By: Andrea Guzmán
For some people, parenthood is like a distant, unknown universe full of diapers, sleepless nights and endless hours of ‘Baby Shark’. For others, parenthood is their day to day life. And both worlds cannot be more different from each other.
I am writing this month’s challenge from a personal perspective, because I am going to tackle it myself. I am a non-parent, and I am challenging myself to think like a parent, not only because I am surrounded by parents who need my empathy and support, but also because we need to start having these social conversations around parenting and the space that people who have kids need to hold for themselves and their families.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my brother-in-law and his wife and absolutely enjoyed spending my weekend playing with a 3-year-old obsessed with princesses and a 1-year-old who’s the most adorable baby I’ve ever seen. But under all the beauty of parenthood, the fun times, the “first words” and “oh isn’t she so amazingly smart” moments, there’s a lot of things that us non-parents don’t see.
From the sleeping schedules, the eating schedules, the school or daycare time, the moments of nothing to do which turn into “baby boredom” and tantrums and even the moments of fun, kids are demanding. Kids need time, attention, support. Their world grows alongside their parents’ and the relationship with them is one of the most pivotal things about their formative years.
From my understanding and professional experience, most companies are not equipped to accommodate parenting needs. Providing daycare stipends or having maternity rooms in the premises by no means encompasses the changes that need to be made in order to better support childcare.
Maybe you have great daycare but think like a parent: wouldn’t you rather have time to spend with your kids every day and not have to worry about spending endless hours in the office?
To me, it seems like corporate policies around working parents are seen as “solutions” to a problem when, in reality, parenthood shouldn’t be seen as a problem at all. It’s not something that’s “getting in the way of your job” same as jobs are not the center of our universe.
While this conversation might be a bit bigger and touches upon a lot of edges of the corporate conversation, one thing is true: parenting is more than diapers, sleepless nights and “Baby Shark”, parenting is a whole universe and non-parents like us need to push for a better understanding of what it is and needs to be in the corporate world.
