When we Indians (men or women) talk about work life balance, I find that we all often talk about getting help from parents to look after kids. When I was in USA for a short period, I found that most of the IT Professionals keep their parents with them for years, if not months, to support them in their child raising activity, so that they can work for 18 hours. Most of these people are not actually keeping their parents with them to take care of the parents, but they are keeping them to take care of their children so that childcare expenses can eliminated. They always keep comparing Health Insurance and Travel cost of parents with their would-be-childcare-expenses… Using parents in this particular manner as a tool to manage the work life is immoral. Are these IT professionals of today, when they get retired or when needed, are they going to move around along with their own grownup kids from one country to other or one city to other to help and live with them to help raise their kids in same way? I have never found a convincing answers from most of these guys yet... So, unless we are ready to answer these hard questions, we are not building a structure on which future of work life balance can be learned and built as an example… it looks so selfish.
Re: Work Life balance using Parents?
by ch venkatesh on Jul 15, 2014 10:45 AM
If you compare grand-fathers taking care grand-sons/daughters is a "job" - there will be no more comments. I find many old people love their grand children for some or the other reason - may be they need childlike people around them at that age. More importantly, it is good that parents, children, grand parents all together at one place - which gives scope for more love and care. So, i totally disagree with your view (unless grand parents are so old and not able to walk, do any thing - but forced to take children and not treating them properly)
Re: Re: Work Life balance using Parents?
by Dada on Jul 15, 2014 12:46 PM
I think you should read my comment again. I am talking about a particular influential section (and, it is sadly a majority section) of the Indian IT Professionals which "keeps comparing Health Insurance and Travel costs of their parents with their would-be-childcare-expenses" and invite parents accordingly. This should give you enough feeling that here we are talking about the parents-on-special-duty. Obviously, from the parents point of view, they are obviously doing it for the love of their children and grand-children, but do they know with what feeling they are invited? This is in actuality the moral exploitation exhibited by these IT Professionals...
Re: Re: Work Life balance using Parents?
by samsung on Jul 19, 2014 12:05 PM
There is a big difference in "Love" and "taking care"...Most old lads these days i see are part of later category and its not limited to a specific industry but mindsets of so called young/broadminded and educated youths...Couples fight these days for a reason that for last few months its my parents who are taking care (On special duty....)of our children (s)...Now please ask your parents to come and hold the fort....The matter comes from one simple fact...PARENTS are sick and tired..they need rest....and finally they ask there grown up babies that cant hold any more and replacement needed to allow you to say that either you are a hard working man or careen oriented woman...
Re: Re: Re: Work Life balance using Parents?
by Dada on Jul 21, 2014 07:35 AM
From where I sand, I am not willing to categorize them as 'broadminded' or 'educated', but I would definitely be willing to tag them as 'individualistic' or 'literate'. In my view, using proper adjectives is very important, so that we can learn and progress accordingly as a human society.
