Gen Xers are taking their boomer moms’
approach to the next level

Parenting with Concierge Help

Boomer women, what a difference you’ve made. You reformed the business world as the first generation en masse to finish college, work full-time outside the home and break the corporate “glass ceiling.” With your career in the forefront, you transformed the home front as the first age group that voiced the desire — and practiced reliable means — to postpone pregnancy till later in life. As more mature and knowledgeable mothers-to-be, you changed the childbirth process from an impersonal medical procedure to a share-all, tell-all family experience. Then, after briefly welcoming your baby to the world, more than likely you returned to the workplace with its fast pace and pressures.

As your children grew, they saw you stretch yourself thin as you tried to do it all and be it all. They observed as you worked hours beyond 9 to 5, endured your Day-Timer-imposed schedules and shared the ongoing stresses that affected your health and well-being. Now, as your children become parents — and you become a grandparent — they are revolutionizing philosophies related to childbirth and parenting once again.

“Our daughters’ lives were shaped by being the children of boomers — women who had to do everything and were judged on perfection,” said Mary Anne Graf, vice president of Women’s and Children’s Services at Bon Secours Richmond Health System. “Our recent research shows that the next generation is saying that’s nonsense. They have careers, but they don’t live to work. They’ve learned to balance work with life.”


Mother's Today
Mothers today have crafted new and sometimes ingenious ways to balance work and home. They prioritize rather than trying to have it all, and they don’t hesitate to ask for help. “They simply don’t carry their mothers’ baggage,” Graf said. “Unlike us [boomer] moms, they’re guilt-free and very comfortable with delegating. They don’t hesitate to hire out jobs traditionally thought of as women’s work at home.”

Instead of laboring from dawn till dusk, these GenXers (the generation born in the1960s and ’70s) are turning to service companies such as Blue Door Baby Concierge (www.bluedoorbaby.com). Lindsey Burnette, company founder and the daughter of a boomer, says her client services are tailored to “mothers — especially new moms — who have too much on their plate and are pulled in too many directions. A concierge helps bridge the gap between the hospital and home at a time when their lives are turned upside down.”

With assistance from a personal concierge, the family enjoys more harmony and balance. “We take things off their to-do list so they can relax and find time to play with their children,” Burnette said.

This type of concierge service is growing in popularity as a resource and source of support for today’s moms, whether they’re working outside the home or not. The Blue Door’s concierge assistance is purchased in blocks of time at an hourly rate of $50, and client requests run the gamut. Whatever the need — from grocery shopping to an emergency home repair, from a raccoon in the chimney to a last-minute gift purchase — busy parents can pick up the phone with the assurance that a professional is ready to help reduce their stress and support their family as a whole..

Graf, who also is a national consultant for women’s services, carries the philosophy of new parents’ well-being one step further with the Bon Secours Safe & Sound program (www.bonsecours.com/womens/safe_and_sound). This hospital-sponsored club partners with the concierge service and also extends educational support. Classes such as Confident Childbirth and Stress Management 101 prepare the parent, while What’s New for Grandparents updates the grand-boomer on safety tips and trends.

“It’s fun to say, ‘Look what we boomers created,’” Graf said. “Our generation resulted in a [next] generation that has rewarding jobs, motherhood and marriage balanced far better than what we did. They’re enjoying not only careers but whole healthy lives.”
 

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