ChildCare …
Career coaching: Childcare. With this pandemic, I believe we have the potential for huge changes to our work and our society. Nobody at all has valued childcare, for decades. Therefore, we neither value the childcarers nor the children themselves. This means we have been dismissing the whole next generation. We are also dismissing huge swathes of the current generation who are doing the work. Given a few weeks on lockdown, I think all of us might have a new perspective on childcare. More of the population will see for themselves the importance and value of childcare. This is a potential reality check!
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
I got pregnant when I was 38. It was a very longed-for event. I was delighted with myself and my body for doing this miraculous thing! My 65-year-old friend rocked up with the words, ‘you will probably hate a lot of early motherhood’. And, I was gobsmacked and fairly cross too. I felt like I was doing pretty well with my newly decorated house and a new human on the way!
“As a career coach, I have since seen this replicated for the men who stay home to do the childcare. It is not exclusively about gender. It is the model that is wrong”
However, I soon saw what she meant. I adored having a baby. I absolutely hated the fact that as a grown woman, I no longer existed as far as society was concerned. I missed adult-company. There was no pay or no appraisal. There was no bonus, no affirmation or office party. When the boy did well he got praised, when there were challenges I was blamed. I was so bored & Mum’s groups just weren’t me! I was so bored, I set up two new businesses in the first year after he was born…
Career Coaching: Childcare
As a career coach, I have since seen this replicated in the men who stay home to do the childcare. It is not exclusively about gender. It is the model that is wrong. However, this role does often fall to women.It is still women mostly who are undervalued.
How do we actively value this child-rearing process? In a way the honours both the kids, citizens of the future and honours the providers too. Be those parents or professional child care providers? Do we pay parents to raise their kids? It is genuinely difficult to be really present as a parent when you are finding it difficult to pay the mortgage. Do we set up the really valuable mentoring schemes in professional environments so that those on parental-leave can contribute their wisdom and feel they are of value? Do we raise the rates for childcarers so that they are taken more seriously? Certainly being able to claim your child care costs directly against your tax bill instead of doing the ‘setup and account to get 10% back’ rigmarole would give some gravitas to the situation …
I am open to suggestions as I do not have the answers. What I do know that it is time to refocus…