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“I’d Go Straight To HR”: Mom Thinks She’s Entitled To Have Christmas Off Because Of Her Kids
Working on Christmas sounds like a crime against humanity. Yet, it’s a reality for many Americans. Many people in the U.S. will have to work on Christmas Day, and it’s estimated that 9.2% of U.S. hourly workers will most likely clock in on December 25th.
This woman also had to work on Christmas Day, but she asked her coworker to switch. Her reasoning? She has children, and that makes her more entitled to days off during the holidays than her childless colleague. Because the coworker already had plans, they refused, but later started feeling pressure from other colleagues. So, they asked for advice online.
RELATED:
Two coworkers got into an argument about who works on Christmas Day
Image credits: Image-Source / Envato (not the actual photo)
One thought she had better reasons to ask for time off since she had kids and her coworker didn’t
Image credits: shotprime / Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: ComprehensiveNose622
The younger generation is in favor of giving parents priority to ask for days off on holidays
The mom in this story isn’t the first person to think that parents should get priority when it comes to days off on Christmas and other holidays. Parents certainly don’t have it easy, but is it fair to ask people without children to work on holidays just because they don’t have kids?
People’s attitudes to that question differ according to their age. Younger generations are more inclined to think that parents do deserve to have the holidays off. Older folks, on the contrary, believe that having children shouldn’t give workers such work perks.
According to a 2023 poll, 67% of Gen Z were in favor of parents being given priority to have Christmas off. Boomers, on the other hand, disagreed: only 47% thought parents with younger children should be able to get time off during the holidays more easily. 33% of older respondents went as far as to say parents should be denied priority.
According to HR experts, parents and non-parents should have equal priority to not work on Christmas
Image credits: nrradmin / Envato (not the actual photo)
However, there is no legal precedent for parents to have more rights to days off during Christmastime. In fact, HR experts say that such policies would be unfair to non-parent employees.
One expert, Richard Smith, told The Guardian that prioritizing parents on Christmas can backfire for companies. “The best tip is to be pretty neutral in policy and start from the position of a first-come, first-served basis. Then it seems reasonable to say to the latecomer that they can’t have the holiday because they did not ask first.”
Head of HR Advisory at HR Connect, Lirette Mill, agrees. “Always giving parents priority could cause unrest and reduce the morale of other employees who do not have children.” She notes that parents often take days off when children have time off from school, so colleagues can book their time off outside of such times.
While she agrees that there should be more family-friendly policies and legislation for parents in the workplace, all workers can do at the moment is think as far ahead as they can and book their days off first.
On the other hand, parents face significantly more stress during the holidays
Image credits: nd3000 / Envato (not the actual photo)
Although that doesn’t give them the right to request time off over their non-parent colleagues, parents are stretched pretty thin during Christmastime as it is. Recent research shows that stress levels peak for working parents during the holiday season.
A 2025 poll, commissioned by early education and childcare provider Bright Horizons, 51% of parents with young children are burdened with guilt. They feel unable to properly juggle family time and seasonal responsibilities.
What’s more, women often bear the brunt of the stress. As a C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll reported in 2021, mothers feel twice as much stress as fathers do. 23% of moms report high levels of stress during the Christmas season, while only 12% of dads say the same.
At the same time, non-parents might be just as strained as parents. In a recent survey by Modern Health, holiday stress is too much for the majority of American workers. 40% have even considered quitting their jobs because of holiday burnout. So, it’s not easy for everybody.
Commenter sided with the coworker, urging them to complain about the mom to HR
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What do you think ?
Dame Cherry 1 week ago
exactly what i came on to type (and did). I also like the term s*men demons
Load More Replies...
DrBronxx 2 weeks ago
I work most Christmases. We just move the celebrations to the nearest weekend. I prefer the following weekend, because it stretches out the season a little bit. Our little one gets a couple of symbolic presents on Christmas Day, then I go off to work. Then she gets the rest of the presents at our main celebration at the weekend.
Ali 2 weeks ago
Similar to our house when I was a kid. We got up early and opened main present, then mum went to work. We opened some in the evening when she came home. The big celebration was on her first day off. Looking back, I think it was better from a present perspective as you enjoy a gift fully before seeing another one. Christmas day being stretched to Christmas week was no less magical.
Load More Replies...
Tabitha 1 week ago (edited)
I had a coworker try that s**t at Christmas with me—the person who normally.worked all the holidays for the double time pay—-when she ended up scheduled to work bith Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But that particular year, both days just happened to fall on my regular days off, and her regular work days. In other words, I was automatically going to have them off and she wasn’t. I was actually looking forward to the novelty of having a holiday off. When the b***h saw the schedule with me off and her working, she went right to her buddy, the supervisor. Lo and behold, out comes a revised schedule with me working both days and her off. No, d**n it. No. I had paid my dues by working all the other holidays, and merely lucked out because my days off just happened to line up right that year. So I went over both their heads to the big guy at the main office (who was the same person who hired me), and explained the situation and background. I also told him about other employees who got screwed over on the schedule because of certain buddies of that same supervisor. Needless to say, both the b***h and her buddy the supervisor got new a******s chewed on them, and I got my regular days off back, as did anyone else similarly screwed out of a holiday off (turns out, I wasn’t the only one it was done to that Christmas). After that, there was no more fiddling with the schedule by the supervisor, as scheduling was completely taken away from her. Scheduling got to be way more fair after that, and the employees with kids had to work their fair share of holidays like the rest of us. (Yes this really happened, because it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. And no, absolutely no one cheered and applauded me, like I know someone is going to sarcastically say, because no one knew I was the one who called the big boss, and neither he nor I told them. Those who had been cheated were called by him, and asked to back up what he had been told happened. He only took action after he found out I wasn’t lying to him.)
StrangeOne 2 weeks ago (edited)
It's a managerial, scheduling problem if they can't get people to work on certain holidays but demand their business be open and running on that day. If the holidays are that important to someone, then maybe a field that has the risk of having you work during Christmas Day isn't a good idea. js. But staff shouldn't be left to argue about who's taking Christmas off and who is working. If both people have booked that day off, and it was already approved, then it's the manager's job to fill in that gap.
Alexandra 2 weeks ago
Having kids is a choice that your co-workers had no voice in, so the impact of your having kids is not theirs either. Where I live, it's now illegal to prioritise people with kids over people without kids when it comes to holidays: it's first comes, first served. Regardless.
Discovermyview 1 week ago
I have worked with women like this...real c u next tuesdays. I cannot stand that type of entitlement or anyone who encourages it.
Mark Childers 1 week ago
My mother was an R.N. in hospitals while we were growing up. She had to trade holidays every year. Some years she worked Thanksgiving, and some years she worked Christmas. We just worked around it. We never thought we were missing out. We still had our Christmas, and that allowed us to spend time with other members of the family who otherwise had plans for those holidays and could then join us. What's one day?
KatSaidThat 1 week ago
Ah yes, it's that time of year where us single, CFs are expected to work all the holidays because we didn't let spawn rip up a new one. Apparently parents and siblings are not valuable.
Nikki Sevven 1 week ago
People do realize that you don't have to celebrate the holiday on its exact date, right? My family celebrates on a day that's convenient to all of us, even if it's not the day of the holiday.
Littlemiss 1 week ago (edited)
My workmate moans I have holidays off. I'm a parent. I pointed out she too could have done that when she set her contact up. She's a parent too. But her sil is the boss and also a huge bully, she will back the sil no matter how vile, vindictive and nasty she is. You can't be the doormat and moan nonstop too. Edit: turns out her sil has held her contract and not legally handed it into the company. Workmate just won't go against the sil or sister because it would mean she has to be accountable and actually stand up for herself. I'm a former people pleaser.
Trashy Panda 1 week ago
The post opens with "I'm already scheduled to work Christmas Day. I agreed to it weeks back..." so why does the rest of the post say she has Christmas off?
Dame Cherry 1 week ago
"Sorry, you popping out some c****h goblins is not my issue love, f**K off"
RomanceRadish 1 week ago (edited)
The OP is being treated unfairly and being discriminated against.
James016 2 weeks ago (edited)
I have a kid, while my work is closed on Christmas and Boxing Day, my team and I have been going through and scheduling time off over the next couple of weeks. We had a team meeting and everyone agreed on which days people were working and taking holiday. As an aside and maybe this is more important for parents as we can only take holidays when schools are off, book your dates as far in advance as possible. I have already booked 2 weeks in August 2026. Naturally OP is NTA. Not having kids does not mean you don't have a family.
Dame Cherry 1 week ago
exactly what i came on to type (and did). I also like the term s*men demons
Load More Replies... DrBronxx 2 weeks ago
I work most Christmases. We just move the celebrations to the nearest weekend. I prefer the following weekend, because it stretches out the season a little bit. Our little one gets a couple of symbolic presents on Christmas Day, then I go off to work. Then she gets the rest of the presents at our main celebration at the weekend.
Ali 2 weeks ago
Similar to our house when I was a kid. We got up early and opened main present, then mum went to work. We opened some in the evening when she came home. The big celebration was on her first day off. Looking back, I think it was better from a present perspective as you enjoy a gift fully before seeing another one. Christmas day being stretched to Christmas week was no less magical.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 1 week ago (edited)
I had a coworker try that s**t at Christmas with me—the person who normally.worked all the holidays for the double time pay—-when she ended up scheduled to work bith Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But that particular year, both days just happened to fall on my regular days off, and her regular work days. In other words, I was automatically going to have them off and she wasn’t. I was actually looking forward to the novelty of having a holiday off. When the b***h saw the schedule with me off and her working, she went right to her buddy, the supervisor. Lo and behold, out comes a revised schedule with me working both days and her off. No, d**n it. No. I had paid my dues by working all the other holidays, and merely lucked out because my days off just happened to line up right that year. So I went over both their heads to the big guy at the main office (who was the same person who hired me), and explained the situation and background. I also told him about other employees who got screwed over on the schedule because of certain buddies of that same supervisor. Needless to say, both the b***h and her buddy the supervisor got new a******s chewed on them, and I got my regular days off back, as did anyone else similarly screwed out of a holiday off (turns out, I wasn’t the only one it was done to that Christmas). After that, there was no more fiddling with the schedule by the supervisor, as scheduling was completely taken away from her. Scheduling got to be way more fair after that, and the employees with kids had to work their fair share of holidays like the rest of us. (Yes this really happened, because it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. And no, absolutely no one cheered and applauded me, like I know someone is going to sarcastically say, because no one knew I was the one who called the big boss, and neither he nor I told them. Those who had been cheated were called by him, and asked to back up what he had been told happened. He only took action after he found out I wasn’t lying to him.)
StrangeOne 2 weeks ago (edited)
It's a managerial, scheduling problem if they can't get people to work on certain holidays but demand their business be open and running on that day. If the holidays are that important to someone, then maybe a field that has the risk of having you work during Christmas Day isn't a good idea. js. But staff shouldn't be left to argue about who's taking Christmas off and who is working. If both people have booked that day off, and it was already approved, then it's the manager's job to fill in that gap.
Alexandra 2 weeks ago
Having kids is a choice that your co-workers had no voice in, so the impact of your having kids is not theirs either. Where I live, it's now illegal to prioritise people with kids over people without kids when it comes to holidays: it's first comes, first served. Regardless.
Discovermyview 1 week ago
I have worked with women like this...real c u next tuesdays. I cannot stand that type of entitlement or anyone who encourages it.
Mark Childers 1 week ago
My mother was an R.N. in hospitals while we were growing up. She had to trade holidays every year. Some years she worked Thanksgiving, and some years she worked Christmas. We just worked around it. We never thought we were missing out. We still had our Christmas, and that allowed us to spend time with other members of the family who otherwise had plans for those holidays and could then join us. What's one day?
KatSaidThat 1 week ago
Ah yes, it's that time of year where us single, CFs are expected to work all the holidays because we didn't let spawn rip up a new one. Apparently parents and siblings are not valuable.
Nikki Sevven 1 week ago
People do realize that you don't have to celebrate the holiday on its exact date, right? My family celebrates on a day that's convenient to all of us, even if it's not the day of the holiday.
Littlemiss 1 week ago (edited)
My workmate moans I have holidays off. I'm a parent. I pointed out she too could have done that when she set her contact up. She's a parent too. But her sil is the boss and also a huge bully, she will back the sil no matter how vile, vindictive and nasty she is. You can't be the doormat and moan nonstop too. Edit: turns out her sil has held her contract and not legally handed it into the company. Workmate just won't go against the sil or sister because it would mean she has to be accountable and actually stand up for herself. I'm a former people pleaser.
Trashy Panda 1 week ago
The post opens with "I'm already scheduled to work Christmas Day. I agreed to it weeks back..." so why does the rest of the post say she has Christmas off?
Dame Cherry 1 week ago
"Sorry, you popping out some c****h goblins is not my issue love, f**K off"
RomanceRadish 1 week ago (edited)
The OP is being treated unfairly and being discriminated against.
James016 2 weeks ago (edited)
I have a kid, while my work is closed on Christmas and Boxing Day, my team and I have been going through and scheduling time off over the next couple of weeks. We had a team meeting and everyone agreed on which days people were working and taking holiday. As an aside and maybe this is more important for parents as we can only take holidays when schools are off, book your dates as far in advance as possible. I have already booked 2 weeks in August 2026. Naturally OP is NTA. Not having kids does not mean you don't have a family.
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