By: Joe Strupp For today's working reporter moms, finding time to care for the kids in between deadlines and interviews is apparently only part of the challenge. Now they have to explain to their kids why the latest buyouts and cutbacks won?t mean they're out on the street.
Take Kristen Alloway of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Word of the paper's recent request for 200 buyouts and the threat of a sale has required some shielding from her children. In a posting on the paper's Parental Guidance blog, Alloway revealed her recent struggle to readers.
"'Are you going to be fired?' my 10-year-old daughter asked me two weeks ago," Alloway wrote on Monday. "It was the day my Star-Ledger colleagues and I learned that the paper could be put up for sale in two months. So yes, my future could be in flux.
"But could I tell her that?" Alloway asked. "My husband was traveling out of the country that day, and I had not been able to reach him to share my news. After commiserating with my co-workers, I came home and tried to be a parent. But I did a lousy job."
Noting that she was not focused on the kids for much of the day, Alloway writes, "Finally, after they overheard snippets of my phone conversation with their dad, I told them a little. I struggled to be honest, while also choosing my words carefully. I didn't want to frighten and worry them."
"'It's a really tough time for people everywhere. But I think we'll be OK,' I told them, trying to convince myself as much as them. That night, my kids did something they almost never do. Separately, they both climbed into bed with me.
"Maybe it was because their dad was away and they saw a chance to sleep in the big bed. Or maybe my reassurances had not gone far enough," she admitted. "It didn't matter. I let them stay. As I lay in the dark listening to them breathe, it was the safest I had felt all day."
The entire posting can be read
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