It seems to get harder and harder to afford the things we need to make it through life all the time, but that’s especially true for those who have children.
And since it’s becoming more common for parents to spend nearly as much on daycare as they do rent, such programs aren’t always a viable option for working parents. As a result, it’s not unheard of to see new moms work customer service jobs with their babies strapped to them.
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Considering how many parents struggle with this reality, it’s easy to see why people would be excited when they hear of someone getting a “toddler-friendly” job or when they see the facilities that one Virginia library makes available to guests.
On January 22, Ali Faruk of Richmond, Virginia took his kids to the library only to be struck by what he considered a brilliant idea.
As he tweeted out, he had never heard of a library installing desks that featured playpens like the one we see here. As you might expect, they’re designed to help caregivers get their work done while watching over very young children.
As Faruk told Good Morning America, “I’m staring at it, and I’m like, this is so brilliant. It was just so simple and intuitive, and it’s one of those things where you stare at it and you’re like, how is this not everywhere?”
Developed by a Michigan company called TMC Furniture, the desk known as the Fairfield Parent+Child Carrel was commissioned by the director of Henrico County Public Library.
Her name is Barbara Weedman and she noticed that the Fairfield area — where this branch is located — had a particular need for facilities that made child care easier.
As she put it, “We’ve seen parents and caregivers who would need to do adult work, like apply for a job or create a document for community college and so on, and if they had little infants and toddlers, we saw that it was very tricky to do.”
And that sentiment has resonated far and wide, which led members of other communities to suggest something similar for their libraries.
For others, it spoke to how underappreciated and valuable libraries in their communities, as one user said , “Libraries don’t get enough love. They are one of the few common spaces we have left int the US where there is no cost to be there. Plus classes! Plus books!”
And as we can see here, both library workers and parents were actually moved to tears by this sight, as both could recall either struggling or watching parents struggle in the years before the desk was invented.
But at the same time, the photo also opened some people’s eyes as to how dire the prospects for affordable child care can be in the United States.
This sentiment was felt particularly strongly by author and advocate for paid family and medical leave Lauren Smith Brody, who wrote, “I adore libraries and librarians. They are the heroes we need. But let’s be clear: THIS IS NOT CHILDCARE.”
And as positive as it was to see that others cared at this issue, she felt it underscored how sorely America needs a system that truly supports parents.
Faruk agreed, saying, “There’s no universal child care, there’s no universal health care. A lot of families don’t even have paid sick leave, which is a real shame, and it’s not that we can’t afford these things. The stock market keeps hitting record highs. We have the money, it’s just not a priority.”
h/t: Good Morning America
