The end of summer and start of a new school year feels like a fresh start for everyone. The kids are older now – maybe your youngest is beginning full-day kindergarten. Or the oldest is off to college. Or your teen or preteen is super busy with activities. What about you? The back-to-school season is when many stay-at-home moms and dads begin to think about their own next steps. Maybe…
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…
Hello, summer! Sunshine, iced tea, and sleeveless tees. Is it really time to start thinking about fall? Why yes it is! For many caregivers, the end of the school year and beginning of summer is a time to re-charge and re-set. And, as the rhythms of your week changes, this may also be the perfect time to look ahead and get prepared to return to work in the fall. “Many…
Path Forward supports caregivers of all genders in returning to the workforce. But we recognize that women often carry an extra burden. That’s why for International Women’s Day on March 8, we’re calling out that many obstacles women face are due to gendered stereotypes about careers and caregiving. In the home, these may include ingrained ideas about who is most responsible for providing childcare or whose career is most important.…
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.…
I’ve got mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. I like the “fresh start” feeling that January represents and the chance to renew commitments to our goals or make big changes to our lives. But the research on resolutions isn’t so great – in fact, only 8 percent of people who make a resolution manage to stick to it. One way to take some of the pressure off is to start…
According to the smart folks at Working Mother today is National Flex Day. Nice! At Path Forward we are fans of flexibility. In my life, flexibility has been the key to making my work/life work. After my daughter was born almost nine years ago (!!), I worked from home three days per week. I also worked part-time for a bit. I kept the three-days at home schedule, working full-time, until…
