Before the pandemic hit, my young son let me go to work without a problem. I’m a writer with a little home office that has a locking door. A luxury!
In pre-pandemic times, anyway.
I’d tell my boy I was going to work and then lock myself into the office for several hours while he played with his Papa.
But ever since March, it’s been really freaking hard to leave for work
It’s no wonder he’s more attached to me than to his father
And I deeply treasure my special relationship with my son, but I could’ve used a crapload of extra help in his younger years. My husband is getting better now, but it’s taken a lot of arguments and all-out fights to get here.
And now he gets to leave for his teaching job every morning without guilt or the screams of our son following him out the door.
In the last couple days, I seem to have figured out how to get some work done during the day with my son at home, because I have a new babysitter.
His name is Blippi.
So now, I get my coffee and sneak away to my office while Blippi entertains my son with his creepy laugh and his knowledge of planes and tractors and sea creatures.
I try to assuage my guilt at leaving my son in front of the TV for a couple hours a day by telling myself that Blippi is teaching him new words, like “excavator” and “bulldozer” and “horizontal stabilizer.”
But then when I try to turn Blippi off and get some quality playtime in, my son yelps, “Don’t turn off Blippi! I love my friend Blippi.”
So the crashing tide of guilt rages on.
I don’t really have any answers
I just know I’m not alone. So many of us mamas are trying to educate our kids all day while also staying afloat in our careers and making sure everyone gets fed.
When we’re juggling so much, it’s literally impossible to do any of these things well.
So if you’re an employer, you’d better give your working mamas a ton of grace. And if you’re a spouse who works outside the home, step it up when you walk through that door, if you haven’t already.
Because during this pandemic, we mamas are drowning with our children clinging to our necks.
It’s time for the world to rally around us.
