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.