As two full-time working parents in the middle of a pandemic, we have been feeling some new and unique pains in childcare over the past year. Kim and I are talking about the unprecedented year of childcare in a pandemic, the impact of the changes, and thinking about ways we can help our communities heal and grow into better opportunities.

The past year has exposed vulnerabilities for families, organizations, our economy, and in our nation that require us to consider better practices and policies to support childcare as an industry and critical public service. 

In this episode, Stacy and Kim are talking about how:

• The challenges we felt in 2020 as we tried to to balance life, work, and childcare during early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The anxiety we currently feel in 2021: the whiplash of another big transition for families – going back to school
• The impact the pandemic has had on working mothers and fathers
• Breaking down why working mothers have been adversely affected by the pandemic and the mass exodus from work to be full-time moms at home
• Parents are feeling the pains of childcare centers closing. 
• How the closure of childcare facilities are disproportionately impacting certain communities and individuals, it is a crisis felt most acutely by black and latino communities
• The need to change a damaging public perspective: elder and childcare is NOT private issue and responsibility – it is a public critical public service
• To proactively support and advocate for better childcare practices, policies and outcomes in your community, work, and local government
• How to start parenting and/or elder care resource groups at your organization

Podcasts and Blogs

Check out some of our other podcasts and blogs related to this topic:

• Where it all started with our podcasting –The Balancing Mom podcast series!  This podcast is dedicated to the adventures of parenting and raising a family. 
• Emotional Bandwidth when Work and Parenting Collide
• Create a No-tears Morning Routine to get out the Door
• Childcare, 2 Working Parents, and Reality
• Summer, Kids, and the 9-to-5

Additional resources about childcare in a pandemic

• Parents juggle work and childcare in a pandemic
• Day Care, Grandparent, Pod Or Nanny? How To Manage The Risks Of Pandemic Child Care 
• One in six jobs lost: the effect of the pandemic on childcare providers
• Hechinger Report: After mass closures, too little support, post-pandemic child care options will be scarce
• Build Stronger: A Child Care Policy Roadmap for Transforming Our Nation’s Child Care System
• Child Care in Crisis: How the Pandemic Is Changing the Lives of Early Childhood Education Professionals

Transcript

Access the full transcript here: