Makes complete sense! I find that even as the parent of a child who is on a typical developmental trajectory, I appreciate having another identity and place to go. There’s a lot of pressure on women in general to dial back work when they become mothers, and I imagine there may be even more pressure on mothers of children with special needs not to work or to dial back. And yet, it’s probably great for well being to have that other identity, not to mention practical things like the income and insurance employment bring!

This is Lee from the podcast. I didn’t really get into this on the show, but I definitely think that working full-time helps me mentally. It sort of allows me to have another identity besides “special needs parent.”

I just presume my doctor’s appointments will run 15 to 40 minutes late. I could book first thing in the morning to try to avoid this, but I booked in the afternoon as it’s my less productive time and I can just bring work or a book with me. It’s not that big a deal as at this point I do not have frequent doctor’s appointments.

@CNM – yep, I do this as often as possible. I sometimes get to thinking well, since I work for myself I can come in whenever, and then stop myself when I realize big chunks of the day might be shot. Better to ask for something a little farther out but early in the day.

@Laura – that comment was really a general discussion point, not just for @Alyce.

@Alyce – great advice! Knowing you are not alone is so powerful.

As for scheduling, this is such an interesting science (and art). In general, I think most people are OK with not scheduling for events that are less than 5% probability. But what about 25%? To me, it seems that 25% happens frequently enough that it should be scheduled for. But that’s based on the idea that long waits are bad, whereas if someone perceives that the worst possible outcome is that a provider would not be booked for a potential time slot, well, that’s a different matter.

I think smart scheduling would allow for several breaks during the day, which could then absorb the inevitable tendency to fall behind. This is why several executives I’ve interviewed make sure to build in at least 2-3 30-minute blocks per day so when meetings run over the afternoon doesn’t fall like dominos. I know that in health care, sadly, the physician’s lunch often serves this absorption function, which is probably why people get burned out. I also know that people want to both maximize revenue (which doesn’t sound so nice) and offer people appointments when they ask for them (which sounds a lot nicer!), which always works against building slack into the system.