How COVID Has Changed the Work-Life Balance for a Family of Four
Hi! How would you like us to introduce you?
Hey! Iām Kyla š I'm currently the VP of People & Culture/Head of Operations at Superpedestrian, a scooter startup.
What were you using for child care before COVID and why did you pick that solution?
Our older daughter Amelia who is 8-years old is in public school. I was lucky enough to have 12 weeks paid leave from work, so the immediate plan was to stay at home with my newborn Evelyn while Amelia went to school. COVID shutdowns came essentially on my due date - March 16th. When schools closed and shifted to distance learning, we needed to oversee Amelia's schooling while getting accustomed to a new baby. We had not yet decided on how to proceed with childcare for Evelyn when COVID hit. But, we had loosely planned to use a nanny for some period of time, likely until she was 6 months old, then enroll her during fall in daycare. We now have no intention of enrolling Evelyn in daycare in the foreseeable future.
What do you think are the pros and cons of daycare?
The pros of daycare for us included socialization and routine. We struggled with getting Amelia into a routine as a wee one, so the idea that trained professionals can help with establishing naps and schedules seemed quite enticing. The cons would be the lack of a flexible schedule. Nate, my partner, runs the bakery we co-own together so he is generally somewhat flexible in schedule. Having someone work around his schedule versus us paying a flat rate for weekly daycare would be better. Not choosing a daycare would allow us to minimize the amount of time we paid for care.
How have you dealt with schooling for your 8-year old during COVID?
For Amelia, we managed distance learning through the spring between my partner and I. It was extremely challenging. We are deeply privileged, and have all the resources we need including space in our home, the appropriate technology, etc., but still found it incredibly challenging to overnight shift from being her parents to being her teachers, best friends, and to do that while welcoming a new baby into the family. We currently have her enrolled in summer camp, which is limited to stable groups of 15 with masked children, largely conducted outside. That has been life-changing in terms of having healthy family dynamics. Amelia is a very social child, so she had been really struggling with the lack of social engagement with peers during the spring. We are still undecided on whether she is going back to school in person (largely dependent on how Rhode Island tracks on COVID cases), or if we will engage someone to help us with homeschooling. We are strongly considering partnering with another family for homeschooling to continue the social connections throughout the school year. We would do this whether we had to distance learn 5 days per week or under some type of hybrid model.
How have you managed to juggle caring for your newborn with your job?
For Evelyn, she hangs out with me every day while I work. My partner and I own a bakery that he runs day-to-day operations for, so he cannot help with the childcare until he finishes his shift, which is generally around 3pm. We tried engaging a nanny, but Evelyn is very, very uncomfortable being with anyone but Nate, Amelia and I. I think her spending the first three months of her life in complete isolation had a huge impact on her level of comfort with new people. We tried for about a month straight to get her acquainted with a nanny, but she would scream the entire time. We've kind of given up, and now she sits on my lap all day. I largely bounce from Zoom to Zoom throughout the day. And Evelyn largely bounces from breast to playmat to highchair to breast throughout the day with some intermittent naps on me. I have gotten quite skilled at the strategic camera angle to disguise the fact that I'm breastfeeding during calls. I'm hoping we can eventually familiarize her with a nanny, but for now, she is small enough to hang with me.
How are you planning for child care post-COVID?
We haven't made any plans at all other than to send Amelia back to public schools. Candidly, I'm finding it too hard to conceptualize a world post-COVID. I think (hope) some of the norms that were previously established will change. For example, pre-COVID, I commuted into Boston from Cranston, Rhode Island 2 days per week. I don't ever want to do that again. The commute is just dead time I don't spend with my family, and I will not be engaging in it in a post-COVID world when I've been able to prove I am effective working 100% from home. Part of the reason that I've struggled to conceptualize a post-COVID world is that there is now this crushing anxiety built up in me about leaving Evelyn. Because of COVID, I have only spent approximately 4 hours apart from her since she was born (to attend a protest). With Amelia, I went back to work very quickly and struggled with post-partum for years after. The extra time with Evelyn has been an absolute blessing, despite it being a bit stressful at times to manage a newborn and a demanding work schedule.
