Insight from Anna Hamilton, mother of two.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Deal
Rachel over to you
Rachel thanks. Will
the child care crisis is pushing
working moms out of Alicia
force?
The federal jobs report in
August is showing women in their
prime early years are dropping
out more than any other age
group, translating to
approximately one point: three million women
out of the labor force since
February.
A study will journal pointing to
limited child care options and,
of course, the burden of
distance learning as the cause.
Our next guest is a working mom.
She opted to stay home as well.
Anna Hamilton mother of two
joins me now, with her
experience.
Welcome Anna
hi, thanks for having me
Rachel lets just going here.
You had a great career.
You love your kids.
You made the decision to stay
home. How did your family come
to that decision?
So it was a difficult choice but
im lucky to have a choice.
I feel definitely privileged
that I was able to sort of make
the right decision for our
family and it started about in
July when our district said that
they were going one hundred percent
virtual until they could
reevaluate sort of the community
spread of the numbers to see
what was safe,
im happy. You know that im
sure its a difficult decision
for them as well,
but it was good to just know
what was going to happen,
so we could plan accordingly
and at that time I just started
to wind down the projects that I
was working on also been at the
same company for twelve years. So
luckily they were very
supportive as well and its a
really small company.
So a tough decision, you know
as major player in that company,
but I just reali had to
prioritize my kids and do what
was best
our spring. When we went virtual,
it was a much more rushed time
and everything,
but it wasnt it didnt go
very well.
So I just wanted to give this a
shot. You know and just focus
one hundred percent on the kids and
their school
Rachel. I could really relate,
I saw a quote. You said it
brought you to tears. It
brought me to tears as well,
so what are you doing
differently moving into the
school year to make that better
for you and your kids with
virtual learning?
So I think you know its
not just what were doing
differently
the teachers them selves have
really put in a to be of effort
and the whole administration at
the school
we go to a public school thats.
You know just really supported
by the community and I think the
difference is they are doing a
lot more live sessions
and it just feels more like
class, whereas before it was kind
of you know, the teachers did
the best that they could, but it
sort of reported, reported record
videos.
My kids are six and seven
Rachel sure they need
guidance.
I gotcha,
let me ask you real quick
Anna. Could I ask you this
really quick
when this whole school situation
ends? Do you plan on getting
back into the workforce, or are
you really enjoying you know
being home?
I definitely plan to get back
into the workforce,
not that im not enjoying being
home, but I have been working for
two decades and I really never
took a break right even for
maternity leave. This is new
territory. For me,
we just started three weeks ago,
so well see how it goes, but my
intention is definitely to go
back into the workforce and
hopefully I will be able to do
that when things stabilized a
bit more
Rachel. Good luck with
everything,
good luck with home schooling.
I know how hard that is,
and virtual learning- and we wish
you all the luck.
Transcript generated on 2020-09-08.