Something's Gotta Give

It's the 21st century, both parents work full-time, and the kids are still young

I often feel that my family life is like a deck of cards, precariously balanced just so but ready to be taken down by one measley stomach bug. The frenzied full-time working mother is now a common trope in media (think of movies like The Intern, I Don’t Know How She Does It, and Barbie), and while we joke about today’s crazybusy culture, I do not see anyone trying to change it.

I acknowledge how many supports I have in place: my husband and I have accommodating, understanding supervisors, so we can miss work when children are sick; my parents live in town; we have financial means to outsource some tasks; we have an amazing team of college-aged babysitters. And yet. Our jobs are challenging, and we need time to work, which is difficult to make happen when illness makes it way through the household and kids are out of school. My parents are living their best retired lives and are often out of town. There are many gaps in childcare—university calendars and city school calendars do not al…