Woman Fuming Parents Get 'Priority' for Time Off Over Holidays Cheered

2 days ago 3

A woman who claims parents get "priority" for booking vacation time off over the holidays has found ample support for her stance on social media.

The Christmas and New Year period is an important time for families and the establishment of family traditions. Dr. Justin Coulson, a parenting researcher and author with the Institute of Family Studies (IFS), says it's these traditions that "help life make sense to our children."

"Like routines, they provide predictability and a sense of security and safety," he wrote on the IFS website. "Family traditions help children feel as though they fit in somewhere. And in time, the traditions come to define who each person in the family is, countering alienation, and offering steadiness and certainty."

However, the holidays are no less important for people without kids, like Lindsay, from Alberta, Canada, who chose not to share her last name. She told Newsweek that when it comes to the holidays and booking vacation time, she feels like there is often "discrimination against people without kids in the workplace."

"Speaking as the only employee at my office without kids, it sometimes feels like my priorities are deemed less important than someone with kids," she said. "It's not necessarily a choice to be childless, sometimes it's simply circumstance and people without children should be given every opportunity, whether it be with vacation time or otherwise as people with children."

Lindsay is the only person in an office of seven employees who is working the days between Christmas and New Year. She is keen to stress that the management at her place of work did not discriminate against her by denying her time off. Lindsay was the last person to submit her vacation request this year.

However, she felt compelled to vent her frustrations on Reddit after a coworker with kids said "employees with kids should get priority over employees who don't have kids."

Writing in a post shared under the handle u/Lemonbread5225, Lindsay said while she can "appreciate the extra time and effort it takes to do certain holiday traditions with and for kids," the fact is everyone has family and loved ones.

"My father is 70 and has respiratory issues. I don't know how many christmases I have left with him. And the holiday traditions I have with my husband are special too," she wrote. "My parents both worked every Christmas I can remember when I was a kid and my holidays were still very special and beloved."

The post struck a chord with many on Reddit, earning close to 6,000 upvotes and a glut of comments endorsing her stance.

"Kids shouldn't come into play, we all work for the same company and me having 4 shouldn't give me priority over my single coworker without any kids," one user wrote.

Another commented: "I was once told that single gals should work all the holidays so married ppl can be with their families. I replied that I have a family too and i would like to spend holidays with them."

A third said: "I got so tired of hearing that in my nursing career. My reply would always be 'just because I do not have kids, does not mean I do not have family'" with a fourth adding: "Even if you have zero family and you want to relax on the couch with a microwave dinner on Christmas Day - they are not more entitled to having that day off than you are just because they have kids."

Reflecting on the response her post has gotten, Lindsay suggested that it appears as though this kind of discrimination, however discreet or deliberate, is being felt by many in the workplace.

"I don't think parents in the workplace realize discrimination is sometimes taking place, maybe because they're on the other side of it," she said. "I think employees without children know the struggle, but we are usually outnumbered by employees with children, at least in my experience and it's easy to turn a blind eye for this reason."

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