#17 USA-Special Jen: Independance

Raised to be independent 

This episode is in English

Jen’s parents attached great importance to raising their three kids in a way that they could be independent. This was especially important to her father, who did not want his two daughters to have to rely on a man to take care of them (as women in his generation had to). 
Jen decided pretty early on that having kids was not in the cards for her. Was it a consequence of her being raised to be independent? It was not what her parents had expected. Jen loves kids, she loves to be the perfect PANK (Professional Aunt No Kids), she enjoys being an important person in her nephew’s and nieces lives. But she does not want to apologize for not wanting kids. 

With Jen, we talk expectations… what it is like to sometimes feel like the oddball at the party, because she’s the only one not to have kids. We talk about how it feels to have many kids in her life and what role she plays in their life and what she loves about them. 
And we talk business. Why is the working environment for childfree people (especially women) often less forgiving? Why do we have to fight for our work-life-balance and often end up covering for colleagues who are parents and need to take care of a sick child or pick her up from violin lessons? 
And why is it so important that children do not become a topic on a CV or in a job interview? We talk about the differences between the Swiss and the US job application process. Spoiler alert: there are a lot.