A decent bit of snow is predicted to start falling tonight and into tomorrow morning, most likely resulting in school closures in my city, including my son’s preschool. On days like this, or when kiddo is sick or otherwise on break, my husband and I have a typical shared setup: I take the morning off from work to stay home, and husband comes home a little after noon to take the afternoon off from work. It works well for us, and we each get at least a half day of work in.
I had some meetings scheduled for tomorrow morning, which I’ll likely have to miss because I’ll be watching my son at home. (Note: My campus rarely ever closes for snow. It’s a running joke around here.) This morning, I went about proposing new times for these meetings because they were small, allowing some flexibility. But I felt I had to hide why I was proposing new times.
Is it unprofessional to mention that you have to reschedule or Skype in to a meeting because of childcare obligations out of your control? Personally, I don’t think so. But a recent post in Working Mother Magazine mentions in the first bullet not to mention your sick kid.
I always mention to my boss and my direct report that I’ll be out because kiddo is sick/has a snow day/has Spring Break. I don’t see a downside to being human, but now I’m doubting myself. Am I just constantly reminding my colleagues that I’m a mother first? Is that a bad thing?
I truly don’t know the answer.
