What's Missing at the Olympics? Child Care
For mom athletes at Milano-Cortina, there will be no nursery option
Let me begin by saying I am not a sports reporter, but it was fun to be one this past week and talk to some pretty awesome Olympians about how hard it is to juggle their training and competitions with the needs of their kids. Heck, one of them even took the call while picking up a child from kindergarten. (Olympians, they are just like us!)
Except - when it comes to supporting parents in the Olympics we still aren’t doing enough. And I don’t know who is surprised to hear this - where are we doing enough to support parents? - but it seems like this should be something relatively easy to solve, especially given the depth and spending of corporations interested in advertising alongside the Olympic Games.
Here’s what I found about having young kids as an Olympian:
—> Olympic athletes can stay for free - room and board covered - in the Olympic Village. But children aren’t allowed. Outsiders are limited. This makes sense from a practical viewpoint - athletes want privacy and time to focus and relax. Kids can be loud and disruptive. But parents who want to compete with their children on the same continent as them will need to make their own arrangements, and housing during the Olympics is not cheap.
—> We see two weeks of the Olympics and it’s exciting, but training schedules go on much longer and involve temporary relocation. One Olympian has been in Europe since October, causing major life disruption for her husband and child, and yet they prefer to be together even though it’s harder to do. Kids come along, not just because they want to cheer on their parents, but because their parents need to relocate. If I had a job that relocated me to the Italian Alps, I’d take my kids along too.
—> So many amazing athletes have been speaking out and making a difference in the way the Olympics and elite sports treat pregnant women (shout out to Alysia Montaño and Allyson Felix here) but the policies have not caught up to what happens after the child can walk and talk on their own. Even the handful of policies the Olympics have for breastfeeding mothers (which is important - yes!) do not replace the policies needed for access to and care for children during the Games.
So what can be done?
—> Some groups are trying to step in and support parents more. For All Mothers+, the group founded by Montaño, provides $5000 grants for parent-athletes to help with the caregiving costs.
—> One sponsor is providing parents athletes with a kit of supplies when they arrive and I have a particular disdain for this sort of substitution from any real policy effort. You want to help parents? Diapers aren’t the solution. Reliable, stable child care and family-friendly policies are what we need, not another cute onesie. (But won’t that corporate logo with the Olympic rings look so cute…? Sigh).
—> Getting the stories out there. The more visibility of the work and care it takes to be an awesome athlete and awesome parent is what we need and I personally feel inspired by the work these women do (dads too!). When I interviewed Montaño*, she said something that really stuck with me:
“The podium moments for athlete mothers are podium moments for all mothers.”
Heck yeah. Couldn’t agree more.
And if you want some people to watch who are doing this dance of kids and sports, check out the For All Mothers+ Bring the Babies Changemaker Grant winners who will be competing at Milano-Cortina:
Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, Bobsled
Kelly Curtis, Women’s Skeleton Race
Tabitha Peterson Lovick and Tara Peterson, Curling
Elana Meyers Taylor, Bobsled
Read the full story on why child care support is missing during the Olympic Games over at The 74, republished on the 19th.
*So it was very cool to talk to Montaño and I had been going through her IG feed as one does when researching a superstar runner who competed while eight months pregnant. I came across this video of her working at her computer, pulling on her running shoes, leaping over a basket of laundry, and going for a long run. Then, she runs back in, pulls on a clean shirt, and logs back online to join a work call. We did our interview late in the day (my kids were home and one even interrupted, as tends to happen) but I also had gone for a run and just changed into a more appropriate sweater for our call. And of course I had to tell her about it, as if my three mile jog was anything compared to her training runs and she was like GOOD FOR YOU and really, that made my day ;)
Wow, even the world's elite athletes have trouble finding childcare! that's sobering for the rest of us...
Great article! These Olympic moms are such an inspiration! Love your personal moment at the end! And to echo your piece, where are we doing it right? Sadly, nowhere I can tell.