School Closures and Working Moms

Startup Sunday

The last two weeks have been a bonanza of school closures for my children. My six-year old has attended school only one full day since Jan. 14. (She was home sick for a day and a half during two of the only three school days.) You might think these school closures -- mostly due to snow -- would be a productivity killer, since I work at home.

Fortunately, my father spends most of the work week in our basement in-law suite, and was willing to set aside many of his commitments to watch our girls during these school closures. And my husband has a flexible employer who lets him work from home one day a week, and almost always during weather emergencies.

Between the two of them and me, we managed to keep the driveway and front path clear of snow, and all three of our careers on track. I met my deadlines, in part because I asked to push forward those that were flexible, and didn't fall behind a full two weeks of work.

That's not to say I enjoyed it. For me, working during school closures means: 

• The noise level outside my ground-floor home office is pretty high whenever the children come in from playing in the snow. Since they're 4 and 6 years old, they can only take cold-weather play for an hour or so at a time before mandatory hot chocolate.
• Murphy's Law requires that whenever I'm on the most important phone calls, a child bursts through my office door calling, "I want my Barbie phone!" or "Mommy, come look at my poo-poo! It's shaped like a puppy dog."
• I start the work day later and end it earlier. Even the most committed grandfather or father (or mother, for that matter) can only take so many hours of caring for cabin-fever prone children who are unaccustomed to multiple unstructured days.

Working from home during school closures sort of feels like when you're hungry and you eat a huge bag of chips and some sweet desserts. You're full but you still don't feel satisfied. Or when you are home sick yourself, and you watch hours of bad daytime television. You end up a little bit cross-eyed and dizzy and wondering what you actually managed to accomplish that day.

I realize that having three adults willing to pitch in with child care during school closures is about three times as many as many working moms have in their lives. I am truly fortunate that I didn't have to take sick days or unpaid leave, scramble to find expensive emergency child care, or even lose my job like some working parents. I'm not complaining. (Okay, I'm complaining a little.) And it is a treat to be able to see and interact with my children and lunchtime and during breaks in my work day. But boy, will I be glad when spring arrives and the threat of snow days goes away.

Photo (c) 2010 Katherine Lewis

Comments

[Stacy]

I feel your pain. Try working from home when Pepco (the power company) - after restoring the power you lost in the storm for a few brief hours - manages to leave you powerless again for another 24 hours! I have to say, too, that I find our local school system's attitude towards snow absolutely crazy. Three snow days? How ARE working parents supposed to cope? The school system closed for a full day before a flake even fell on the ground (after the end of the school day.) By contrast, I was visiting friends in two different New York suburbs this weekend - they got 19 inches of snow and closed only for one day!