The dead chipmunk in the wading pool is undermining economic recovery

This isn’t specifically commentary on crowdfunding, but some thoughts on some of the issues that the broader economy is facing. I was pleased to see this article in the NYT highlighting the challenges parents are facing. Parents and people who work with parents (and that’s pretty much everyone in the working world) do not care so much about whether the bars are open, or whether they can get their nails done as what to do with the %&**&!! kids.

In general, the move to online working from home has been comparatively easy on CrowdCheck. We have always been a distributed workforce (I have employees I’ve never actually met in person) and we’ve been able to adapt to a completely virtual workspace. Our clients and regulators have been forgiving and understanding about the frequent interruptions made by children and pets. We’ve had the usual catbutts-on-the-Zoom-meeting, the calls punctuated by “Moooooommmmm” and one senior federal regulator gasping “OMG the dog just pooped.” All well and good.

But anyone with small children knows it’s not just the occasional cute interruption. Kids need to be watched. All. The. Time. Toddlers (very small people capable of spending over an hour running clockwise round the kitchen stopping only to say hello to that one floor tile) cannot just be parked in front of a screen, at least not for long. The five-year-old needs you to look at his drawing Right Now, not after you’ve finished drafting that tricky contract clause. And when there’s a dead chipmunk in the wading pool that causes a major meltdown, only a parent can fix it and it will take some time before that parent can return to what they were doing before Alvin bought the farm.

We are already seeing people of means looking to hire private teachers (in effect, tutors and governesses, Jane Austen-style) for their kids. If your private school costs $40k+ and you have a couple of kids (or add a neighbor’s family to your pod), then a teacher’s salary plus benefits makes a load of sense, and teachers nervous about mass exposure may find such positions attractive. But it really doesn’t look like governments are paying attention to the thing the economy needs most if it is going to recover: safe, affordable schools and child care, so people can get some %^&*$! work done. We’ve all been going along with the myth that WFH works and that we can all be just as productive when juggling tots, cats and dead rodents from our basement, but it’s not actually true and even when it’s close to true it’s a darn sight more stressful.

Why isn’t this the first thing that politicians talk about when talking about re-opening the economy?

Join CrowdCheck

More Blogs