You’d think that back to school would mean a big sigh of relief. As we’ve written before, a summer strategy is needed for those yawning weeks when the usual childcare arrangements (generally known as school) suddenly disappear and parents across the land scramble to keep the kids safe and occupied. While it certainly solves a lot of problems to have the kids back in school, those first weeks can present…
Summer can be a burden for working parents, especially mothers. That’s because the American school calendar is predicated on a family structure that hasn’t existed for decades. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, 73% of mothers and 93% of fathers with children younger than 18 were employed. That’s a lot of families that are scrambling to figure out how to cover care for up to 12 weeks.…
One aspect of working that can be profoundly impacted by having children is business travel. The issues around travel can be both philosophical and practical. When my children were very little I tried to limit my travel. But in the last few years my travel has increased and they seem to be none the worse for wear. On the practical front, I’ve developed a few strategies for helping my family…
This weekend’s episode of Bullseye, an NPR show hosted by Jesse Thorn, featured legendary TV producer Norman Lear. It’s worth a listen for many reasons, but at the very end of the interview Thorn asked Lear what it was like to be producing six network sitcoms – all of which were in the top 10 in the ratings – at the same time. His answer was wonderful. He said “Was…
In the life of any working parent there are a few predictable stress points. One is The Morning. When you have children, mornings start EARLY. Sometimes painfully early. And getting everyone up, dressed, fed and out the door in time for the buses and trains and commutes can leave you feeling as if you ran a marathon before you even hit your desk. Mornings don’t have to be Groundhog Day,…
Early in my business career I learned to embrace the concept “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” The idea, which was very hard on a recovering perfectionist, was that something that is done well enough is infinitely more valuable than the thing this is never complete because it wasn’t yet “perfect.” The concept of perfection in parenting is also hard for me to let go of,…
Speaking to In Style magazine, Julia Roberts gave an extraordinary quote about being a working mom. “One of the greatest things [my mom] ever did for me … I remember asking her—when I had three kids under 3 years old and just felt like I was running in a thousand directions at once—‘How on earth did you raise all of us? You worked full-time, and you did all these things.’ She…
