Morsa Images/iStockBy NICOLE PELLETIERE, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A mother who has struggled to multitask during the novel coronavirus pandemic is opening up about holding down a career while parenting amid these unprecedented times.
In a New York Times piece titled, “In the Covid-19 Economy, You Can Have a Kid or a Job. You Can’t Have Both,” Deb Perelman writes how working parents are facing a new dilemma as the economy reopens.
“We can’t keep up with this,” Perelman, a New York writer and food blogger of smittenkitchen.com, told Good Morning America. “Everybody is overwhelmed, and everybody has their hands tied.”
Because of COVID-19, schools across the U.S. are deciding on what classrooms will look like. Some are considering rotating schedules where students will learn part-time in class, and spend the other half of their time learning remotely from home.
In the op-ed, Perelman, a mother and author, writes how her school district is considering sending kids back only part time by physically attending one-out-of-three weeks.
She said this new schedule will not benefit parents who are looking for a normal routine.
If you’re about to respond “but you shouldn’t have kids if you can’t take care of them,” or “but it may not even be safe to send kids back to school,” you’re off the debate team, because this isn't what I'm talking about here. Also not questioning whether schools need to be safe.
— deb perelman (@debperelman) June 24, 2020
“There are people who have be able to hit the pause button on a project under the idea that September would return some level of normalcy in child care and not having your kids there all day,” Perelman told GMA.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released guidelines for reopening schools, saying they want kids physically in class for its social and educational benefits.
“We really need to be working hard as a country to really drive down the number of coronavirus infections and that’s going to make the reopening of schools in the fall much, much easier,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, an AAP infectious disease specialist.
Dr. Gilboa Deborah, a family physician and resilience expert, said we cannot protect kids from all risk.
I released the primal scream that we — and countless other parents for whom this situation isn't just untenable, it's impossible — have been feeling since March. https://t.co/3MqKC5hSOe
— deb perelman (@debperelman) July 2, 2020
“What we’re going to have to decide, week by week or month by month, is it riskier to send kids to school and have everyone’s health be in jeopardy? Or, is it riskier to keep kids home and have everyone’s finances and ability to pay bills be in jeopardy?” Deborah told GMA.
As for Perelman, she believes new school schedules has parents fearing they may have to leave the workforce.
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