Annoyed at colleague re flexible working

[ThatsNotMyCherry]

I’m a parent who has returned to work from maternity leave and I’ve had a flexible working request approved (1 day working from home). I know my boss doesn’t really like it but he’s accepted it. My bosses boss has recently decided to let everyone wfh a few days a week as staff morale is low and a few people have asked for flexible working. A colleague who is a good friend was recently aggressively attacking the idea to a group of us (including our boss) and I felt a bit upset as she knows I do it and would really appreciate more flexibility if it became available. Another colleague who I’m also friends with joined her and starting saying how ‘ridiculous’ people who want to work flexibly are. AIBU to think it’s a bit insensitive?

I agree with Leigh and Seren, there is often an attitude that child-based issues are more important than anything else and the only reasons that people might possibly want or need to work flexibly.

Flexible working is available to everyone. It can only be turned down for business reasons - so the reason you have for requesting it is irrelevant. If your workplace doesn't follow this then I would complain - to your HR, not to the people who did have it granted.
Very few people are actually willing to take the salary cut that reduced hours brings, when it comes down to it.

I'm an advocate for WFH. I get SOOO MUCH MORE done at home. I can get up and procrastinate as I need, make day time appointments as I need. Sounds like I'm slacking off, BUT I'm not, I work my hours as required over a week, but I leverage when I am most productive to do my work, and make sure I make any meetings I need to attend. There's no clock watching for home time. I can manage my time much better because I can coordinate when I jump on calls - no more people coming to bug me at my desk. Nearly my entire company works remotely, our offices are a ghost town most days. It makes sense because most of our workforce need to be on customer sites so they'd be remote anyway, so there's no difference between remote from customer or from home. More freedom to live where you want as you're not tied to an office. It also makes up for the 2 hour commute each way to my customers 3 days a week, to be able to wfh the other 2 days. We've a lot of new parents and they wfh mostly, they have an easier time coordinating child care, working around that, and enabling phased return to work. Again, they put in their hours around their needs. We have targets and it's up to us how we meet them. Some targets aren't time governed so they might do a stint of 3 really intense weeks to close a project, then have a few light weeks to recover and manage. The company has seen a drop in burn out as a result of full flexibility.

Babymamaroon completely agree. I missed a parents evening recently and I think it was the first time ever. I was travelling at an event I had deemed necessary to deliver my objectives and there wasn't any flexibility really. I made the call, not my boss. I usually am able to attend all the important things that go on at my children's school.
While I was away I worked until midnight, and do regularly work over my hours, so they get flexibility back in return.