Before the pandemic, my partner and I had about 20-30 hours per week of babysitting for our elementary school aged child. Since March 2020, we’ve not had a single hour of babysitting.

My wife and I actually don’t have things that bad. We both still have jobs and our employers have been understanding. Our child is now old enough that we can make do without babysitting help, even if it means regularly working nights and weekends. But routine occurrences — nagging colds; COVID-19 exposures that require quarantining — can stretch our household logistics to the breaking point. The capacity to work remotely is the primary mechanism through which our family has managed to make everything work as best we can. We’re crossing our fingers for a vaccine for 5–11-year-olds sooner rather than later but knowing that there will be flexibility in my Spring 2022 teaching and meeting schedule would make an enormous difference to our peace of mind and frayed energy levels.