Wow. 

I don’t think I’ve stayed in the house with my kids for more than 60 hours straight ever. Not after I gave birth, not when they’ve been sick. Not even when I had pneumonia a few years ago. I have much more to say about some of the surprises that have come out of this period of family isolation in future posts. (Also posting a lot of the ups and downs on these various Chairman Mom threads.) 

But a few things I wanted to share with you today that are more urgent. 

The first is that we decided this past weekend to make Chairman Mom free for everyone for the next three months or the duration of this crisis. 

We built Chairman Mom because we saw a world that was getting more and more isolated, and we believed that isolation was a breeding ground for self-doubt. Working women certainly don’t need anymore self-doubt. 

On the flip side, multiple studies have shown that the best way to boost confidence—to feel in control—is to give solicited advice. Building a digital community was actually a contrarian idea three years ago when everyone was raising large amounts of capital to build out physical spaces. Now it’s vital. Digital communities are the only way we are all getting through this time. And we think one that’s designed from the ground up, by women, to be abuse-free and judgement-free is now more important than ever. 

So, for the duration of the crisis, we’ve decided to make Chairman Mom absolutely free to anyone who needs it. Not just working parents, but anyone who is trying to juggle the demands of work and life in this uncertain time and could use some extra advice or support from others doing the same. All genders welcome. All we ask is you read and abide by our community guidelines. 

We’ve disabled the requirement for a credit card or any other payment method. Just use the code “TOGETHER” (without quotes) at ChairmanMom.com to join our amazing community of badasses working together to get through this. 

That’s what the Chairman Mom team came up with. But our network of 50+ women who signed up last month to be Chairman Mom dinner hosts also had an idea this past weekend. Obviously, no one is hosting dinners in their homes right now. But rather than just be sidelined until this crisis is over, multiple women reached out to us to see if they could host virtual dinners. 

So we are figuring out exactly what that looks like right now. If you are interested in either hosting or attending a Zoom virtual “lunch” or “dinner” to connect with other women go to this thread. Some women just want to connect and follow the usual format of a CM dinner, where everyone goes around and answers a central question. Others want to host conversations about specific topics (like getting through this with preschoolers!). As we figure out how to best facilitate this, we’ll post all updates in that thread. But if we have an idea of the interest level, we’ll be able to serve you all way better. 

(And if there’s any interest at all, I’m down for hosting one Wednesday evening! Midway point in my first week of homeschooling!)

Everyone stay safe and healthy. And whether it’s on Chairman Mom or other networks, please find a way to stay connected.

Today’s new questions on Chairman Mom:

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