I’m back at home with my child again this week due to a second quarantine from his school in less than a month.

This time it was from a contact in his after school program, so it’s not his class that has been quarantined. So he is not doing remote learning with his class. He has a bunch of worksheets he doesn’t want to do.

Meanwhile I have so little leave left, I am thankful that Xmas and New Years are on Saturdays, so I won’t need to take any extra time off. I am “lucky” to be able to telecommute, I guess. But how “lucky” is it to have to try and do 2 jobs at once?

At least he got his first vaccine over the weekend. At least by Xmas, he should be fully vaccinated. Maybe by 2022, I won’t have to quarantine with him if he exposed to a positive case. And in this town, am sure he will be.

On the one day this week that I was able to work a full day at my work site, I found myself in tears at the beginning of the day. I wrote a poem about it. Maybe I’ll get it posted this weekend. Maybe not.

What is clear to me is that our culture does not value caregiving. When a single person with no immediate family members that they care for gets the same amount of leave time as a single parent, that is evidence that our culture cares not at all for caregiving work. I am given leave time to care for my child and not for myself. Or I am given leave time to care for myself and not for my child.

Ironically, I have been thinking a lot this year about quitting my job but I haven’t due to fear of no safety net. However, my only safety net is making me emotionally weak because it is forcing me to do too much. Maybe I am better off quitting?