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Priya Amin: Working mom receives drawing from son, 6, that 'breaks her heart' and gives perspective to many parents

Priya Amin was baffled by the drawing as it aptly showed how working at home has taken a toll on her relationship with her children

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: A working mom from Pittsburgh, received a drawing from her six-year-old son that "warmed and broke her heart at the same time." Priya Amin shared the image on her Twitter account on December 12, 2020, where she expressed being at a loss for words as it descriptively showed how working at home has taken a toll on her relationship with her children. 

Upon taking a closer look at the sketch, it showed a parent at work and a child looking on and asking "Mommy are you done?" The mother, who is seated before a laptop, responds "No," without looking back at her child. "I actually looked at it, and it broke my heart," Amin told Good Morning America. "Well, it sort of warmed and broke my heart at the same time," she added. Amin also confirmed that the picture depicted the mother and son's interaction that took place merely ten minutes ago. Amin shared the image on her social media and explained the incident in a blog post. "I chose to share the blog originally via a LinkedIn post because I knew this was something universally felt by parents everywhere right now, and we’re all feeling like we’re shouldering this alone," she told Scary Mommy. 

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'My son's drawing was a stark reminder'

The relatable picture has successfully given perspective to thousands of parents who have been juggling their personal and professional lives at home ever since the Covid 19 pandemic hit. The viral post garnered a ton of similar reactions from fellow parents which Amin believed to be understandable. "All I wanted to do was close up my laptop and spend time with my kids, but I knew that if I didn't get a few important things done, I wouldn't be able to get my mind off of them," she said. While talking about how it is affecting many parents, she said: "I think so many parents feel that way, especially during the pandemic, where work and life have collided with one another, and it's really hard to step away from work. My son's drawing was a stark reminder to me about just how hard that is."

Amin works as the CEO of Flexable

Amin is reportedly the founder and CEO of Flexable which creates "innovative child care solutions, such as virtual child care, and partner with organizations around the country to provide our child care services as a benefit for working parents." She revealed that during the initial stage of the pandemic, the mother of two would wake up at 4 am to work so she could homeschool her two children during the day and work again at night. "It was a nightmare and not sustainable at all," she said. "I realized that I couldn't work that way and neither could my team. Flexibility has always been at the core of everything we do at our company, and I wanted to make sure that was a part of our culture so that all the folks, especially working parents on our team, felt supported and seen," added Amin.

'Crazy juggling act'

"Getting this picture from my son, though, reminded me that I need to do a better job of modeling that behavior to my team. Now I work when my kids are in school, but log off when they get home," Amin added. She further said, "In terms of tips for other parents going through this right now, I’d say please be open and honest with your employer and lean on your team and your organization as much as you can to support you. Right now, we can’t lean on friends and family, or our daycares and schools or other local support structures like we used to." "The more we all reach out to our organizations with a cohesive rallying cry that, ‘this is too hard to try to figure out alone — I need your help and support,’ the more organizations will be willing to listen," Amin explained. She talked further about achieving a good work-life balance, "It does feel really good to know that your kids miss you and want to spend time with you. It's more of a crazy juggling act, where all the balls are on fire," she said.