Childfree folks: This year isn& #39;t the year to say things like, "Oh, I never get to see my family because I& #39;m constantly working holidays for people with kids..." to people with kids.

It sucks to travel with kids and holidays are sometimes the only times...
And especially if there& #39;s a brand new kiddo, it& #39;s the most convenient time for Great Aunt Josephine to meet the new sproutling.
Be patient, be kind, and let your co-workers who have kids vent. Consider volunteering to pull holiday shift (when it& #39;s safe) so your co-workers who have kids (especially young ones) can have the opportunity to have a holiday with their families.
For Christmas, consider splitting the shift so they can watch their littles (or even bigger littles) open presents. We all need a win and we all need to feel *normal*. Give them this tiny win.
Folks with Kids: The phrase, "Well, you don& #39;t have kids/a spouse so you don& #39;t need (insert holiday here) off...I have a family so I need/want it off..."
Is probably one of the most hurtful things you can say to us. TAE and I don& #39;t have kids. I knew at 19 that I couldn& #39;t have natural children and currently at 34 (TAE is 37) we purposely decided to not have children (adopted, fostered, surrogate, etc) and are happily Childfree.
What that *doesn& #39;t* mean is that we, or people like us, don& #39;t have families. Our parents love us and miss us terribly. We have nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc that are *family*.
TAE and I have a happy little family that consists of us, Mischka, and Tyr. Mish and Tyr are our four-legged children. Zeus and Waffles are our foster "children" that we love.
This is our nuclear family.
Consider volunteering to work Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years so that your Childfree/less co-workers can spend time with their families.
You may not realize it, but we& #39;re the ones that get volun-told to work on major holidays. You call off because your kiddos are sick? We& #39;re the first ones that get the last min text/phone call to fill-in when someone with kids has a "kid thing"...
And 99% of the time, we do it.

If you don& #39;t have to travel for a holiday but a CF/CL co-worker has to? Maybe volunteer to take their shift(s) so they can travel.
The one co-worker that volunteered to take my Christmas Day shift because they knew I worked *SEVEN* Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years in a row? For the next 3 years I would routinely fill in for them.
You can follow @MedicTrommasher.
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