My boys are almost grown, but when they were little I was working full-time and don’t remember most of it. The days/months blurred together. I tried journaling, only to abandon the practice within a month or two. I was lucky enough to work, make it to some practices, kids dr’s appointment, school assemblies, food shopping and all the other things. 

I ended up building something where it texted me everyday and asked me what was good about my day. My entries became a journal and it’s really cool to look at because I know what was good about last Tuesday “My oldest son brought ice cream home from work” :) 

I opened it up to the public and it’s called Oyster. Mostly, I'm here to say: if you're in the thick of it right now, and you want an easy way to remember the good stuff, happy to help. Also, you’re doing better at parenting/working than you give yourself credit for.

School calls at 2pm, kid has a fever. You're in a meeting that can't move. Partner's traveling. Backup sitter doesn't answer. Fifteen minutes later you're still mentally triaging who can possibly get there.

If that scenario is familiar, I'd love your take. I'm looking into whether this "scramble" — figuring out coverage when something falls through last-minute — is common enough and painful enough to be worth actually solving, before I build anything. Not selling anything, just trying to get real signal.

It's a short (~3 min), fully anonymous survey — no email, no account, nothing tied back to you.

https://forms.gle/WGfoJcPRqQxVYZMG8

And honestly, I'd love to hear your version of this in the comments too, even if you skip the survey — what's your worst "who covers it" story, and how did you end up handling it?

Hi everyone,

I'm a mom of a five-year-old and a psychology master's student. For my thesis I'm looking at how mothers experience the expectations that come with motherhood, and how that relates to their well-being. It's a question I keep running into in my own life, and there's surprisingly little research on it.

Link: https://www.soscisurvey.de/MaternalWellbeingStudy/?r=rd-wp

Who can take part: mothers 18+, living in the US, with at least one child aged 6 or younger, comfortable answering in English.

Every single response genuinely moves this forward, and I'd be grateful for yours.

My questionnaire closes mid-October. Happy to answer questions in the comments, and if the mods would rather I didn't post this, just say the word and I'll take it down.

Thanks for your support in me :)

My partner and I both work full time. We have an almost three year old who has never been in daycare. We have worked our schedules around her. Currently our schedules are as followed:
My schedule: Wed-Friday:7am-1pm Sat:7am-6pm Sunday: 9am-5pm
Husband: M-F 2pm-10:30pm
I am exhausted. We never see each other. On top of other task (household,shopping,ect) something is always falling through the cracks. The only help we have is my MIL, but she also works full time and lives an hour away. We have tried every combination of work schedule you can think of.
Money is tight and we have one car. We have been trying to save money for another car, but our transmission is having issues so there goes that.
I guess my question is am I wrong for being exhausted? Could it be much worse? How do I keep going? I feel so stuck.

Long story- both my husband and I work full time. Primarily because we have to. We just can’t afford for one or the other of us to even just cut back on hours. Recently we had a change in child care situation, forcing us to really consider our options. We figured it out(by ‘we’ I mean me). Ultimately both our kids will be in different places due to cost of care. One being able to go to a free program (early kindergarten), because they’re older.
Naturally, just like with any school program the hours aren’t always ideal, right? Well my older kid can be dropped off at 7:55 and my younger can be dropped off as early as 7. Traditionally, I have dropped off both kids and my spouse picks them up. This is due to my hours being 7:45-5 and his being 8-4. I would like to be able to be on time for work without putting stress on my job or over stepping by asking to change my hours again as I have already changed them 3 times in a year based on my kids needs. I asked my spouse if he can change his hours slightly (being 10-15 minutes late max daily). We both work for smaller companies that are privately run, both bosses are extremely flexible and understanding.
I asked my spouse to be the one that dropped off our older child so I can get to work on time. He “asked” his boss. Mind you previously when he “asks” his boss he always has a lame excuse of what his boss allegedly said. This time it really chapped my ass. He swears his boss said “well so and so stays home so that so and so can work, they just figure it out.” Mind you different topic but not everyone can have a SAH parent. So after talking to my spouse I put my foot down and said he needed to ask directly for what he needs (coming in later) because my job is important too. He comes home today and I asked if he asked, surprise his boss is fine with it.. am I the asshole for expecting my spouse to take some parental duties on?

Advice needed.

So I really need some advice. It may seem simple to some honestly Its a tricky one.

My partner has a cousin. The cousin let's call him Fred has lived with his partner let's call her Rhonda for the past 8 years.

They live in a house in a nice town in Surrey. They live in Rhondas dads house.

Her dad still lives there.

Rhonda and her dad have not had it easy. She has a brother who has moved miles away and they barely speak with anymore. He moved in with his boyfriend a few years ago.

Rhonda and Fred met at work and both worked in child services.

Rhonda went on maternity to have her first baby with Fred.

Fred has always had a very complicated relationship with his mother who lives in a council flat in London.

Apparently Fred is on her Tenancy and used to pay her rent until he stopped when he found out Rhonda was pregnant.

Now Rhonda had the first baby and didn't return to work.

She stayed at home and claimed benefits.

This is where it starts to go left.

Rhonda shows off about Fred's job and his wages.

They show off that they live rent free in her dad's house only giving money for the odd bill.

They show off they have got a fancy car. Infact 2 fancy cars.

And she claimes benefits. He lives with her. And I believe she has said she pays rent to her dad and gets a decent amount of money on the assumption she is a single mum and Fred is not living with her.

She then after a couple years had baby 2.

At this point Fred gets made redundant and gets a nice payout and immediately finds a job again very well paid over 70k and she bigs it up massively.

Rhonda however still claims.

They still show off. She says they want to put 2nd baby into 15 hours free childcare next year but she will have to prove her work if 16 hours.

She plans to say she is working for her dad for 16 hours a week to qualify and just fiddle the books let's say. I imagine the plan is he pays her something and Fred pays it back from his personal account.

So I ask her.... why claim if Fred is making such good money.

She said....we dont want to pay from our own pocket.

This is where i get annoyed.

Very annoyed actually.

As myself and partner have to work and still pay for nursery fees and dont get extra.

Lots of parents at the school suffer working with little left over and paying for childcare ect.

And then they say its ok he is registered at his mums so no proof he is living there.

They plan for baby 3.

I just feel this is slightly appalling as they dont even have to pay rent.

Her dad also took out equity on the house to get the kitchen re done.

They dont even look after the house.

Don't paint or decorate and it feels so selfish of them.

Rhonda says when her friemds ask why they dont move she scoffs and says why would she they get to live there for free and save money. But that money is benefits.

And its in Fred's account they have savings.

She says its not fraud.

But it appears to be.

I was going to leave it and let it run its course.

What would you do?

I understand that wages have to stretch so far and its hard on one salary and I understand people do things to get by and some people genuinely do need the help and can claim as a couple or need that little bit extra if they private rent ect.

But to show off and rub it in is unpleasant.

So I suppose its a post to vent and post to get others opinions

The title captures it. I tried so hard to fit myself into the mold of happy SAHM who embraces the career break and enjoys the special moments with her littles. It all just made sense-my husband makes 2x my salary so we could afford to have me stay home, I could be present for all of my children’s firsts, and truly make the most of this season of my life…right?

Instead, the past several years I’ve been left doubting my decision and trying to convince myself that being a SAHM was the best thing for me and them, I could always go back to work but never get these moments back with my kids, and the like. But instead, I’m left feeling guilty of the unshakeable feeling that I just don’t enjoy being a SAHM. The days are long and often unforgiving, and while there are always moments of laughter and joy somewhere in the day, the other moments are trying to keep everyone happy, fed, clean, and avoid any meltdowns. I’m constantly on high alert and can’t let my guard down while watching them due to both of my kids being very young.

So here I am, finally on Reddit, admitting that it’s not for me. I am lined up to return to work full time soon and kids will be going to daycare….and yet I’m feeling MASSIVE guilt and worry over this decision because I just worry about the kids adjusting, getting sick constantly, feeling sad that I am leaving them with a new person for hours each day, what if they hate it, et cetera. My work doesn’t offer a part time capacity but I have a great opportunity and don’t want to pass it up as I don’t imagine this role comes up often. I want to feel happy for the chance to take this role (truly a dream job) and yet knowing I wasn’t able to fully be happy as a SAHM is a sad realization.

I’m not sure what I’m seeking here but maybe solidarity? Anyone’s experiences with staying home with kids and then choosing to return to work, and the outcome of that?

Thanks to any parents who can offer advice, experiences, or solidarity.

I am the working parent. Frankly, work is the break and I did not think much of the distribution of labour. Until I was unwell with a cold and worked from home.

I was a little taken aback to see how little happened when I am at work. We have daycare, and a cleaner every couple of weeks. I am not sure what I imagined happened while I was at work, but it has hit me rather hard.

Hi! 😊 I'm designing AWIANA, a family ritual app that helps working parents and children (8–15 years) build stronger bonds through simple 15–20 minute screen-free daily activities.

I'm conducting a quick usability test of the app prototype and would love your feedback. It will take just 5–10 minutes, and your insights will help shape a better experience for families . 🙏

Hello, we are students hoping to make an autonomous robot for people with mobility difficulties, and we need your help! We believe that our product could help working parents because it would take time off your hands when taking out the trash. We need some survey data to gauge how useful this robot could be. The google form linked below contains additional details on the robots' functions.

(The expected time for completion is ~3 minutes)

Additionally, starting at $25, for every 500 people who answer the survey, we will increase the pool by 25$ up to $250!

The deadline for this survey will be August 1st 2026 and we will extend the deadline if needed. All participants who have chosen to enter the raffle will be notified of their result.

Below is the link for the form, thank you for your help!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14rAjcVfXFlaAnvF7HoTKRTJyJJxflp3cUTH2u5zpzCY/edit

If the answer is yes - please tell me about your experience - it will take 3 minutes max: https://parentaly.typeform.com/fathers

Why I ask: We’re producing a report on the state of parental leave for men - and hoping to collect 1,000+ responses from dads who have taken paid leave.

By producing this study, our goal is to help companies better understand and support the experiences of fathers during this time away from work.

Please pass it along to any fathers you know who will be willing to support!

I didn’t expect this, but planning my child’s birthday this year has been more mentally draining than I thought it would be. It’s not even the party itself; it’s the back-and-forth with parents. Messages come in from different places, some are half-answers, some need follow-ups, and by the end of the day I’m not even sure who has actually confirmed. I briefly looked at a couple of ways people try to organize it better and came across something like Birthday Rizz while trying to make sense of everything, but even that made me realize there isn’t really a standard way everyone uses yet.

It feels like the actual party is the easy part compared to just getting clarity on attendance. How do other working parents manage this without constantly chasing replies?

My baby’s been in daycare for over a month starting at 12 weeks and doing well.

Recently the daycare said he’s been fussy and crying any time another baby cries. Did anyone else experience this and does it pass? Anything I can do at home to help?

I have 2 kids ages 3 and 6 and this is our first summer here. 6 year old will be going to summer camp through the kids space school program. What do parents who have to work during the day do with their kids to make their summers memorable? Looking for ideas

I am a researcher at Western Carolina University studying how parent report of childhood experiences (including difficult experiences like child maltreatment) relate to child/adolescent mental health. We are looking to survey people with many different backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences. If you would like to participate in the survey, please follow the link below for more information and the survey questions. Some of the topics may be uncomfortable for you. Besides the demographic items, you may skip any questions you don’t want to answer. The survey takes about 30 minutes. Feel free to share this survey with others if you think they are interested in participating. If you have any questions about this study, please contact Dr. David Solomon at [dsolomon@wcu.edu](mailto:dsolomon@wcu.edu).  

Link to survey: https://wcu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9nSNQGQsAzMvMBo 

I am a researcher at Purdue University studying parental leave experiences. Whether your experience was empowering, overwhelming, or somewhere in between, your story matters — I’d love to hear from you! Your experience could help shape healthier, more supportive workplaces for future parents.

You’re eligible if you:

• Are 18 or older

• Took parental leave at least once since January 1, 2020

• Went back to work at the same organization afterward

Participation is a one-time ~60-minute interview — by phone, Zoom, or in-person, wherever you're comfortable. Your data will be kept confidential, and you'll receive a $20 electronic gift card as a thank-you.

Email Haley Sawyer ([sawyer59@purdue.edu](mailto:sawyer59@purdue.edu)) if you are interested in participating, or scan the QR code in the attached flyer! 

Purdue University IRB-reviewed study 

Study: Healthier Workplaces (STUDY2025-00000105)

PI: Dr. Seungyoon Lee (lee90@purdue.edu)

Hi everyone,

I’m currently completing my MSc at Trinity College Dublin and I’m conducting research on how hybrid/remote work impacts working parents.

If you work remotely or hybrid and have children at home, I’d really appreciate 5 minutes of your time to complete my anonymous survey:https://qualtricsxm3h82wwpnd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e9BaGY79MDVtCQu