November 30, 2020
Reflection: What else am I taking for granted?
Today, I'm grateful for: Childcare
Challenge: Who in your life deserves a thank you?
This pandemic has surfaced so many things that we've all taken for granted. Simple things like popping into the grocery store on the way home, the ability to eat out for dinner, or going to see a movie. And big things like visiting our loved ones, feeling confident that you can get the healthcare you need, and...hugs. God, I miss hugs.
One significantly undervalued essential job that I have come to appreciate most this year is childcare. I love my son more than anything in the world AND I am a working mother, and I can effectively do both of those things at the same time. What I can't do at the same time is provide him the care he needs all day long whilst working a full-time M-F job from home. It's impossible, it's exhausting and it's painful for everyone involved.
Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful for the time I've spent at home with my son during the pandemic, but it's not a sustainable long-term solution. I am so grateful for the essential childcare workers who, despite their own fears and apprehensions, show up every day for my son and give him the care he needs and deserves. Their undivided attention, developmental activities and environment filled with interaction with other children brings me so much peace knowing he's in the right place.
Today, I honor the childcare workers, teachers, stay-at-home moms, grandmas and grandpas, and anyone else stepping up to spend their days focusing on the wellbeing of the future generation of our world. Thank you.
And to the working moms out there still hustling through dual-childcare/work responsibilities, hang in there! This too shall pass.
XO
SS
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