This viral photo proves that moms are *always* working

At Motherly we know that mothers can and do balance business needs with the needs of their children every day. We do it every day, and we know that mothers at other companies are doing it every day, too—but this balancing act often isn’t talked about.

This week a COO and father, Seth Morales, went viral for drawing attention to how hard his wife, and all working moms, work outside of regular business hours and outside offices.

Morales posted a photo of his wife comforting their child in a hospital bed, writing, “I took this picture of my wife and son this morning. Too often working moms don’t get enough credit. I’m sharing this because I want people to know it’s possible. You can be great at work and at home.”

He continues: “But sacrifices need to be made before/after normal working hours. The idea of working 40+ hours in the office isn’t realistic. You’d be surprised at how productive my wife is from her smartphone while running errands. But she constantly thinks she’s falling short with everything. Balancing life is messy and difficult. For all you working parents out there please have grace for yourself, it’s a process.”

Morales is right about many things: 40 hours of butt-in-seat office work is not realistic for many parents. Our kids have needs Monday through Friday, 9-5 that we need to be there for sometimes. Clearly, Morales’ child was in need of medical attention and that’s the kind of thing that parents need to be able to give their attention to, whether it happens during regular business hours or not. And Morales is also right that parents are making sacrifices, working before and after traditional office hours and making the most of small pockets of time. It sound like Morales’ wife is multitasking a lot of time time, running her work from her “smartphone while running errands.”

It’s great that this powerful COO is sharing the struggles that working parents face and that a working mother’s spouse is recognizing her efforts on a personal level. But we would challenge partners like Morales: If you see your partner trying so hard to do everything and feeling like she’s never doing enough, perhaps it is time to ask yourself if YOU are doing enough.

Research shows that among heterosexual couples, women simply do more of the unpaid work of child-rearing than men do, and it hurts our careers, our families and our relationships (and that if men did just 50 minutes more labor at home every day we could close the gender gap.)

We would also challenge business leaders like Morales: If you see your employees are making the sacrifices that he mentions here, working before and after working hours and feeling like they are merely surviving, not thriving, maybe your culture needs to catch up with the needs of employees.

And finally, we challenge any working mother who “constantly thinks she’s falling short with everything” to drop some balls and delegate at home. Get the store-bought muffins and share the load of managing your family load with your partner.

Morales is right, we can be great at work and at home, but not if we’re not supported at work and at home.

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