world are worried about things like the conflict in Syria or sexual harassment scandals, children have more pressing concerns like how many biscuits they’re allowed and where they should place a picture of a unicorn.

Enjoy:

Clare Wenham (BBC)

A professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics, Dr Clare Wenham is just as intelligent in her parenting as in her professional field of expertise.

She was explaining the relationship between central and local government responses to the coronavirus crisis – while her daughter, Scarlett, in her yellow-and-polka-dots Pippi Longstocking dress, was busy behind her trying to decide which shelf her picture of a unicorn should adorn.

Deborah Haynes (Sky News)

In the same afternoon of Wenham and Scarlett’s appearance, another child was gatecrashing a mother’s television interview. This time it was the Sky News foreign affairs editor, Deborah Haynes, who was talking about the political situation in Hong Kong.

Her son calmly walked in to the room to bargain for not one biscuit, but two. “Yes, you can have two biscuits,” Haynes responded hurriedly.

Daniel Smith-Rowsey (Al Jazeera)

This one is from 2018 – so before the world was turned upside down, but it’s still funny.

This 2018 interview on Al Jazeera lasts a full three minutes with film historian Daniel Smith-Rowsey’s son a full participant – even though the subject of sexual harassment and #MeToo isn’t, on the face of it, a child-friendly topic.

Courtney Kube (NBC)

This is also a pre-pandemic video, but a mother’s work is clearly never done.

In autumn 2019, NBC News correspondent Courtney Kube is in full flow talking about the Syria conflict (quite a complex subject) when a small, blonde doppelganger wanders into shot and starts, well, I can only describe it as pawing at her breast.

The kid’s gotta eat.

Jonathan Ashworth (BBC)

While I respect Jonathan Ashworth’s work as shadow health secretary, he seems rather too pleased with his daughter gatecrashing this bulletin with Reeta Chakrabarti. “I’m like that academic in Korea”, he grins. “I’m on the TV,” Ashworth tells his kids, as though he hasn’t been before.

“I’m gonna go viral!” He didn’t, but I hope being included in this list counts for something.

Perhaps much of this could be solved with a locked door, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining.

There are further examples of kids interrupting live telly here.

[source:guardian]