RTO and No Childcare.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely had my kids in the afterschool program until they started 6th grade. So did other parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

Well my kids’ elementary school doesn’t have sports teams. Rec level practices tend to be … after school with 1-2 practices/week. Times 2 kids that can be several days per week you need a parent around. And we let ours take at home music lessons 2x/month. I hardly consider a sport and an instrument overscheduled.

And I did build my life around this by taking a fed job that has allowed telework since before Obama. I guess before having kids I should have foreseen a reality show entertainer would take over our country and pimp it out to a couple deranged billionaires who want to destroy and de-regulate our government to pad their own investment accounts. But since I didn’t I guess I’ll have to look for more flexible/higher paying work in the private sector.

I don’t know why so many people are acting like WAH has been some recent COVID perk when it’s been around for a very long time. Getting “back to reality” by RTO 5 days per week is more draconian than many jobs were (including mine) 15 years ago.

Elementary school kids don’t need after school sports … they can do it on the weekend (just like when we were kids).

I think telework should be preserved but not on the grounds that kids have to be shuttled intensively to activities from the age of 5.

Well my DH and I were athletes growing up. Sports are important to us as our family prioritizes physical fitness. I don’t think playing a sport on the weekend is enough movement for kids.

Sure they can get that from running around with friends after school, which also … requires a parent nearby until they are older. There are also school projects to work on. And family dinner to prep. Or are these not important either?

I get some disgruntled people on this site love to hate on sports, but the reality is kids have to do *something* from school ending until bedtime and many are of an age that requires adult supervision.

I’m sorry that you think employees spending hours in traffic (bad for their health and their environment, but I digress) to sit in an office building typing on a computer and having Teams meetings with people in other offices so they can then spend their pay check to have someone else watch their kids after school just isn’t the ideal setup for our country.

if you prioritize all that - then you need to prioritize things like shortening your commute, choosing a smaller house/different schools, or flexing your hours. (I was also told that flexing hours was unacceptable.) I do absolutely run out of sympathy for people who are depending on Covid-era telework to forgo childcare.

I *did* do all these things! I live in a smaller older home that is walkable to metro, that was a short commute to my job (which was hybrid even prior to COVID). But now they got rid of our office building lease b/c COVID telework being so successful. If I have to go back? I have no idea where they would try to fit us (could very well be farther from my house). And as a fed I do have a flex work band. Even my coworkers in their 50s have had this flex band for hours. I don’t think it’s crazy to expect this would continue. And I don’t have “COVID-era” telework. I always had telework.

Suddenly having to go to an office 5 days per week that is likely not as short of a commute as my old office would have me significantly worse off than before COVID ever happened. This isn’t a proposed change to how we did things before and there is no business need to do so. It’s punitive and I think it’s reasonable for people like me to feel upset. And fwiw a lot of Feds are in a similar position. Telework was a recruitment tool prior to 2020 and agencies have done a lot of office downsizing over the past 4 years meaning people’s commutes will suddenly change.

[Anonymous]

Sorry meant my older coworkers have had the flex band for decades now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

Well my kids’ elementary school doesn’t have sports teams. Rec level practices tend to be … after school with 1-2 practices/week. Times 2 kids that can be several days per week you need a parent around. And we let ours take at home music lessons 2x/month. I hardly consider a sport and an instrument overscheduled.

And I did build my life around this by taking a fed job that has allowed telework since before Obama. I guess before having kids I should have foreseen a reality show entertainer would take over our country and pimp it out to a couple deranged billionaires who want to destroy and de-regulate our government to pad their own investment accounts. But since I didn’t I guess I’ll have to look for more flexible/higher paying work in the private sector.

I don’t know why so many people are acting like WAH has been some recent COVID perk when it’s been around for a very long time. Getting “back to reality” by RTO 5 days per week is more draconian than many jobs were (including mine) 15 years ago.

Elementary school kids don’t need after school sports … they can do it on the weekend (just like when we were kids).

I think telework should be preserved but not on the grounds that kids have to be shuttled intensively to activities from the age of 5.

If I get off work at 5:00, then what I do with my time after 5:00 is nobody's business. Whether I shuttle kids or work at a soup kitchen or drive Uber or meditate or make a nice dinner does not matter, and you are making a workplace/commuting issue into a mommy wars issue by focusing on after school sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

Well my kids’ elementary school doesn’t have sports teams. Rec level practices tend to be … after school with 1-2 practices/week. Times 2 kids that can be several days per week you need a parent around. And we let ours take at home music lessons 2x/month. I hardly consider a sport and an instrument overscheduled.

And I did build my life around this by taking a fed job that has allowed telework since before Obama. I guess before having kids I should have foreseen a reality show entertainer would take over our country and pimp it out to a couple deranged billionaires who want to destroy and de-regulate our government to pad their own investment accounts. But since I didn’t I guess I’ll have to look for more flexible/higher paying work in the private sector.

I don’t know why so many people are acting like WAH has been some recent COVID perk when it’s been around for a very long time. Getting “back to reality” by RTO 5 days per week is more draconian than many jobs were (including mine) 15 years ago.

Elementary school kids don’t need after school sports … they can do it on the weekend (just like when we were kids).

I think telework should be preserved but not on the grounds that kids have to be shuttled intensively to activities from the age of 5.

Well my DH and I were athletes growing up. Sports are important to us as our family prioritizes physical fitness. I don’t think playing a sport on the weekend is enough movement for kids.

Sure they can get that from running around with friends after school, which also … requires a parent nearby until they are older. There are also school projects to work on. And family dinner to prep. Or are these not important either?

I get some disgruntled people on this site love to hate on sports, but the reality is kids have to do *something* from school ending until bedtime and many are of an age that requires adult supervision.

I’m sorry that you think employees spending hours in traffic (bad for their health and their environment, but I digress) to sit in an office building typing on a computer and having Teams meetings with people in other offices so they can then spend their pay check to have someone else watch their kids after school just isn’t the ideal setup for our country.

if you prioritize all that - then you need to prioritize things like shortening your commute, choosing a smaller house/different schools, or flexing your hours. (I was also told that flexing hours was unacceptable.) I do absolutely run out of sympathy for people who are depending on Covid-era telework to forgo childcare.

I *did* do all these things! I live in a smaller older home that is walkable to metro, that was a short commute to my job (which was hybrid even prior to COVID). But now they got rid of our office building lease b/c COVID telework being so successful. If I have to go back? I have no idea where they would try to fit us (could very well be farther from my house). And as a fed I do have a flex work band. Even my coworkers in their 50s have had this flex band for hours. I don’t think it’s crazy to expect this would continue. And I don’t have “COVID-era” telework. I always had telework.

Suddenly having to go to an office 5 days per week that is likely not as short of a commute as my old office would have me significantly worse off than before COVID ever happened. This isn’t a proposed change to how we did things before and there is no business need to do so. It’s punitive and I think it’s reasonable for people like me to feel upset. And fwiw a lot of Feds are in a similar position. Telework was a recruitment tool prior to 2020 and agencies have done a lot of office downsizing over the past 4 years meaning people’s commutes will suddenly change.

So what’s the problem? You used to drive kids from 4-7 but now you have to work those hours? What does the place of work have to do with this dilemma which seems to be time related? If you’re shuttling kids around you’re not working either at home or in the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

Well my kids’ elementary school doesn’t have sports teams. Rec level practices tend to be … after school with 1-2 practices/week. Times 2 kids that can be several days per week you need a parent around. And we let ours take at home music lessons 2x/month. I hardly consider a sport and an instrument overscheduled.

And I did build my life around this by taking a fed job that has allowed telework since before Obama. I guess before having kids I should have foreseen a reality show entertainer would take over our country and pimp it out to a couple deranged billionaires who want to destroy and de-regulate our government to pad their own investment accounts. But since I didn’t I guess I’ll have to look for more flexible/higher paying work in the private sector.

I don’t know why so many people are acting like WAH has been some recent COVID perk when it’s been around for a very long time. Getting “back to reality” by RTO 5 days per week is more draconian than many jobs were (including mine) 15 years ago.

Elementary school kids don’t need after school sports … they can do it on the weekend (just like when we were kids).

I think telework should be preserved but not on the grounds that kids have to be shuttled intensively to activities from the age of 5.

If I get off work at 5:00, then what I do with my time after 5:00 is nobody's business. Whether I shuttle kids or work at a soup kitchen or drive Uber or meditate or make a nice dinner does not matter, and you are making a workplace/commuting issue into a mommy wars issue by focusing on after school sports.

+1

And before I had kids I enjoyed the flex band and telework because it allowed me to do things like go to an exercise class or meet friends for happy hour. Was that entitled?

I also expect to be paid six figures. I also expect to get a yearly bonus. I also expect to work 40 hours per week. I also expect to have paid sick leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good solution is to provide on-site childcare and deduct the cost from the employees' paycheck.

How is this relevant to people with kids in school, aka most parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid has been working from home since well before Covid. When she and her husband decided to have kids they lined up child care first - the grandparents when the kids were babies and a preschool/daycare once they were toddlers. It never occurred to her for a second that she could watch her kids at home herself and work at the same time. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

Time to return to reality, ladies.

Ugh this is such sexist garbage. As PPs have explained the issue isn’t people trying to WAH with a toddler. It’s tacking on the commuting hours to the workday which = needing even more childcare (this is essentially a sudden pay cut — after care for 2 kids can be $700+ per month).

Also my DH works in private sector IT. He and many other *men* (and women) in his field are fully remote. My DH has enjoyed the work/life balance and being home to coach the kids sports after school, he helps cook dinner, etc.

So it’s not just “ladies” who care about being around for their kids. Sorry your daughter couldn’t find a better father for her kids if you think this way.

“Couldn’t find a better father?” Really? That is so rude and uncalled for.

Sorry your husband might be out of a job in IT and actually have to work? So many people I know in tech and IT are getting laid off and those who finally found new roles have a rude awakening. One friend a PhD / MD but in biotech was laid off and is now complaining that he can’t pick his kids up at 3 and be done for the day, he now has to actually work!

Many people don’t have that same reality- talk to teachers, nurses, health aides, lawyers, etc, who have to be in the office or hospital. They actually work when they are meant to instead of having “work / life balance” and go do the grocery run in the middle of the day?

Also it was your choice to live where you are living I am kind of sick of this commute business. I grew up
In a small town with mediocre schools so I could be close to my mom’s work. I worked hard and got myself into a good college. You don’t need a McMansion an hour from your job and if that’s what you want good for you but then stop complaining about the commute.

My husband and I live in a small house and we can both walk or bike to work. Our child is in a good school although if we moved out the public schools are considered “better” but we made our choice.

If you aren’t happy with what is on offer then get a new job. It’s a two way street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

Well my kids’ elementary school doesn’t have sports teams. Rec level practices tend to be … after school with 1-2 practices/week. Times 2 kids that can be several days per week you need a parent around. And we let ours take at home music lessons 2x/month. I hardly consider a sport and an instrument overscheduled.

And I did build my life around this by taking a fed job that has allowed telework since before Obama. I guess before having kids I should have foreseen a reality show entertainer would take over our country and pimp it out to a couple deranged billionaires who want to destroy and de-regulate our government to pad their own investment accounts. But since I didn’t I guess I’ll have to look for more flexible/higher paying work in the private sector.

I don’t know why so many people are acting like WAH has been some recent COVID perk when it’s been around for a very long time. Getting “back to reality” by RTO 5 days per week is more draconian than many jobs were (including mine) 15 years ago.

Elementary school kids don’t need after school sports … they can do it on the weekend (just like when we were kids).

I think telework should be preserved but not on the grounds that kids have to be shuttled intensively to activities from the age of 5.

Well my DH and I were athletes growing up. Sports are important to us as our family prioritizes physical fitness. I don’t think playing a sport on the weekend is enough movement for kids.

Sure they can get that from running around with friends after school, which also … requires a parent nearby until they are older. There are also school projects to work on. And family dinner to prep. Or are these not important either?

I get some disgruntled people on this site love to hate on sports, but the reality is kids have to do *something* from school ending until bedtime and many are of an age that requires adult supervision.

I’m sorry that you think employees spending hours in traffic (bad for their health and their environment, but I digress) to sit in an office building typing on a computer and having Teams meetings with people in other offices so they can then spend their pay check to have someone else watch their kids after school just isn’t the ideal setup for our country.

if you prioritize all that - then you need to prioritize things like shortening your commute, choosing a smaller house/different schools, or flexing your hours. (I was also told that flexing hours was unacceptable.) I do absolutely run out of sympathy for people who are depending on Covid-era telework to forgo childcare.

I *did* do all these things! I live in a smaller older home that is walkable to metro, that was a short commute to my job (which was hybrid even prior to COVID). But now they got rid of our office building lease b/c COVID telework being so successful. If I have to go back? I have no idea where they would try to fit us (could very well be farther from my house). And as a fed I do have a flex work band. Even my coworkers in their 50s have had this flex band for hours. I don’t think it’s crazy to expect this would continue. And I don’t have “COVID-era” telework. I always had telework.

Suddenly having to go to an office 5 days per week that is likely not as short of a commute as my old office would have me significantly worse off than before COVID ever happened. This isn’t a proposed change to how we did things before and there is no business need to do so. It’s punitive and I think it’s reasonable for people like me to feel upset. And fwiw a lot of Feds are in a similar position. Telework was a recruitment tool prior to 2020 and agencies have done a lot of office downsizing over the past 4 years meaning people’s commutes will suddenly change.

So what’s the problem? You used to drive kids from 4-7 but now you have to work those hours? What does the place of work have to do with this dilemma which seems to be time related? If you’re shuttling kids around you’re not working either at home or in the office.

Oh wow, I didn’t think I had to explain this to you like a toddler, but apparently you can’t follow along.

Flex band means I can be done working by 4. Teleworking means fewer hours commuting.

Having more time in my day and being able to set my own hours means I can be with my kids from 4-7. I was never working in an office after 4 pm since becoming a mom over a decade ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue for me is the 8-6 in office requirement. Right now, I work 8-5, pick up my kids, and then work a few more hours at home in the evening. Daycare closes at 6 and I have a 45 minute commute, so I'm not sure what I will go if the 8-6 requirement goes into effect.

A mandate that people now have to be in the office for 10 hours a day is not happening.

DOGE is recommending it for federal workers.

I'm not even sure that's true. It was an offhand comment to Tucker Carlson. People here need to stop taking everything these guys say at face value - they're dangerous, but they're not consistent or thoughtful. Most of what they say is not "a plan."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue for me is the 8-6 in office requirement. Right now, I work 8-5, pick up my kids, and then work a few more hours at home in the evening. Daycare closes at 6 and I have a 45 minute commute, so I'm not sure what I will go if the 8-6 requirement goes into effect.

For who? Stop that. They pay for 8 hours give them 8 and manage expectations after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue for me is the 8-6 in office requirement. Right now, I work 8-5, pick up my kids, and then work a few more hours at home in the evening. Daycare closes at 6 and I have a 45 minute commute, so I'm not sure what I will go if the 8-6 requirement goes into effect.

Why do you have to work 10 hours in office?? Most work is 8-4 or 9-5.

I do think we need stricter hour protections to make sure employers aren’t demanding 50 hour weeks while paying 40 hour week wages

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid has been working from home since well before Covid. When she and her husband decided to have kids they lined up child care first - the grandparents when the kids were babies and a preschool/daycare once they were toddlers. It never occurred to her for a second that she could watch her kids at home herself and work at the same time. It’s not fair to anyone involved.

Time to return to reality, ladies.

Ugh this is such sexist garbage. As PPs have explained the issue isn’t people trying to WAH with a toddler. It’s tacking on the commuting hours to the workday which = needing even more childcare (this is essentially a sudden pay cut — after care for 2 kids can be $700+ per month).

Also my DH works in private sector IT. He and many other *men* (and women) in his field are fully remote. My DH has enjoyed the work/life balance and being home to coach the kids sports after school, he helps cook dinner, etc.

So it’s not just “ladies” who care about being around for their kids. Sorry your daughter couldn’t find a better father for her kids if you think this way.

“Couldn’t find a better father?” Really? That is so rude and uncalled for.

Sorry your husband might be out of a job in IT and actually have to work? So many people I know in tech and IT are getting laid off and those who finally found new roles have a rude awakening. One friend a PhD / MD but in biotech was laid off and is now complaining that he can’t pick his kids up at 3 and be done for the day, he now has to actually work!

Many people don’t have that same reality- talk to teachers, nurses, health aides, lawyers, etc, who have to be in the office or hospital. They actually work when they are meant to instead of having “work / life balance” and go do the grocery run in the middle of the day?

Also it was your choice to live where you are living I am kind of sick of this commute business. I grew up
In a small town with mediocre schools so I could be close to my mom’s work. I worked hard and got myself into a good college. You don’t need a McMansion an hour from your job and if that’s what you want good for you but then stop complaining about the commute.

My husband and I live in a small house and we can both walk or bike to work. Our child is in a good school although if we moved out the public schools are considered “better” but we made our choice.

If you aren’t happy with what is on offer then get a new job. It’s a two way street.

LOL you’re calling me rude while wishing unemployment on my family?

I don’t live in a McMansion. I live in a small 1930s home inside the beltway that was close to my office, which had since moved during COVID. It is not feasible to up and move to be closer to my new office. I’d be much better off looking for a new job.

And how nice you can walk/bike to your jobs. Now imagine Musk and Ramaswamy come around and decide they want to move your offices an hour away for no discernible reason and with the explicit statement that they want to make you miserable so you will quit. Would you be like okay that’s totally cool, or would you be like these billionaires are a-holes who are trying to upend the life we built for ourselves because they hate Feds and want us to be unemployed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you bragging about how you don’t do stuff with your kids after school and how you spent plenty of childcare money/hours in traffic and bent over backwards to be in an office because your boss said so with one parent getting home late … this isn’t the flex you think it is.

To quote Varsity Blues: “I don’t want your life.”

Look, I don’t want FT RTO either. But the fact is you do need to plan your life, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that all parents need to dedicate all this time to after school activities. It’s not even clearly good for kids. Women placing these expectations on themselves (and it’s generally women) are going to drive themselves crazy. Your kid does not need to do travel soccer. They can do the school sports team and get themselves to and from there.

But if your vision IS that you spend from 4-7 shuttling your kid around, then yes, you need a better plan than perpetual FT WFH especially if you are a fed. Set your life up so you can prioritize what’s important to you. That may mean you and your DH flex in opposite directions, choosing a more modest home with a shorter commute, one parent going PT, or investing in childcare.

So prioritize what's important to you ... but not a job with WFH that makes the rest of your schedule possible and more pleasant. Choose jobs with flexible schedules or go part time ... but don't be full time 9-5 with WFH, that's entitled.

Do you hear yourselves?

I think what peeves me the most about the holier-than-thou lecturing is the assumption you thought of something I didn't. My middle schooler is in an alternative school without a bus or aftercare or these mythical school sports you speak of. We have two more years till she can walk to HS, something we planned for when we chose our house. Both DH and I worked from home before covid, something we negotiated - with accompanying pay cuts and limited promotion opportunities - to make this school work. Nobody in my house does travel sports, we just want to be able to get our kid to school in the morning, pick her up after, help with homework, and have dinner together at 6:00. But sure, tell me more about how I'm unreasonable and spoiled for not "prioritizing what's important to me" when I make career and childcare decisions.

I mean yes - planning to have to FT working parents but never have after school child care is entitled. Sorry!

DP but why? Why is wanting to spend afternoon with your kids and being home in time to cook dinner for your family more “entitled” than things like expecting to have good health insurance options, deciding you need a certain level of pay for the job to be worth your time, negotiating for things like transit benefits, expecting paid PTO, etc.?

The only difference is that telework has allowed many women (who were historically home with kids) to join the full time workforce. It’s internalized misogyny telling you that *this* is the thing that employees are entitled for wanting.

I don’t know what to tell you. 40 hrs/week is a standard schedule. there are a variety of ways to make it work and generally they involve paying for childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely had my kids in the afterschool program until they started 6th grade. So did other parents.

Apparently that is child abuse and misogyny 😂