Post by pavel on Feb 14, 2016 1:56:25 GMT -6
Annita Bonner sat down at the desk in her bedroom at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening in January. She was exhausted. After seven hours as a long-term support teacher at a south Jackson middle school and a brief trip to the grocery store, she was about to start her second job as a call center representative for a large national company.
As the calls started coming in, Bonner tried to keep an eye on her 9-month-old son, Austin, a cheerful baby with curly hair and big brown eyes, as he sat in a colorful plastic bouncer alone, down a short hallway in the living room. Today she’d had about 30 minutes to play with him between jobs, singing him the ABC’s with a big smile and encouraging him to clap his hands and practice crawling.
Bonner, who already struggles to pay for child care during the day, can’t afford it in the evening. If her 15-year-old son has basketball practice or a neighbor isn’t available to watch her baby, the alternative, which is keeping Austin in the bedroom with her while she works, puts her job at risk. There’s always a chance he could make noise and a caller could complain.
“They don’t want to hear baby noise in the background,” Bonner said as she logged into the call center system on her laptop. “I could lose my job.” Although she said she knows he’s safe in his bouncer, it’s far from an ideal situation. “I’m trying to fit a baby into an adult schedule.” Bonner said. “That’s not fair to him.”
Read more: www.clarionledger.com/longform/news/2016/02/13/mississippi-child-care-costs-lead-tough-choices/79771802/
As the calls started coming in, Bonner tried to keep an eye on her 9-month-old son, Austin, a cheerful baby with curly hair and big brown eyes, as he sat in a colorful plastic bouncer alone, down a short hallway in the living room. Today she’d had about 30 minutes to play with him between jobs, singing him the ABC’s with a big smile and encouraging him to clap his hands and practice crawling.
Bonner, who already struggles to pay for child care during the day, can’t afford it in the evening. If her 15-year-old son has basketball practice or a neighbor isn’t available to watch her baby, the alternative, which is keeping Austin in the bedroom with her while she works, puts her job at risk. There’s always a chance he could make noise and a caller could complain.
“They don’t want to hear baby noise in the background,” Bonner said as she logged into the call center system on her laptop. “I could lose my job.” Although she said she knows he’s safe in his bouncer, it’s far from an ideal situation. “I’m trying to fit a baby into an adult schedule.” Bonner said. “That’s not fair to him.”
Read more: www.clarionledger.com/longform/news/2016/02/13/mississippi-child-care-costs-lead-tough-choices/79771802/