私は東京の郊外に住む三十代の会社員で、五歳の娘と一歳の息子を育てています。朝はいつも戦争のようで、起きてから家を出るまでの一時間半に、朝食の準備、子供たちの着替え、保育園バッグの確認をすべて済ませなければなりません。夫と分担しているとはいえ、どちらか一人が早朝の会議で先に家を出る日には、残された方が朝の家事をすべて引き受けざるを得ません。
I'm a thirty-something office worker living in the Tokyo suburbs, raising a five-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Mornings are always like a battle: in the ninety minutes between waking up and leaving the house, we have to finish breakfast prep, get the kids dressed, and check the daycare bags. Even though my husband and I split the work, on days when one of us has to leave early for a meeting, whoever stays behind has no choice but to handle the entire morning routine alone.
特に大変なのは夕方のお迎えです。会社の終業時刻は十八時ですが、保育園の延長保育は十九時までと決まっており、退社した瞬間から駅まで全力で走る日も少なくありません。電車が一本遅れただけで間に合わないこともあり、その日は同僚に頭を下げて会議を抜けるしかないのです。
The afternoon pickup is especially tough. My company's workday ends at six, but the daycare's extended hours close at seven, so there are plenty of days I sprint full speed to the station the moment I clock out. A single delayed train can make it impossible, and on those days I have nothing to do but bow my head to a colleague and slip out of a meeting early.
去年の春、息子を認可保育園に申し込みましたが、結果は不承認でした。私が住む区では、零歳児クラスの倍率が三倍を超えており、共働きの世帯にもかかわらず点数が足りなかったのです。仕方なく、駅から少し遠い無認可の園に預けながら、認可園の空きを待つことになりました。
Last spring I applied to put my son in a licensed daycare, but the application was rejected. In my ward, the competition for the infant class runs more than three to one, and despite being a dual-income household, our points still came up short. Reluctantly, we ended up enrolling him at an unlicensed center a bit far from the station while we wait for a spot at a licensed one to open.
待機児童の問題をめぐっては、行政も少しずつ動いてはいるものの、保育士の不足が解消されない限り、抜本的な解決は難しいと言われています。給与水準の低さや責任の重さに見合わない労働環境のため、せっかく資格を取っても現場を離れてしまう人が少なくありません。そのしわ寄せが、結局は子供と親に及んでいるのです。
When it comes to the waitlist problem, the government has been making small moves, but unless the shortage of childcare workers is resolved, people say a fundamental solution will remain out of reach. The pay is low and the working conditions don't match the weight of responsibility, so even people who get certified often end up leaving the field. The fallout from all this lands, in the end, on the children and the parents.
共働きの私たちにとって、一番の悩みは子供の急な発熱です。朝、登園の直前に体温が三十八度を超えれば、その日の予定はすべて崩れます。在宅勤務が可能な日はまだしも、対面の会議が入っている日は、夫婦のどちらかが半休を取らざるを得ません。
For a dual-income family like ours, the biggest worry is a sudden fever. If our child's temperature spikes above 38 degrees right before drop-off, the whole day's schedule collapses. On days when I can work from home it's manageable, but if I have an in-person meeting on the calendar, one of us has no choice but to take a half-day off.
最近はテレワークが普及したおかげで、以前に比べれば随分働きやすくなりました。一方で、家で仕事をしながら子供の面倒を見るのは想像以上に大変で、会議中に背中によじ登られた経験は一度や二度ではありません。仕事と育児の境界が曖昧になるだけに、心の休まる時間がほとんどないと感じる日もあります。
The recent spread of telework has, thankfully, made things much easier to juggle than before. On the other hand, looking after a child while working from home is harder than I ever imagined, and getting climbed on from behind in the middle of a meeting has happened more than once or twice. The line between work and childcare blurs, and on some days I feel I barely have a moment to rest my mind.
私の両親は新幹線で二時間ほどの距離に住んでおり、月に一度くらいしか会えません。義理の両親も健在ですが、まだ働いているため、頻繁に頼るわけにはいきません。核家族化が進んだ現代では、祖父母の手を借りずに子育てを乗り切らざるを得ない家庭が増えているのです。
My parents live about two hours away by Shinkansen, so we only see them about once a month. My in-laws are still in good health, but they're also still working, so we can't lean on them too often. In today's nuclear-family era, the number of households that have no choice but to get through childcare without grandparents' help is only growing.
夫は息子が生まれたとき、三か月の育児休業を取りました。職場の上司は理解を示してくれましたが、復帰後に「お父さんも育休を取るんだね」と何度も言われたそうです。制度が整いつつあるとはいえ、男性が長期の育児休業を取ることに対する社会の意識は、まだ追いついていないように感じます。
When our son was born, my husband took three months of parental leave. His boss showed real understanding, but apparently after he came back, people kept saying things like, "Oh, fathers take leave too these days?" The system is gradually catching up, but society's attitude toward men taking long parental leave hasn't quite caught up with it yet.
学童保育の問題も気がかりです。娘が小学校に上がれば、放課後の預け先を確保しなければなりませんが、地域によっては学童の待機が発生しており、四年生以降は受け入れてもらえないという話もよく耳にします。いわゆる「小一の壁」「小四の壁」は、共働きの家庭にとって決して他人事ではありません。
The after-school care issue weighs on me too. Once my daughter starts elementary school, we'll need somewhere for her to go in the afternoons, but in some neighborhoods even the after-school program has a waitlist, and I often hear that kids past fourth grade aren't accepted at all. The so-called "first-grade wall" and "fourth-grade wall" are not someone else's problem for working families like ours.
地域には子育て支援センターがあり、月に数回顔を出すようにしています。同じ年頃の子供を持つ親同士で話せる場があるのは本当にありがたく、悩みを一人で抱え込まずに済むようになりました。最近では自治体の育児相談アプリも便利で、深夜に子供が泣き止まないときなど、文字でやり取りできる安心感は何物にも代えがたいものです。
Our area has a community parenting support center, and I try to drop by a few times a month. Having a place where I can talk with other parents of kids the same age really helps, and I no longer have to bear my worries alone. The city's childcare consultation app is handy too — late at night, when my child won't stop crying, being able to send a quick message and get a reply is a kind of reassurance that nothing else can replace.
完璧な親などいないと頭ではわかっていても、SNSで他の家庭のきれいな食卓や手作りの服を見ると、つい自分を責めてしまいます。情報があふれている時代だからこそ、必要な情報だけを取り入れ、周囲と支え合いながら、自分たちのペースで子育てを進めていきたいと思っています。
I know in my head there's no such thing as a perfect parent, but the moment I scroll past someone else's beautifully set table or hand-sewn clothes on social media, I find myself blaming myself. Precisely because we live in an age overflowing with information, I want to take in only what we need, lean on those around us, and raise our kids at our own pace.