IMPACT of Parenting and Working

This is IMPACT. A daily look at how we are coping with the coronavirus in Nevada. I’m Carrie Kaufman.

The parents are not all right.

That’s the gist of a number of articles I have read recently and comments I have seen from parents in social media.

We have a disconnect in this country between work and parenting. When our country was full of farmers, work and parenting were pretty much the same thing. That was true, too, in the small businesses that sprung up across the nation, where people lived above their restaurants or tailor shops.

But the rules for the middle class - the GENTEEL class - were that one parent worked while the other one stayed home. Aside from the inherent sexism in that arrangement, we simply don’t live in a world anymore where families can afford only one parent working.

But, I can tell you from experience - it is hard to work and parent at the same time. Especially if your kids are younger.

We’re going to talk about parenting and school under quarantine.