I dang near choked on my coffee when I saw this… This LinkedIn user staked everything on her argument that parenting is not a "lifestyle choice" — ravenously defending her claim and position against anyone who dared present other opinions or perspectives.
It's probably most pertinent that we approach this logically: What is a "lifestyle"? Other than being a completely overused marketing buzzword, a lifestyle is "the way in which a person or a group of people lives and works," so arguing that a lifestyle choice isn't just a choice that you make that impacts said lifestyle is downright insane.
If you're a parent? What do you do? You parent. You spend time parent-ing. You take little Jonny to his soccer games, make him meals, and make sure that he brushes his teeth and solves his logarithmic algebra. Is this not something that is a part of your lifestyle? Is the decision to have children then not a lifestyle choice?
Well, wherever you sit on the definition of lifestyle, the fact remains that some parents feel the need to elevate themselves above the masses, seeking to receive rewards, special treatment, and acclaim just for procreating. Well, congratulations, but that doesn't mean I'm going to cover for you so you can take your kids to soccer practice.
In these ways, as commenters and responses have already argued, the lifestyle choice of parenting does affect workplaces and, as such, is a relevant conversation. We have all witnessed the described "special treatment" of parents in the workplace, and I, as a manager myself, have also allowed parents the ability to leave or arrive to shifts early/late. Yet this is, in part, because I'm already strongly of the mindset that we should be allowing these humanistic win-win inclusions more in our workplaces already. After all… It's good for business; who is more productive than a supported, and thus motivated, employee?
So, absolutely we should be supporting and including people's lifestyle choices — but we shouldn't try to redefine them from what they are.
(As a complete side note here: I love that the original poster even includes "adopting a lot of cats" as an example of a lifestyle choice, they themself literally describe taking care of another living thing as a lifestyle choice.)
So, yeah, what's your take here? Parents and non-parents, is this a lifestyle choice or not? Have you ever seen special considerations for parents in your workplace?
As always, keep reading for the original post and for more like this: Check out this thread where coworkers complained about their ability to have flexible working arrangements and made everything worse for everyone involved.
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