To think parents shouldn’t get special treatment at work just because they have kids?

[YourSereneOchreShark]

I’m tired of covering late shifts or extra projects just because someone else has to do the school run. We all have lives. AIBU to think “I have kids” shouldn’t be a free pass for flexibility when others are picking up the slack?

Why does management not let everyone have flexibility?

The issue is with your employer not parents.

If things run beyond people’s scheduled working hours, and you do not want to do this, raise it with management.

Parents can’t decide to just not bother picking their child up from nursery because some extra work has come in. What do you expect them to do?

Another 'to think...' they are like buses

As always, this is a management problem, not a parent problem.

Managers should try as far as is reasonable, to accommodate the needs of all staff.

You're barking up the wrong tree here.

If you don't want to do late shifts, then tell your employer you're not available for late shifts. If they value you enough, they'll agree. If they don't agree, maybe they value the parents more?

Much as it's a management problem rather than a parent problem I have complete sympathy OP. The team I'm in is split 50/50 between parents and non-parents. The parents with younger children achieve significantly less than the others based on the fact that they often are late / leave early / work from home with their children when they're unwell / need to swap shifts because of concerts, parties etc and I do find it really wearing carrying them all the time.

I worked elsewhere when my children were small and my manager there had no patience with child related things - I had to take leave or sort out childcare.

I have a terminally ill parent now and I would really like the slack that the parents of young children get at my current workplace.

So what I'm saying is that there's probably somewhere between my old and my current workplace that would sit about right for everyone. However my instinct is that most places are better to parents of young children than they used to be.