An Ally for Working Moms: 'Mothernet' for When You're Struggling with a Sick Child #CompaniesIWantToSupport

Long before the word "support" (oshi) became so established, there was a company I wanted to support.

I received something from that company that was worth more than the price I paid. I don't think I could have obtained it if it weren't for them.

That something is "me, a patent translator."

The reason I have been able to have three children and continue working as a patent translator without interrupting my career is largely due to the help of this company, as well as my husband's cooperation. As a way of giving back, I would like to share why I love this company as a "company I want to support."

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That company is Mothernet Co., Ltd., headquartered in Osaka.

It is the first company in Japan to start a sick-child care dispatch service in 2001. It was founded byRieko Ueda, who worked at Daikin Industries, Ltd. for 17 years and is a working mom herself.

Ueda gave birth while working full-time (1992). She struggled to find a nursery school before returning to work and could not get into her preferred one. The birth of her second child was not at a time she and her husband had planned, and she had to make plans to gain an advantage in choosing a nursery school.

“I don't want people who are about to have children and want to continue working to go through this kind of hardship”

Thinking this, Ueda established the "Association for Balancing Career and Family," the predecessor to Mothernet.

I first learned about Ueda when I found this "Association for Balancing Career and Family" in the local news section of the morning paper. I think it was 1997. At the time, I had just quit my job due to my husband's transfer, started living in a place I wasn't very familiar with, and was six months pregnant.

I had quit the job I loved, was living in a place I didn't know, and had a baby in my belly.

For someone like me who was strongly career-oriented, my new life was full of anxiety. That was when I found the article about the "Association for Balancing Career and Family." I clipped the article, thinking I would contact them if I ever had the chance.

A few months after giving birth to my first child, I consulted my husband, saying, "I want to study at a translation school. I want to return to society and work as a translator someday." My husband, who knows my nature of not being able to sit still at home, said, "Why don't you try it?"

I went to translation school for a year, gained experience at several workplaces, and by the time I was hired at a patent office where I could put my translation studies to use, my first child was about to turn three.

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Since my child had been in nursery school since they were an infant, they frequently had fevers or felt unwell. If a child gets sick, they can't be left at nursery school, and I have to take time off work.

This often became a source of conflict between my husband and me.

My mother had already passed away, and my husband's parents lived about three hours away by train. It was hard to casually ask them to "please look after the child" every time the child got sick.

Unlike today, there was no remote work back then, so either my husband or I had to take time off work to care for the child. If the child got sick the night before, the atmosphere would become tense over who would take the next day off work.

At this rate, our relationship as a couple is going to deteriorate...

We started talking about looking for a babysitter when my husband's business trips increased and we could no longer manage on our own. We looked, but none of the babysitting companies would look after children with fevers or illnesses. That was a problem for us.

We finally found a company that said they would dispatch babysitters even for sick children. That was Mothernet (it wasn't a corporation yet at the time). When I looked into it carefully, it turned out to be a company started by Rieko Ueda, who had been the representative of the "Association for Balancing Career and Family," an organization whose newspaper clippings I had saved before.

Feeling that this was fate, I contacted Mothernet like a drowning man clutching at a straw. When I went to the office and told them I had read the newspaper articles about the "Association for Balancing Career and Family" from a few years ago, Ms. Ueda was surprised but very happy. I had her listen to the worries I was having as a full-time working mother, and I listened to the stories of Ms. Ueda, who was a senior working mom. In particular, as I heard about their management philosophy and the company's mission, I felt that I could trust this company and Ms. Ueda.

If mothers and children are smiling, the home will also be bright. The vitality of each household is directly linked to the vitality of the community.

After consulting with my husband, we decided to ask Mothernet for help. After that, until my third child was in the lower grades of elementary school, we asked Mothernet whenever our children were sick, and they took care of us for a total of over 10 years.

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Such Mothernet's strength is sick-child care. There are various other courses, but for sick-child care, they dispatch people with nursing qualifications. Since its founding in 2001, they have continued to provide trustworthy service without a single accident in sick-child care.

The babysitters would watch the child's condition and make and feed them things they could eat. Of course, they also accommodated allergies, which was a relief for our family with an atopic child.

Every few hours, they would measure the child's temperature and keep detailed records of what they ate, what they drank, urine, stool, number of changes of clothes, nap times, and so on. While watching the child's mood, they would also play with them, reading picture books, drawing, or doing origami.

They would carefully record how the child was doing, what games they played, what they talked about, and even the child's expressions, so if you looked at the record sheet, you could clearly understand how they were that day.

Also, while the child was napping, they would prepare dinner, fold laundry, and even clean the bathroom. When I came home exhausted from work and dinner was already on the table, it was nothing short of paradise. I cannot express how grateful I was. If the sitter was a veteran mother, she would also write down and leave recipes, which was a huge help to me, as I lack cooking ideas.

Emergency response is also a strength of Mothernet.

Having someone you can rely on when you're in trouble. Just thinking that makes my heart lighter. My husband and I no longer get tense about who should take time off work when a child suddenly develops a fever.

I would think they felt a bit feverish in the evening, and then they would have a high fever in the middle of the night. I have to take them to the hospital first thing tomorrow morning. But I have an important meeting tomorrow afternoon. What should I do... There were times like that occasionally.

Mothernet accepts requests from 9:00 AM on the day of, so it is possible to make a request that day and have the sitter take over after returning from the hospital. Our family made such requests many times, and it was a huge help. They would contact me immediately if there was any change in the child, and if I called home during my break, the sitter would tell me how the child was doing.

The number one reason I want to recommend Mothernet is, above all, the sense of trust.

I believe babysitting is a business built on trust. After all, it's just the child and the sitter in a closed room. It's fine if the child is old enough to tell their parents what they did today, but that's not the case with infants. You simply cannot entrust your child to a sitter you don't trust.

Mothernet pays special attention to the recruitment of its babysitters (whom they call 'care-lists'). During the document screening process, they ask applicants to write about 'reasons for wanting this job, qualifications, child-rearing experience, and child-rearing philosophy,' and in the interview, they 'confirm common sense in the workplace and judge aptitude for the job.'

Every babysitter who has come to our home so far has been someone I could trust. There were some who took care of us dozens of times; the children became completely attached to them, and they became like aunts from the extended family. I would sometimes consult them about my parenting worries, and the sitters were reliable figures as experienced moms themselves.

Mothernet for when you're in trouble.

This was a shared understanding between my husband and me during our peak child-rearing years, and it was our emotional support.

Because of Mothernet's help, I was able to maintain my career. The reason I was able to continue doing the work I love is because of the existence of a company called Mothernet and the many babysitters who cared for my three children at our home whenever they were sick.

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And finally, I want to thank my husband as well.

When I was hesitating about whether to look for a babysitter, I once told my husband apologetically, 'It seems like hiring a babysitter costs a lot of money. If the kids keep getting sick, my entire salary might just go straight out the door.'

Then, my husband said this with a cool face.

Camino, that is is something you should think of as an investment for the future. You pay the babysitters for the sake of your own career. If you do that, you can build your career. That's an investment, you'll surely be able to recover it. I'll be looking forward to the return in 20 years.

I wonder, have I been able to return that investment to my husband? After all, he was the one who supported me when I became a freelancer. He must have received the return properly, right?

By paying Mothernet, I connected my career. Mothernet paid the babysitters, and the babysitters also built their careers. And because there were many people who placed their trust in Mothernet just like I did, Mothernet expanded not only in Osaka but also to Tokyo, Nagano, and Fukuoka.

Now, in addition to sick child care, they offer housework assistance and parent care as well as nature experience schools and fresh vegetable delivery, and Mothernet is also engaged in activities that connect cities and regions. I hope that they will continue to be a savior for working moms when they are in a pinch.

Wishing for the continued success of my top recommendation, 'Mothernet'!