This is a parenting trend that gives a whole new meaning to “mommy-and-me.”
Millennial and Gen She doesn’t understand, she doesn’t deserve them.
“It takes hours to plan,” Melissa Rilling says35, a job-hunting mom of one from the Hudson Valley who takes her little tag with her to appointments with prospective bosses.
“I feed him, dress him up like me, set up his activity center or find something to watch for screen time. It’s intense.”
She has offered herself a number of positions since the top of the year, meeting with potential employers in person and via Zoom while her 11-month-old son plays, cuddles or naps nearby. Each time, she made the hiring managers aware that her child would be staying with her.
“Every time I interview for a job that has no guarantees, child care is too expensive,” Rilling told The Post.
As a multi-hyphenate mom with expertise in event design, flower care, and modeling, Rilling is one of the many cost-conscious moms who are juggling dual responsibility these days.
While child-free Gen Z – newcomers to the corporate world aged 18 to 27 – are asking about their Parents join them in job interviews For support, new moms within the demographic (and some who are in their thirties, like Rilling) are bringing their kids along.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers child care affordability a cost that should not exceed seven percent of a family’s income, According to a recent study By Robin Hood and Columbia University.
Researchers found that in New York City, the average annual cost of sitter services — help provided at home or at a child-friendly center — is about $12,900.
Unfortunately, according to the report, the staggering cost makes affordable child care unaffordable for 52% of NYC families, including both high-income and low-income.
Investigators also determined that 70% of Gotham’s youngest children, ranging from infants under one year old to children as young as 4 years old, live in “child care deserts,” or neighborhoods without an adequate number of licensed child care providers. .
But this struggle is not limited to residents of the Big Apple.
a september survey Commissioned by BabycentreAn online parenting hub surveyed 2,000 moms across the country and found that the average cost of child care can exceed $14,608 per year.
This is a strain on 76% of family budgets in the US, according to statistics, which also show that 14% of parents spend more on child care than their rent or mortgage.
What’s even more shocking is that parents with two children can spend more than $30,000 on child care each year, According to a 2023 study At excessive expense.
But for Rilling, whose partner works full-time and whose parents live more than 90 minutes away, such high fees aren’t worth the hassle — especially given the uncertainty of the interview.
Till now, Shyamala has not been able to find her dream place. But she is not abandoning her mother-child interview style.
“I don’t want a job that doesn’t have to hire parents,” Rilling said. “I wouldn’t want to put myself into a company structure that’s not designed for parents.”
“It feels like a complete headache.”
Ashley Ramos, a married mother of one, agrees.
“If I really wanted to get a job, I would bring my daughter with me,” the 22-year-old said From Jacksonville, Florida.
“We young mothers are growing up with our children,” said Ramos, a professional sports coach who is currently expecting her second child. “And [jobs] People who don’t respect that, those are things we have no interest in.”
Ramos’s military husband, Gabriel, frequently travels for work. So, she took her two-year-old daughter, Eliana, with her to the job interview because Tikay was three months old.
For the money-making mom, who has held positions as a college admissions outreach coordinator and an early education gym teacher — and has gotten both jobs with Ileana — juggling motherhood and the job search is like second nature.
“I have to change dirty diapers, take care of her if she wakes up from a nap,” Ramos said. “I just bring it to work.”
Mom Marjorie Merida, 28, also it works With her 18-month-old son Santiago.
“It’s almost never explicitly stated that you can’t bring your children to interviews,” said Merida, a married social worker from Baltimore.
She says that instead of frowning, most prospective bosses turn a blind eye to her burst of joy.
“They’re usually really generous about it,” said the career-minded mom, who recently ended her job search after becoming pregnant with twin girls. ,[Santiago’s] Usually just on my lap or walking around the conference room.”
“Nobody has any objection,” he said, laughing. “People really love kids.”
And a love of young children is a requirement for any company hoping to recruit Merida to their team.
“Either you bring me [with my child],” she said, ”or you won’t be able to understand me at all.”
