These experts share their thoughts on working from home, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their parenting styles.
Onyi Azih
Founder, Sincerely Onyi
What is the biggest challenge around being a working mom?
As a working mom with two young kids, my biggest challenge is keeping up with everything I want to do for myself and my career versus all the things that I want to do for my children. Making sure that they have a good foundation at home before going back to school is exhausting sometimes. There seems to never be enough hours in the day. I would love to just relax with them more, but the to-do list is never-ending.
How would you describe your parenting style?
I would say that I have a modern authoritative style of millennial parenting. I like to maintain some sense of structure while setting limits. On the flip side, I also want my children to feel heard and able to express their emotions while testing limits safely.
How has COVID-19 impacted or changed your parenting style?
I wouldn’t say that it’s changed my parenting style, but it has allowed us to experience the pros and cons of working from home. We’re more in-tune with their academic strengths and weaknesses, but the guilt sets in infrequently when I have to ask the boys to leave my office while I’m with a patient or working on my blog.
What are your hopes for the future regarding more family-friendly workplace environments?
I hope that this pandemic brings a total change in the workplace dynamic, especially for working parents. It would be amazing if jobs took advantage of the productivity and mental health benefits of working from home. COVID-19 isn’t going to disappear any time soon, so having the flexibility to work through a quarantine, be available for your family, or just avoid burnout is a win-win for everyone. Subsidized childcare or daycares within the workplace would be a dream come true. This would ease family burdens and help so many get back to work.
Michele Tripple
Founder, Confessions of Parenting
What is the biggest challenge around being a working mom?
The biggest challenge of being a working mom is finding balance in taking care of the family and getting the required work done. Since I work at home, it is very easy to try and work and parent at the same time, which means neither one is getting my full attention, and everything takes three times as long.
How would you describe your parenting style?
My parenting style has always been more on the side of authoritative parenting. We have rules in place, and we have logical consequences when rules are broken. We believe in nurturing and loving our kids, but also letting them have a little bit of freedom to make choices and to learn and grow from them.
How has COVID-19 impacted or changed your parenting style?
COVID-19 has 100 percent changed my parenting style. I have always had an authoritative parenting style, and during the pandemic, it has leant a little bit more to a permissive parenting style than ever before. I stopped sweating the small stuff and started living in the moment with the kids more. The rules became a little more relaxed, and we spent more time enjoying each other’s company and laughing. Nine months later, we are still doing the same thing, but we have found a routine. We have family time and have set reasonable expectations that work for our family. Certainly, there are times where we indulge and don’t say no maybe when we should, but we know that this too shall pass and are trying to create as many memories with the kids that we can.
What are your hopes for the future regarding more family-friendly workplace environments?
When the pandemic is over, I hope that we can all evaluate the last several months and see what works and what doesn’t. My wish is that moms and dads can have a more flexible work schedule. With a more flexible work schedule, it allows moms and dads time at home with their kids so that they can continue to bond with their kids and continue to create lifelong memories as a family.
Carly Campbell
Founder, Mommy On Purpose
What is the biggest challenge around being a working mom?
The biggest challenge is doing it all, and that’s a blanket statement: Meeting deadlines, giving your kids the attention they need, balancing your desires to succeed at mothering and to succeed in your field, keeping the house in a livable state, and feeling guilt is all part of it. Working moms are expected to do it all.
How would you describe your parenting style?
My parenting style is extremely attached, helicopter-mom style, but with the understanding that we must let our children have experiences if we want them to be healthy adults. I strive to control my “hovering,” but I would never be comfortable sending my children to a daycare. Working from home on a flexible schedule allows me to have the best of both worlds — I am able to calm my anxieties by having my children in the house, but I am also able to bring in a paycheck and pursue my career and my own interests. I do have a sitter come in for half days 3 to 4 days per week so I can work, and I put in the rest of my hours in during the evening or at the weekend.
How has COVID-19 impacted or changed your parenting style?
If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown me that I am okay with my attached parenting style. It’s underscored to me the need for the home to be a safe place for children and for mothers to be present. It’s shown me that I am doing the right thing for my family by pursuing work from home, so that regardless of the restrictions placed on us, my children’s worldcan be largely unaffected.
What are your hopes for the future regarding more family-friendly workplace environments?
I’ve been working from home for five years now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way We are living in an age where two incomes are often required, but it’s my dream for at least one of those incomes to be earned from. This pandemic has opened a long-closed door for moms — and dads, too. It’s shown businesses that, thanks to technology, their employees can do the same work from home — and for a fraction of the cost, really. I believe the most positive thing that could come out of the pandemic is if thousands of moms are given the opportunity to work from home, on their own schedule, and to become — once again — the central influence in their children’s lives.