A short story

A story for you.

I was part of the generation of female faculty who were told to not mention your kids if you had ‘em, lest you jeopardize tenure. At my former post, I never brought my children to work. Ever.

Today, at an all-day retreat, a colleague brought her newborn. For the whole day. Not only was the wee peapod with us all day, his bad-ass mom nursed wee peapod while standing and giving a power point presentation. For those of us who have nursed babies, we’re all clapping at the focus and dexterity that goes into such an event. For those of us who raised kids in a different generation, it also inspires awe.

I can hear all the naysayers now. The baby will disrupt the meeting! The baby is a distraction! Absolutely none of that happened. Instead, the baby made the meeting better. Baby was passed around while Mom worked and ate. We bounced him in our laps and walked him around in his carriage. We all shared the load. It made us pay better attention to one another. Colleague A was holding Baby while Mom presented. But then it was Colleague A’s turn to lead, and Colleague B stepped in seamlessly to take Baby for a minute, so Mom could get settled. We all had a shared task, keeping an eye on the peapod.

I love this event because it takes what is “normal” (no kids at work!) and blows it up. Maybe it is more normal for us to be in community. Maybe it is more normal to be whole people. Maybe it is more humane to know and appreciate our colleagues’ families. Maybe babies make people happy, or comforted, or nostalgic. Maybe we should take the risk of doing more things differently, and see how much better they can be.