Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The careers and earning potential for women are taking a huge hit from the pandemic. Even in my situation (2 parents full time WFH, daycare available most of the time), I'm the one who has to handle our children when we have to keep them home. I've gone from feeling like I was an excellent mom and employee to basically feeling worthless at both now.

+1. Exactly the same except DH moved out due to his job and the potential for contracting covid. So on top of everything else, I’m lonely and angry.

Wow! That sounds extremely tough!

I cut my hours to nearly nil, and started working weekends. Pre-pandemic for closures we’d take turns, trade with friends, hire sitters, beg grandparents. I work on an hourly commission basis though, so largely it was sorting out what was the least expensive choice that incurred the least amount of psychic debt. Saving the favors for true emergencies. (My income essentially paid for daycare.)

Single parent of 3 - senior and twins under 2. Temporarily moved in with my parents for help, but after months of helping, parents needed a break. I’m on my own at home now. My entire living room looks like a daycare. Teen has a break between classes and will watch the twins if I have a conference call. Try to get as much as I can done during the day, and I do “focus time” when the twins are sleep (early AM, naptime, and overnight) or on weekends. This has included my work and helping the eldest with college and school related tasks. I get the majority of my work done but I’m def not 100% performance-wise right now. The twins at least have each other for interaction and play well - lots of toys, books, puzzles, trucks, screen time.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t work. The kids fight, I barely get anything done and have to work nights and weekends to make up for lost time and focus, and everyone’s upset and unproductive. iPads help a little. My kids are young, though, so YMMV.

Oh, and I only get 3 weeks vaca a year. America!

It doesn’t work. The kids fight, I barely get anything done and have to work nights and weekends to make up for lost time and focus, and everyone’s upset and unproductive. iPads help a little. My kids are young, though, so YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:The careers and earning potential for women are taking a huge hit from the pandemic. Even in my situation (2 parents full time WFH, daycare available most of the time), I'm the one who has to handle our children when we have to keep them home. I've gone from feeling like I was an excellent mom and employee to basically feeling worthless at both now.

I'm with you. I was rated Outstanding for 5 year straight pre-pandemic. Now I'm just hanging in there.

Moved in with grandparents for the first few months, then barely made it through another few months doing shift work and trying not to lose our minds, taking all leave as it accrued. I managed to snag some time off awards, which helped. Thank goodness our daycare/preschool finally reopened (without aftercare). Last week, one kid had tummy troubles so we had to keep both kids home until we got a negative COVID test and it was so hard to go back to the juggling. We definitely did not wait until our younger child turned two to start screen time! They watch a lot of Disney plus.

Anonymous wrote:The careers and earning potential for women are taking a huge hit from the pandemic. Even in my situation (2 parents full time WFH, daycare available most of the time), I'm the one who has to handle our children when we have to keep them home. I've gone from feeling like I was an excellent mom and employee to basically feeling worthless at both now.

+1. Exactly the same except DH moved out due to his job and the potential for contracting covid. So on top of everything else, I’m lonely and angry.

The careers and earning potential for women are taking a huge hit from the pandemic. Even in my situation (2 parents full time WFH, daycare available most of the time), I'm the one who has to handle our children when we have to keep them home. I've gone from feeling like I was an excellent mom and employee to basically feeling worthless at both now.