Audrey Goodson Kingo* says a powerful LinkedIn post has gotten real about what mums truly need right now, and it’s not more work-from-home hacks.
There are only so many Mo Willems’ videos and funny signs working parents can use to keep our kids from interrupting us while we work from home during the new coronavirus crisis.
At some point, we have to close our laptops, roll up our sleeves and, you know, actually parent our children.
In other words, we don’t need more work-from-home hacks or virtual activities for our kiddos.
We need bosses who give us reasonable breaks throughout the day and realise we can’t be available at a moment’s notice.
That’s exactly what Alexis Grant, a media entrepreneur and mum in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, wants companies to know.
“Heads up: Your company’s piece about tips for working at home with kids isn’t helpful,” she says in a powerful LinkedIn post.
“Actually, it’s making you look out of touch.”
That’s because there really aren’t any “tips and tricks” that make it feasible to put in a full day of work while taking care of kids.
“Parents who are struggling through this know there’s no way to get real work done while watching a two- and four-year-old.”
“We might answer a few emails, but nothing that truly moves the needle is happening when 80 percent of our brain is focused on making sure our kids don’t swallow that tiny Lego and have something to eat every five minutes.”
So what do working mums need advice about right now?
Alexis crafted the following list based on what she’s discussed with her working mum friends:
How to cope when your company pretends (or really believes, ouch) that working with young kids at home is possible.
How to think about hiring a babysitter safely or banding together with another family that’s following social distancing practices that match yours.
How to have a productive conversation with your partner about taking on more of the load.
How to adjust our own expectations and hopes for business or career in the coming months and feel semi-good about it.
She hits the nail on the head.
What working mums really need, first and foremost, are managers who understand we can’t maintain our pre-pandemic level of productivity when we don’t have childcare—and when we’re expected to teach our school-age children too.
Instead of a newsletter, how about employers follow in the footsteps of Wikimedia, Google, American Express and Microsoft—companies that have allowed their parent employees to scale back their hours at full pay, or take a fully paid parental leave.
We are now working three jobs—mum, teacher, employee—but with the same number of hours in a day.
Some of us have bosses who don’t get it.
Some of us have husbands who don’t pull their weight.
Some of us have hired sitters, even if it goes against social distancing recommendations, because otherwise we’d lose our jobs.
And some of us have scaled back our ambitions for the year—and it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
All of the topics Alex suggested would help working mums in these very common predicaments—certainly more than another list of productivity tips.
So, companies, now that you’ve heard what working mums really need, it’s your move.
*Audrey Goodson Kingo is the Deputy Editor for Working Mother. She can be contacted on Twitter @AudreyNGoodson
This article first appeared at workingmother.com
