Your setup reminds me of an article I read many years ago on these sorts of "tricks" to stay disciplined when working from home. One of the tips an individual used was to
1. Walk out his front door
2. Lock it
3. Walk around the block
4. Re-enter the house
And he was now in "work mode". At the end of the day, he reversed the process by walking around the block in the opposite direction in order to "get home".Seemed quite brilliant to me at the time.
edit: Just noticed that enraged_camel engages this exact technique below.
Your parent is referring to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14265636
It forced me to get up, shower, put clothes on, see some kind of sunlight, even have a tiny bit of face to face interaction with another human at the convenience store/cafe/sidewalk, and then get home, log in, and probably just procrastinate for an hour or so anyway - but at least I was clean and dressed.
[1] http://www.ird.govt.nz/business-income-tax/expenses/homebus-...