Childfree folks: This year isn't the year to say things like, "Oh, I never get to see my family because I'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's a brand new kiddo, it'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'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't have kids/a spouse so you don'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't have kids. I knew at 19 that I couldn'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't* mean is that we, or people like us, don'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're the ones that get volun-told to work on major holidays. You call off because your kiddos are sick? We'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'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.