Parenting in the workplace is the next logical step in the progression of our society.
PROGRESSION OF FAMILY AND WORK
Prior to the industrial revolution, people lived in small towns and villages. Women would often spend time together, helping each other with various household and societal chores and with emotional and physical support in child-rearing efforts. There was a communal feeling in neighborhoods; people felt invested in helping to watch over each other's children. By the mid-1900s, the norm became men going off to work in companies and leaving their wives behind to handle domestic responsibilities; family and work were two distinct worlds divided by gender.
The feminist movement that followed this period saw millions of women enter the workforce over the following decades. As both parents entered the workforce, a new industry was created to care for young children. Daycare, usually provided by people outside the family, became the standard for generations of children--for many, starting when they were babies. Although so many mothers in the workforce led to men becoming more invested and involved with their children, concerns were raised about the effects on children of spending so much time away from both their parents.
SEPARATION CULTURE
So many parents today are exhausted trying to balance working and raising healthy children. If a woman has her children young, she risks severe setbacks to her potential income and opportunities. But thousands of women who decided to focus on career first and then have children discovered that, when they were finally ready to have children, they had become infertile. Breastfeeding rates have plummeted, largely due to so many women being separated from their newborns, which has caused a huge increase in minor ailments and major diseases. Post-partum depression has become common as women are either home alone all day while most of their friends are at work, or else they have to return to work just days or weeks after their babies are born. Drug use and similar problems are affecting kids at younger and younger ages, and lack of time with parents has been identified as a key risk factor. Some families have decided the stress just isn't worth it and make painful financial sacrifices to allow one spouse to stay home with the kids--causing companies to suffer high turnover costs and lost productivity as they lose valued employees. The costs of our "separation culture" on families and on society are becoming too large to ignore.
NEW OPPORTUNITY
But it turns out that the work world is more flexible than ever before. Instead of physically-demanding factory jobs, millions are now using computers for much of their day, talking at length with coworkers about projects, and switching frequently between various tasks. Creativity, cooperative problem-solving, multitasking, and innovation are highly prized skills. In light of this, combining parenting and work--just as our ancestors did as they raised children while performing various tasks of survival--has become feasible again. Just look at the huge numbers of employees who work from home--raising their kids as they do their jobs. Parenting in the workplace is just the other side of the equation.
Parenting while working sounds far-fetched simply because it's not yet the standard in our culture. But people have been raising kids while they accomplish other tasks since the beginning of humanity. When most people become parents, they learn very quickly how to multitask and get things done much more efficiently. Given the chance to have their children with them at their jobs, most parents will go far out of their way to make it work.
Given the increasing number of companies allowing babies or older kids at work on a semi-regular or regular basis, the argument of, "Well, it's just not feasible," doesn't work. It is feasible--and often extremely successful for the business as well as employees--when carefully implemented. And it could represent the answer to the "Mommy Wars" and many of the traumas suffered by millions of families.
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