Children Used as Pawns

A few weeks ago I wrote about my supervisor making assumptions about what I could or could not do because I have young children at home. On the flip side of that is a customer who was required to attend an orientation. The paperwork explained the session could take up to two hours and asked participants to plan accordingly. She was one of the last people to arrive and, to be fair to the other customers who were there before her, she was not served immediately for the one-on-one session after the orientation. She was the last person to be served. She mentioned numerous times that she needed to leave by a certain time to get her young children. Finally, it was her turn to be seen and she was gone. She noted on her paperwork that she waited as long as she could, but she could not stay because she needed to get her little children. I am not unsympathetic to having young children who need your attention, but if it could affect your benefits why wouldn’t you make sure you had those two hours (plus travel time) free? What really bugged me was this mom using her children as pawn to get what she wanted. She did not want to be there, she did not want to wait and she thought that using her children as an excuse would allow her to leave before others. I have had my fair share of child care logistical Tetris, having to find alternative solutions when transportation or scheduling issues arise, so again I am not unsympathetic to the difficulties one can face. But, even I could swing two hours to attend an important meeting. So, as much as I didn’t like my supervisor assuming me having young children should preclude me from having to do something, I also don’t like when parents use their children as a means to try to avoid something. That is playing into the mindset that parents of young children are less-productive than staff with no children or older kids.