I’ve already seen some amazing posts on what can be done to help parents on National Working Parents Day – suggestions for companies to do more to allow employees to be productive at home and in the office, research that shows the return on that investment, some great models of companies helping working parents in tangible ways.
Here’s one more: form creators of the world, please unite. It’s 2024 and you could make the lives of Lead Dads and Working Moms, easier and less frustrating.
I just placed the order for my daughters’ school photo. Easy enough thing to do between calls.
But then I got to the checkout, and the default icon for placing the order was “Mom”.
What? Why? Who cares?
The order was:
Mom
Dad
Student
School Administrator
Other
What is the purpose of this drop-down menu?
Why does it default to Mom?
Who cares who is ordering the photos?
It’s not our daughters’ school. It’s the outside photography company, Highpoint Pictures.
Yet they’re far from alone.
I asked a doctor’s office if they had an online version of the forms we needed to fill out. “It won’t take you that long.” But if they were online my wife and I, both working parents, could be more efficient about getting them down during down time. Nope, print them out!
Same goes for the dentist office that sends my wife the electronic check-in text minutes before the appointment when I’m the one there. One, send it to me since I made the appointment. Two, store the basic information for all three kids! Just ask for updates or changes.
Forms are a time suck for every parent. But how they’re delivered and how they ask questions can go a long way to perpetuating or challenging stereotypes of who does what. There is nothing biologically ordained or gender driven about form completion.
Eve Rodsky created a movement to change moms being the default parent, and her Fair Play method is helping to prompt conversations and change the dynamic at home around domestic labor.
Brian Page is leading Modern Husbands to change the dynamic around how finances get discussed within couples.
And Elliott Rae, our podcast guest tomorrow, has started the Parenting Outloud movement in the U.K. to get more rights for fathers – so that it’s not assumed they do not want caregiving responsibilities.
Form creators – join us, please!
Now back to work before I have to parent and surely fill out a form or two tonight!
