I’m just going to say it. I work. Yep. A lot. All of my clients are in healthcare and essential in some way. I’m grateful to be needed. Our whole team is working whenever, office hours to the wind. We are grateful to be partnered with our clients. Having said that, “What the hell unnamed education system my two children attend?” I know this is “unprecedented”. I write that daily. We are aware you are using an “abundance of caution”. I actually grew weary of that phrase and omitted it from our correspondence indefinitely. It seems incredibly obvious to me that I cannot home school my child while working. Even so, no one is talking about it.

No one is talking about how much harder it is to work from home when your children are there too. Let’s add to the fact that WIFI, computers, snacks, and patience are at a premium. I’m on Zoom conference calls while simultaneously trying to figure out how to get my panicked child into her test before it closes and angling the screen so no one can see the dish left on the shelf behind me. Which child left that I wonder? Have I failed to teach proper domestic skills? My mind wanders to the laundry situation. Oh wait, is that a random sock in the background as well. That seems unprofessional.

It is not just me. I keep hearing many of our clients saying, “I don’t think the school realizes I’m still working.” One HHK team member talks to us about implementing telemedicine while her son bounces around behind her repeatedly saying, “Mom. Mom. Mom.” Another HHK team member is graciously rising to the e-commerce and Google digital occasion to the sound of “screaming baby.” But at least she doesn’t have to try to teach the baby statistics and calculus. I’m in marketing people. Beyond statistically significant focus group populations, I’m lost. Why is no one teaching my children via Zoom or whatever e-platform they prefer? Hello, modern technology. How is actually teaching them online different from expecting them to have a computer to do tests, projects and endless “homework” online? So many questions raised in this weird and challenging quarantine time.

Rant over. It just seemed important for me to say to other working women with one hand on their keyboard and another one searching for another charger to stop a sibling smackdown – I see you. Hang in there. Trader Joes has wine.