A CEO working from home mum has revealed this poignant drawing penned by her seven-year-old – showing him asking her “are you done?” and her answering “no”.
The drawing shows Priya Amin, 41, working hard at her computer and her son, Kirin, next to her asking “Mommy are you done?” and her responding “No”.
Priya, the CEO of a virtual childcare services company, has been working from her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, since March.
She admitted the drawing “broke her heart”.
She wrote “My heart sank – although I don’t like to admit it, this is the situation almost every night.”
Priya’s son visited her in her home office at 6.05pm to show her his masterpiece – and at first glance, she didn’t notice what it showed and responded “Oh that’s so good buddy!”.
But then she looked again and the guilt hit her “like a ton of bricks” when she realised what the image meant about how her child viewed their time together.
She said: “I guess the only good thing I can take from this experience is my kids love spending time with me.
“But it still doesn’t make it easy, especially since my kids ask me almost on a daily basis when I’ll be “done”, this was just the first time it was articulated in such a heart-breaking way.
“If you’ve ever gotten a drawing like this, or ever felt the guilt of feeling like you’re “failing” at balancing it all, please remember you aren’t alone.
“This burden we are carrying through the pandemic will hopefully lift sooner rather than later and we can emerge with better support systems and tools to balance all the things life throws at us.”
She posted it online and other working parents reached out to her with words of support and expressed how relatable the scene is.
A survey by OnePoll on behalf of Torch said that 67% of Americans believe their employer doesn’t understand how hard it is to work remotely when employees have children at home.
Hard-working Priya said: “I am humbled by the reaction and sense of validation this brings since so many people love and can relate to this picture.
“I know personally it has given me a lot of perspective on what I choose to spend my time on every day, and have already made efforts to spend more quality time with my kids- I hope that the picture can help other working parents feel seen.
“But I think the important thing to note here is it’s REALLY hard being a working parent during COVID, and it’s not fair to ask parents to shoulder the burden of working and home-schooling and caring for their kids all on their own.
“We’ve always leaned on each other for support but now we can’t and this is why I think it’s important for working parents to lean on their organizations to support them as they continue working from home.
“Working parents are bearing an impossible load and it’s unfair for companies to continue to expect them to have the same level of productivity as before.
“Companies should step up and offer benefits such as backup childcare to support working parents.”
Her son made the drawing on December 9.