Do you know what your working parents did last night?
Chances are it could affect how they show up to work today.
Maybe they read a book or streamed a show and got a good night’s sleep.
Maybe they went out to dinner with a friend or spouse and might start the morning off a little tired.
Maybe they helped a child with a challenging homework assignment and are feeling buoyed, or had one of those regular disagreements with their spouse and are feeling depleted.
In our case, we were woken at 10:30pm by our 8-year-old who had thrown up in her bed. Both my wife and I had gone to bed early after a particularly grueling day of advocating for this daughter’s educational needs. If ever there was a night when we wanted solid sleep it was last night.
With her standing by our bedside, we didn’t tell each other what to do. We went into working parent mode, with two known goals in mind: help our daughter and get back to sleep as soon as we could.
While my wife showered off our daughter, I went into her room, stripped the bed and got everything in the washing machine. My wife got her into our bed, with towels spread out on the floor. And I opened the windows in my daughter’s room and climbed into the unimpacted top bunk.
I’d estimate 15 minutes all in. Our goals were clear: take care of our daughter and get back to sleep so we could function at work today.
What helped us the most was we are a team. There was no questioning who would do what and never a doubt that we’d be doing it together.
This morning as I was heading into the city and she was prepping for a day in her office upstairs – the reverse of what happens most days – she said: “I looked at the clock and it was 10:30 and my first thought was, this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day continues!”
We laughed, parent gallows humor.
Today I’ll be part of the closing panel at Seramount’s CDOC Annual Summit in New York. It’s a group where I know I can show up as who I am. It’s a group of people leaders who understand that most employees are doing their best, that they’re bringing what they have to the day, and that a little understanding can go a long way.
It’s something for all people leaders to keep in mind everyday: you don’t know what your working parents dealt with last night but they’re here today and doing their best.
