I recently published an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the importance of child care and school to working families. Now more than ever, we need a national dialogue about the realities American working families face in trying to get by and get ahead.

The parents are still not OK

By Donna Laverdiere July 9, 2020In this April 15 photo, Alexa and Ted, she a teacher and he a data scientist, were balancing work and parenting of their two kids, Alistair, 5, and Eloise, 2, during COVID-19 shelter in place precautions at their home in Pacifica. Countless families in the Bay Area are struggling to figure out what to do with limited child care and school options several months into the pandemic. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

During the eight weeks of shelter in place when child care options were closed to all but essential employees, my husband and I worked full-time from our home in Martinez while caring for our two boys, aged 5 and 2. We barely held it together and felt like we were failing on all fronts: We were low-performing employees, mentally absent parents and abysmal housekeepers.

Our days were filled with tantrums, dirt and thousands of minutes of missed conference-call conversations while we tried to multitask as the children’s chefs and schoolteachers. What kept us going was the thought we would return to “normal” over the summer, and certainly by the beginning of the next school year. (Thankfully, some child care providers and summer camps reopened for a few precious weeks, allowing a collective sigh of relief for many — but not all — parents.)

Laverdiere, Donna (2020). “The Parents are Still Not Ok.” The San Francisco Chronicle, Open Forum.

Read the rest of the article at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/The-parents-are-still-not-OK-15395730.php