What Future Generations Will Remember About Working Moms of 2020
Throughout history, women and mothers have rocked the world with their perseverance, ambition, and strides in the workforce.
1849: Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female doctor in the United States.
1910: Alice Stebbins Wells was one of the first American-born female police officers in the United States.
1960: Jeannette Pickering Rankin was the first woman to hold federal office in the United States.
1983: Sally Ride was the first American woman in space.
Our rockstar status can even be traced back to Cavemen (or Cave-women) times and to almost every corner of earth.
According to a recent survey, roughly 72% of US mothers are working moms, and recent pandemic-related events have made our already challenging situations exponentially more difficult.
2020 Is Not the Year for the Working Mom
Working moms have proven that they have ultimate multi-tasking skills to balance career and family, even when it seems impossible. It seems that this whole working mom thing just was starting to feel natural and then...
Cue the global pandemic.
The pandemic essentially threw all of our routines, boundaries, and responsibilities in a blender and forgot to put the lid on before hitting "start" and splattering the muck all over the walls of our previously comfortable home.
Of course, the pandemic is fun for no one; however, working moms seem to carry the brunt of the lifestyle disruption.
Already overwhelmed moms had to suddenly learn how to work from home with kids, face being laid off, or home-school their children. As if finding trustworthy childcare wasn't already hard enough, many mothers had to arrange for new childcare options if they didn't have the privilege to work from home.
Related: Of Course Your Kids are Acting out in 2020. Here is How You Help
I use the term privilege lightly, because trying to balance work deadlines and conference calls while frustrated kids are screaming in the background feels hardly advantageous.
In between my rare moments where I thrive spending extra time with my kids, I am consumed with mom guilt for being inpatient with my kids, insecurities over my inability to balance 800 different things at once, and then full mental and physical exhaustion.
I imagine that someday my kids will look back on these strange times and have memories of me swearing while I try to fuddle through 2nd grade math, overfilling my wine glass the very moment my shift ends at 4:30, and crying for seemingly no reason at all.
I don't feel like the happy and warm mother I used to be. I am easily annoyed, short with my kids, and at the brink of collapse.
Related: Covid stole my love for motherhood. This is how I plan to get it back.
Basically, will future generations think back on the working moms of 2020 as the hot-mess failures that many of us feel we are?
Resilient Leaders in New Territory
Maybe, just maybe, working moms of 2020 won't be judged for our shortcomings and temper tantrums. Possibly, we will be seen for what we really are.
Resilient leaders who are battling through new and unprecedented territory. A new, strong breed of women who can succeed through even the most intense and unpredictable times.
For working moms of 2020, the old predicament of balancing work and home is no longer a concern. We can throw out that old image of a scale.
Now, we have both work and family on our backs at all times and we are carrying them through these odd times.
It is heavy. So freaking heavy. However, our ability to cope and persevere through unexpected uncertainties is both noble and ridiculously impressive.
Final Thoughts
I have to believe that future generations will look back and add us to the list above:
2020: All Working Moms were thrown the most absurd, unforeseen, and honestly crappy situation imaginable, and they successfully carried their careers and family through it all.
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This year has been extremely complicated for moms who are juggling working from home along with the needs of their children. It's not easy, but families are making the best of a tough situation.
Great article! Mothers are definitely very resilient. It will be interesting to see how we view everyone in this weird times in the future.
We certainly found the lockdown hard working from home with the kids etc too to homeschooling. I applaud my wife as she still works from home and does all the other countless tasks! Great post!
Moms working or not are the best. Kudos to you.
Here in Europe, there were terrible statistics what the Pandemic did to women. Of course, now it's mom again balancing job'n'household...let's hope it will pass asap. In Europe, we're making baby steps 😉
This is so accurate. I am a working mom turned working from home mom due to the pandemic. It's so hard to work with kids at home but we're trying our best.
Life has a funny way to challenge us; we only need to adjust, as usual.
Really interesting thing to think about and look at! It's such a hard time right now - and I tell ya moms sure are killing it!
this is an inspiring sharing especially to motivate all working mums, thanks
Extremely true. I too know a couple of moms who were and still are struggling with their role, jobs and parenting in this situation and this crazy year. Blessings to all of the moms out there!!
You are not alone in how you feel emotionally. I’m drained and exhausted and also find myself very impatient with my kids in time. Your analogy with the blender couldn’t be more accurate.
Moms of 2020 from Evolution to Revolution. from the past 3 months, i have colleagues who juggles work and home while working from home. It's tough finding the balance, salute to all the MOMS
Moms are struggling everyday for their families and they do not expect any return.
Hats of to all moms and women in the world and may god bless them all !
Salute to all moms out there. Honestly I can't manage to do in 3 days what moms have been doing in years. 2020 has been tough but the moms have been tougher. Women are making great contributions to the global society which should be really recognized, including posting great posts like this one. This is an incredible post.
2020 is a devastating year and I feel very sad for everyone, specially mom's who need to work extra hard. Positive side, they're able to find substitutes to carry on. Moms are awesome.
I can see there are a bunch of moms doing extra job during these trying times. Most are mom bloggers, and I salute them. Nice post!
This year is awful for all of us imagine you need to force to get a part time job to sustain finances because of the pandemic I salute to all working moms who did extra effort!
It hasn't been easy trying to cope with the changes. More over, we are dealing with the pressures of working from home without childcare 24/7.
Mine will remeber that they had both mom and dad home 24/7 for almost 40 days. That we all did the best we could.
I am a WFH mom and my son absolutely hates the laptop!! Latest he has said - I don't want you to touch the laptop for 1 year!!!