Hello, all! I realize I may have doomed my weekly emails to absolute irrelevance with the advice last week on organizing your inbox. Following that advice, this email should go straight into a folder for items that don't require immediate action, pretty much ensuring that it will never be viewed again! (At least, not until you run into your mailbox limit, prompting you to search your inbox by my name and delete all the email you've ever gotten from me in a single batch. Sorry about that, in advance.)
In any case, the tips must continue. This week's tip comes from a reader, and I love it. It's this: START A BACK-UP, PICK-UP CO-OP. Exchange numbers with the parent or caregiver of another child in your child's daycare or program, who wouldn't mind overseeing the occasional impromptu playdate at a neighborhood playground in case you're running late from work. You return the favor another day. Step up the support by having a standing pick-up playdate each week, with you and the other parent/caregiver taking turns.
There was a NYT Motherlode blog post that touched on this idea last month, though it highlighted someone's negative experience with the practice: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/parental-quandary-the-mooching-working-mother/ with follow up here: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/parental-quandary-the-mooching-working-mother/ . While I'm sure these arrangements can be over-used unilaterally, on balance, I'm really into the community of it. It's easier if we do this together.
Have a great week.
All best,
Amarah
PSP Work/Life Initiative
