Companies and firms strut their extended maternity leave policies, as if that is the solution for working moms. In my opinion, that is short-sighted.
Giving moms more maternity leave only reinforces pre-conceived and archaic notions that moms will forever be the primary caregiver. After their husbands flock back to work a week after baby is born, mom has months of training to be the primary caregiver.
Then what happens when mom goes back to work? Baby feels detached because mom was so used to spending so much time with baby. Mom feels separated and feels like she’s been ripped from her baby and dropped back into corporate America where she’s supposed to fit right back in.
My question is – what are we doing to support and help moms when they come back from maternity leave? I.e.:
1. What are we doing to support the mom who has to leave work early because her baby is crying at daycare and nobody else can pick the baby up?
2. What are we doing to support moms on the night when her one-year old baby is teething and doesn’t sleep a wink throughout the night?
3. What are we doing to support moms when her three year old spends the evenings having tantrums over spilled broccoli while mom is getting e-mails from her boss?
4. What are we doing to support moms who don’t know where to send their kids when school gets out at 2:30pm and they still have to work.
As you can tell, I have a lot of questions.
So to me, the answer is not just maternity leave. Yes, maternity leave is obviously important and is a given. But I propose that we do more to help moms when they return to work and for the years that follow. Because as it stands now, I don’t think moms are getting the support they need. And I’m speaking from experience.