How do single parents without a flexible job do it?

This week is chock-full of (mostly) mandatory back-to-school stuff.

I either have to be present for it, or the drop-off and pick-up times are so close as to make it kind of pointless to do anything but wait nearby. Sometimes I can get a little work done then… sometimes not. Yesterday I had a 45-minute period of waiting but there was zero cell signal so I couldn’t use my phone’s hot spot.

Every time I’m handling one of these things I think about the many single parents I know who don’t have the same kind of work flexibility. It’s still a challenge for me, because the work still needs to be done, but at least I have flex on when that happens. I don’t have to schedule PTO to go get my kids updated on their vaccines. But some parents — many parents — do.