One son hands his work-from-home mom a drawing and it broke her heart. She shared the photo online, and it hit close to home for so many people.
Many people have heard the expression, “Kids say the darndest things.”
Children do have a knack for honesty that adults lack for better or for worse. Sometimes the honesty of children comes in the form of drawing.
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The work-from-home mom is Priya Amin, a mother of two children, including a 7-year-old son.
When her young son showed her a drawing, she was prepared with a cliched response adults often give kids.
“Oh, sweetie, what a beautiful drawing!" she planned in her head to say.
When she fully took in the picture she could not say those words at all.
Instead, "I actually looked at it, and it broke my heart," Priya admitted. "Well, it sort of warmed and broke my heart at the same time."
In the childish drawing, a kid asks his parent, “Mommy are you done?” referring to the woman’s work and open laptop in front of her. The mother’s response is a simple “No.”
Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. Priya surely felt emotional in the moment.
"All I wanted to do was close up my laptop and spend time with my kids, but I knew that if I didn't get a few important things done, I wouldn't be able to get my mind off of them," she shared.
"I think so many parents feel that way, especially during the pandemic, where work and life have collided with one another and it's really hard to step away from work. My son's drawing was a stark reminder to me about just how hard that is."
Priya is the founder and CEO of a company called Flexable. The company is purposed with developing “innovative child care solutions, such as virtual child care, and partner with organizations around the country to provide our child care services as a benefit for working parents."
Her work and duty to raise two children, and homeschool, has been time-consuming and difficult since the beginning of the pandemic. Early on she was starting her day at 4 am to work, and then later in the day helping her two children with school.
Despite having a schedule, her plans would not suffice long term.
"It was a nightmare and not sustainable at all. I realized that I couldn't work that way and neither could my team. Flexibility has always been at the core of everything we do at our company, and I wanted to make sure that was a part of our culture so that all the folks, especially working parents on our team, felt supported and seen.”
"Getting this picture from my son, though, reminded me that I need to do a better job of modeling that behavior to my team. Now I work when my kids are in school, but log off when they get home."
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The process of balancing work and time with children is not something Priya has mastered for now. Maybe she won’t be able to sustain it for the long term, but in this continued work-from-home season, she will keep working at it and doing her best.
In that way, she can give time and dedication to work, but more importantly to her family.
h/t: Good Morning America
Featured Image Credit: Priya Amin
Get in touch with him at aarondanthony.com and check out his debut short story anthology Honey Dreams on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.