Strike action
It's the strike today and people keep asking how badly it is affecting parents. Forget the fact that many of the public sector workers are themselves parents and that in a democracy people are supposed to be allowed to express their views, the truth is that at this time of year it is just one more childcare issue to negotiate. There's a couple of inset days still coming up and various Christmas plays and choir events. Plus it's the season of illness too. I feel I am just gripping on by my fingertips.
On Monday I was asked if working mums take more days off sick than childless mums. Apparently there is some survey that shows that they do. I'm not sure of the ins and outs of the survey - did they, for instance, take into account the age of the working mums' children? - and, of course, no surveys of dads are ever done [in any event, in my experience absolute sharing of child days off sick is still a distant nirvana for most mums].
My view is that having kids actually makes you hardier on the health front. I have struggled into work many times after being up all night with various illnesses just so that I can store up potential days off if the kids get ill. It's not ideal, but what do you do if you fear the office is not sympathetic? I have also seen childless colleagues taking time off willy nilly for things like colds. I consider colds a minor distraction. At the same time, I don't consider it particularly sane or good policy to make parents feel they have to struggle in sick. Children tend to suffer from illness most in the first few years. It's not a long period so I think some understanding is in order and perhaps a bit of flexibility to allow people to work more from home in these circumstances.
My view is that having kids actually makes you hardier on the health front. I have struggled into work many times after being up all night with various illnesses just so that I can store up potential days off if the kids get ill. It's not ideal, but what do you do if you fear the office is not sympathetic? I have also seen childless colleagues taking time off willy nilly for things like colds. I consider colds a minor distraction. At the same time, I don't consider it particularly sane or good policy to make parents feel they have to struggle in sick. Children tend to suffer from illness most in the first few years. It's not a long period so I think some understanding is in order and perhaps a bit of flexibility to allow people to work more from home in these circumstances.
I work from home now and indeed when the journalist contacted me about the survey I was sitting with a sick child on my lap, typing away. In the same way, today I will be working as normal with daughter one indulging in a strike day off, catching up on her sleep. The other children's school has opted not to close. Of course, not everyone can work from home, but I bet there will be a lot more disruption in years to come - whether it is strikes, transport problems [I'm thinking the Olympics] or weather problems. We just have to learn to live with them. We are living in unprecedented times and we need to be prepared for that.
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