Teen-ternity Leave - Is this a thing?
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Anonymous
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https://www.parents.com/more-parents-leaving-work-to-support-their-teens-8407961
Have you or your friends taken leave or moved to a part-time schedule to take care of teens? |
Anonymous
| I left my part time job because my teen daughter needs me. I don’t think it’s that unusual. Did someone try and make a name for it? |
Anonymous
| I haven’t heard of this, but it makes sense. I worked somewhere between part and full-time all the way through and as teenagers (especially before they were driving) kid needed me just in different ways. Sure they’re in school during the day but so much driving and coordinating in after school hours. |
Anonymous
| I think it's just called parenting tweens and teens? Yes they need to be driven every-freaking-where. They also need a lot of help on homework and I am not a night person at all. They start school at 7 and have activities, so it's hell right now. Lots of adjustments needed for this age. |
Anonymous
| Having spent my most of my teen years completely alone at home for hours every day after school, I am so grateful to be able to work from home and be present for my kids. (Which constitutes “teen-ternity” according to the article.) These years are rough, even with kids who seem “easy” externally. Things change on a dime. Big problems come out of seemingly nowhere. |
Anonymous
| It should be a thing. My two teens have me totally exhausted. It’s a lot of extra driving, plan coordination, meal making, homework, coordinating tutors or tutoring yourself, emotional issues, staying on top of their screen time and content…it’s a lot |
Anonymous
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No, but I also stayed in a very flexible position that let me (very fortunately) set my own hours, work from home occasionally, etc.
That said, not always being available to your kids is a good thing too. Mine learned a lot of independence when they had to figure it out. |
Anonymous
| I was a SAHP until my youngest hit 16. My kids needed me most in the infant-preschool years and the teen years. It has been harder than I expected to go back to work as there are so many appointments at this age plus sports plus occasional emotional turmoil. I could see where some parents would feel the need to take off if their child were struggling. |
Anonymous
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This was at the core of Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Why Women Can’t Have It All (hate the title, love the article, from 2012):
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/?gift=rXAdqjAPf8clVPl-MHQfHjEm1VCNnR_874oiU1oKkJU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share |
Anonymous
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My god, it's almost like raising children all-the-way to adulthood is *gasp* a whole job!!!
Yeah, y'all. It is. And we should have a culture where you don't have to be independently wealthy to afford to be at home and parent your kids. If you don't want to, you should have competent, qualified caregivers at an affordable price. It's hard enough to find that for preschoolers, let alone for teens. But the US isn't ready for that conversation, and SAHPs are usually treated like ignorant, lazy freeloaders. |
Anonymous
This. I loved having the house to myself every afternoon as a teenager. I’d have sex with my boyfriend in the living room it was great. I knew that neither of my parents would be home for hours. Then they’d get home and I’d tell them my homework was done already and I’d spent the evening on AOL instant messenger with my friends. |
Anonymous
| I've always worked a flexible schedule in the office and have generally been able to get my kids from school (I'm an academic). I would say that before the kids began school it was important for me to be home more (though day care logistics are easy because there is no before or after care transition and typically the cost is unchanged whether you get them at 3 or 5). K-8 is something you have to figure out with before or aftercare, but not too bad. And high school, middle school for some, is when the activites begin to become A LOT and the dismissal times are much earlier. So yes, middle or high school was when I began to want to be leaving work around 2pm (I work at home too). |
Anonymous
Being home alone was the greatest thing about being raised in the 20th century. Your kids don't know what they're missing. |
Anonymous
A little lonely for me, but that's just my case |
Anonymous
PP here. I spent all those after school hours bingeing and purging, blowing off the pent up pressures of the school day. Truly the worst years of my life. No doubt, it made me fiercely independent and self-reliant having no parents around, but not necessarily in a good way. Some kids will do great with the house to themselves, I’m sure. Personally, having someone around would have spared me a lot of pain. |