When your child is struggling—whether it’s with anxiety, anger management, or depression—focusing on anything other than how they’re doing can be difficult to nearly impossible. Yet so many parents are straining day after day to support their children while trying to keep up at work. And so many lack enough flexibility, understanding, and paid time off from their employer to take care of everything they need to do, from finding their children a therapist to taking them to appointments.
What can mothers, managers, and leaders do to make work more manageable? The executive director of the children’s mental health advocacy group On Our Sleeves shares ideas and advice.
Guest:
Marti Bledsoe Post is the executive director of the children’s mental health advocacy group On Our Sleeves and the author of Retrofit: The Playbook for Modern Moms: https://www.amazon.com/Retrofit-Playbook-Marti-Bledsoe-Post/dp/0578556863
Resources:
- “Ripple Effect: The Influence of Children’s Mental Health on The Great Resignation,” by On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/about/research/ripple-effect
- “The Great Collide: How Supported Children Enable Successful Companies,” by On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/about/research/workplace
- Bloom: Child Mental Health and the Workplace, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/partnerships/corporate-partnerships/workplace-bloom
- Understanding Depression in Kids, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/mental-health-resources/articles-support/depression
- Anxiety in Kids, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/mental-health-resources/articles-support/anxiety
- “When Your Employee Discloses a Mental Health Condition,” by Amy Gallo: https://hbr.org/2021/02/when-your-employee-discloses-a-mental-health-condition
- “The Maternal Wall,” by Joan C. Williams: https://hbr.org/2004/10/the-maternal-wall
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You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts:
- HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2022/11/working-while-managing-your-childs-mental-health
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Series Description:
Women face gender discrimination throughout our careers. It doesn't have to derail our ambitions — but how do we prepare to deal with it? There's no workplace orientation session about narrowing the wage gap, standing up to interrupting male colleagues, or taking on many other issues we encounter at work. So HBR staffers Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Emily Caulfield are untangling some of the knottiest problems. They interview experts on gender, tell stories about their own experiences, and give lots of practical advice to help you succeed in spite of the obstacles.
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Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, books, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review aims to provide professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to help lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact. Learn more at www.hbr.org.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro / The Children’s Mental Health Crisis
05:02 – The Maternal Wall Bias
08:26 – Talking About Your Child’s Mental Health at Work
16:59 – Sharing with Boundaries
19:33 – Resources for Parents, Caregivers, and Employers
24:58 – “Should I Keep Working, or Should I Give it Up?”
31:33 – You’re Handling Things Better Than You Think
34:54 – Peers/Work Friends are a Valuable Resource
38:37 – Outro
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