Travails Of Working Parents

Come September, parents in North America heave a big sigh of relief as the school year begins, and they no longer need to worry about finding a baby sitter for their school going, yet under age kids. In Canada, parents cannot leave a child unattended until he or she turns 12, which leaves parents often scrambling for a place in summer camp for their wards, or trying to move heaven and earth for a sitter who can keep an eye on their kids while they're away at work bringing home the bacon. The same cannot be said for parents whose children have not started school yet, and for those, it's a year-long struggle first to find a place in day care, and then to keep the place for good. When they do, it's yet another heart-wrenching struggle each morning, trying to pry off their children's clinging hands at the daycare premises and leaving with a hardened heart, unmindful of the sobs, wails, and tear-drenched faces of their little ones. Hiring a sitter on an hourly basis and leaving them at home, on the other hand, is simply not worth it at all, and if so, then one might have to surrender their entire income to the sitter, who, undoubtedly will call the shots!

Taking care of the children in my country used to be a breeze, so to speak. There was always a grandparent, or an aunt, or a friendly neighbor who stepped in with a helping hand, and eased the burden of the parents to a certain extent. Trusted servants would take care of the children, with a family member on hand to supervise them. Not so here. In the absence of elderly family members here, children cannot be entrusted to friends or neighbors because of molestation concerns, and sitters have to be thoroughly vetted and cleared with periodic criminal checks. There are horror stories now and then of sitters being caught secretly on tape, by "nanny cams", abusing the children under their care. This can undoubtedly be one of the worst nightmares for any parent. I feel a pang when I see all the child-rearing travails of my working friends and family, and can very well understand if someone decided to defer having a child to a time more conducive to them, or if they decided not to have one at all.

Having been able to take five and a half years off work in the first six years of my son's life has been a dream come true for me, and a mighty blessing in the truest sense of the word! Looking back, it was a luxury to have been able to do so, one that many of my friends still envy me for, and I'm simply grateful that I could afford to do that then. Subsequently, the husband or I have always been available at home for the kid, and now that he's a strapping young adult, soon-to-be-sixteen, we're mulling if we should take a vacation without him after all. "No way," he says, "I want to come too!" ... and so for now, our babying continues. We may not have had the usual travails of working parents, but now our concern is of a different kind - how to ditch the teenager, leave him on his own, and take off on that much-needed vacation, without any parenting woes!!! :)