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Some of the articles of interest to working mothers that we’ve seen around the web recently…
Coronavirus-Related News & Resources
- Scary Mommy reminded us that we’re not homeschooling, we’re crisis schooling.
- Vox shared a comic that looks at the difficulties of adult friendships — during the pandemic and in general.
- The Washington Post provided advice on helping an only child during this time of social isolation.
- The Atlantic published an opinion piece that urged parents to take charge of their kids’ schooling.
- The New York Times offered tips for helping kids who are scared of face masks.
- CNN interviewed Ada Calhoun, author of Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis, about the pandemic’s effect on Gen X women, while NBC News reported on the huge impact on working moms.
- Above the Law shared a piece from a lawyer and father who’s learned to appreciate the background noise of working from home.
- New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote about his family’s quarantine experience.
- FYI, Common Sense Media has a whole page of helpful coronavirus resources for families.
In Other News…
- Working Mother presented the 2020 NAFE Top 70 Companies for Executive Women.
- CNN reported that TikTok has been charged a record fine for collecting data on children.
- Vulture recommended 18 of the best podcasts for kids.
Also, do be sure to check out the news update over at Corporette!
On Corporette Recently…
- The Hunt rounded up the best jeans to wear to work.
- We discussed dealing with stress dreams.
- We listed 7 of our favorite tips for video conference calls.
- In the latest Personal Money Snapshot, a marketer at a small tech firm in San Francisco shared her thoughts on mortgages, travel, and retirement.
Did we miss anything? Add ’em here, or send them to [email protected]. Thank you!
Realist says
The working moms article was infuriating. Draw more boundaries? Like a lone mom can just dismantle a systematic lack of support for mothers by talking boundaries with her spouse? And exactly what support are companies supposed to offer women? Unless they are paying for nannies to show up at the door, asking for help in this environment will just lead to the mommy track. Gah.
I want to read an article with real solutions. Federal support and funding for childcare. Guaranteed parental leave with “use it or lose it” leave only for fathers/non-primary parent.
I’m tired of “tips for working moms.” I’m smart. I’ve figured out and implemented all the tips at the individual level. TIME FOR SOCIETY LEVEL CHANGE.
anon says
I completely agree. If anything, being at home for the last six weeks has demonstrated that I AM NOT THE PROBLEM. If only I’d believed it sooner. I’ve worked my tail off to find individual solutions, and they only go so far to making this all workable … and my family is among the privileged.
Anonymous says
Re. the Atlantic article: I agree that the “distance learning” provided by schools is terrible, but I don’t agree that the solution is to put the entire burden of educating kids on parents. Most parents are not equipped to teach, and even those of us with teaching experience may find it difficult to teach our own children. If we end up having to “homeschool” next year, I will not be teaching my child; I will be paying for someone else to do it on line. Even homeschooling families don’t typically go it alone. They form co-ops to teach kids in groups, purchase complete curricula for some subjects, and often turn to on-line schools or community colleges for high school courses.
The rest of this school year is already a total loss. States should be working with school districts right now to prepare high-quality distance learning programs for the fall, when it’s inevitable that schools will be closed again as the virus comes back for a second (or third) wave. Trying to squish the existing structure of in-person school into an on-line format won’t cut it. Kids aren’t being served well with seven hours a day of Zoom class meetings and fill-in-the-blank worksheets. Existing course structures will need to be reimagined for a successful transition to on-line instruction. For example, instead of having two teachers each teach six sections of the same course, a school could have one of the teachers record a single lecture to be viewed asynchronously by all 300 students. Discussion and collaborative work could happen in small, weekly on-line meetings similar to a college recitation or discussion section. Many nonprofit and commercial providers have already developed formats that work, even for science lab courses. If schools can’t bring in consultants to design a workable on-line curriculum, they should be paying third-party providers (which are already a publicly funded option for students in some states).
Anon says
Ugh. As soon as I saw that a home school mom wrote that article I quit reading. The sanctimomming must stop!
Anon says
Oh please. You can’t call someone a sanctimommy if you don’t read beyond the first phrase of the article. She is saying to let go of the rigid ideas of “education” we as a culture hold and stop stressing about school for the next couple months.
Anon says
I don’t think the article disagrees with you? It seems to be advocating ditching the worksheets and screentime busy work that are doing nothing but stressing out kids and parents, and instead doing whatever works for your family for the next few months – reading, cooking together, etc.
anon says
For whatever it’s worth, my kids’ public school district is basically using the setup you’re describing in paragraph 2. Is it perfect? No, of course not. But it’s a whole lot better than what I’m reading about elsewhere on the internet. That said, if they suddenly canceled the fall semester (which seems unlikely), you better believe I’d be looking into all my options.
K. says
Public school teacher here (I teach high school and dual-credit English) and also mom to a kindergartner doing elearning right now. I always appreciate these discussions about elearning lately. I just want to add that there is such a huge range about what is happening with elearning right now. I already used a ton of technology in my classes and my school has been 1:1 with Chromebooks for seven years now, so I felt better prepared for this, but some teachers have never really used technology, so it’s a huge shift.
I do think there should be more professional development over the summer (but I’m worried with all the budget concerns that won’t happen). I also think that online curriculum development needs to happen at the state level. I am in a really small district (entire district K-12 is in one building, 800 students total–which means I am currently preparing online curriculum for five different English classes right now!). We only have one English teacher per grade level and one math teacher per subject, etc. Because of the differences in districts, there isn’t going to be a one-size-fits-all approach either, which honestly really complicates things. Right now, I have to prepare separate paper packets for my students who don’t have internet and online lessons for the rest.
I’ve also noticed with my daughter, that elearning is so different with her than with my high schoolers, so I would imagine that the solutions need to consider age differences as well as accessibility issues.
If we do continue elearning in the fall, we’ll have the advantage of time for planning (I think the greatest frustration of teachers was just being thrown into this and then being given unclear directives from their district about expectations/grading), but the biggest disadvantage–and I suspect it will be a huge problem–is that next year teachers will not have had a year building personal relationships with their students. Fortunately, most of my students next year will be taking my elective classes a second time, but I cannot even imagine my then-first-grader joining a new class virtually and building relationships (fortunately, our school is small and she does know her teacher for next year and her kindergarten class has 70 students total and she knows most of them–but in large schools? It will be awful!)
Mainly, I am just hoping not to have elearning next year! I miss my students! I miss having prep time without my five and two years olds hanging over me! I miss not having to work until 2am preparing materials! But, in the back of my head, I’m still planning for it.