Child care challenges have always been a barrier to work, especially for mothers. With all the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, parents are struggling to find child care solutions. Here you can find options for child care solutions and ways you can negotiate with your employer to subsidize this care.

For parents stuck at home with their children over the last few months due to COVID-19, you may be feeling like you are in your own real-life version of a hostage situation. Here is what we can learn from real hostage negotiation that might help us navigate our own versions playing out every day with our children.  The Behavioral Change Stairway Model was developed by the hostage negotiation unit of the FBI and it outlines 5 steps to getting your opponent/hostage/counterparty or in this case child to see your perspective and change their course of action.

Every relationship right now can feel pretty strained. Whether it’s someone you haven’t had face-to-face contact with in over a month or someone you find yourself face-to-face with 24-hour regularity, conflict is sure to arise. But how do you get through this quarantine with relationships intact?

The power of negotiation stretches beyond equal pay. All of your conversations may feel more difficult right now. From establishing key essentials for work, vying for uninterrupted time for your business with your spouse, to ongoing negotiations with your children about what they can and cannot do - everything may likely feel like a negotiation and it would be only normal to feel depleted energetically.

After a few weeks of forced isolation, and with anxiety running high, it is only natural to be experiencing conflict with your family, partner, and/or children.  This conflict is a normal byproduct of our coping with extreme stress, with limited ability to take space, and an extreme lack of support. That being said, there are things we can do, even now, to improve communication, and get your needs met in a relationship.   The following tips can help you navigate the travails of intimate relationships, in times of self-imposed isolation –– or any time!

Many of us view negotiation as a taboo, dirty word that implies those once in a blue moon, scary conversations that often revolve around money and get to the root of our fear of rejection.  In truth, negotiation is a skill that, whether we realize it or not, we use every day, all throughout the day.  We’ve put together 7 ways to improve your negotiations and shift your mindset towards embracing a very important life skill.

I recently spent time with my cute-as-a-button, clever-as-a-fox 2 ½-year-old nephew.  During our time, I experienced things like Peppa Pig, Baby Shark (could have done without that), endless youthful energy, and personal longing for bed well before 7 pm.  In addition to caring for and shaping another human being, moms have their work cut out for them.

You know that moment - hands become sweaty, mouth suddenly dry.  You tell yourself over and over in your head to just say it. Just say it already.  It can’t hurt to ask. Speak up. And the sooner you say it the easier it will be.  Yet, the fear holds you down. You shrink back, trying to put the feeling out of your head. Pretending as if fear is somehow your friend, there to save you from embarrassment.  If only asking for what you wanted wasn’t so difficult. 

Negotiating in love is similar to negotiating at work: cooperation is key.

Although the same basic principles for success apply, in an intimate relationship, getting what you need also requires influencing your partner in positive ways.