If Your Job Were a Child on Your Lap 👶

What would you say to that child?

What if we stopped treating our jobs like machines to optimize, or battles to win, or ladders to climb —

and instead treated them like a child sitting on our lap?

Not a perfectly-behaved child.

Not the child we wish we had.

But the actual one—messy, tender, uncertain, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometimes needing snacks every five minutes.

---

What would you say to that child? Would you scold it for not being enough?

For not bringing in more money? For not performing on cue?

Or would you pause, breathe, and whisper:

“You’re safe here.”

“You don’t have to have all the answers right now.”

“I see you trying.”

👶👶

What would that child say back?

Maybe it would admit:

• “I’m scared you’ll abandon me if I don’t produce results fast enough.”

• “I feel insecure when you compare me to other people’s jobs.”

• “I don’t know where I belong.”

And maybe

—if we got quiet enough to listen—

it would also say:

• “I want to grow, but I need your patience.”

• “I want to be loved for who I am, not just what I do.”

  ---

Some tender things to hold tenderly

What wants to be witnessed and held?

One more time, really let it sink in:

Jobs and careers, like children, carry invisible bruises:

The projects that failed.

The promises broken by bosses or companies.

The moments we doubted our own worth.

These bruises don’t disappear because we “power through.” They want tending.

They want to be acknowledged.

✨ How would things change if you held space? ✨

Imagine holding your career with the same tenderness you’d offer a child (your inner child):

Celebrating small wins without demanding they “scale.”

Allowing uncertainty without labeling it failure.

Offering compassion instead of criticism.

What might happen then?

The anxiety around work would soften.

The constant pressure to prove would ease.

And—paradoxically—when a child feels safe, they actually thrive. So does your career.

The Shift ✨

Maybe the shift isn’t about pushing harder, hustling louder, or perfecting the plan.

Maybe the shift is about learning to hold our work like we’d hold a child on our lap—close, gently, without rushing them to grow up before they’re ready.

And maybe, that’s when both we and our work finally get to flourish.

---

✨ I’d love to hear from you (comment or email me):

If your job was a child on your lap right now, what would it be whispering? What would you want to say back?