Meteorologist gives Wisconsin forecast with tiny helper. ‘Crazy amounts of cute’
Her 13-week-old having just woken up from her nap, Rebecca Schuld did what many work-from-home parents would do — hold the baby as she resumes her job.
But for Schuld, a meteorologist for WDJT in Milwaukee, this meant reporting the weather in front of thousands of viewers while holding her tiny guest.
“She’s prepared. She’s got one of her good thick blankies here for that cold weather that’s coming up tonight,” Schuld said on air last week as she held Fiona. “I thought she could help me with tonight’s first weather that’s going to be plenty unpleasant, right?”
Viewers and colleagues didn’t seem to mind, as they got their first look at baby Fiona as Schuld reported the frigid Wisconsin temperatures.
“Crazy amounts of cute,” co-worker Nicole Koglin said as she praised the working mother.
Fiona’s debut on local television was not planned, Schuld told Yahoo! Life. Schuld’s baby woke up from her nap minutes before the mother was set to go on air, and her producer gave her the OK to hold her baby.
But despite the positive reaction from viewers, Schuld admitted she felt some guilt until she realized her challenges are ones parents everywhere are facing.
“We’re supposed to put on this certain face,” she told Yahoo! Life. “For a split second, I felt guilty about it and I don’t know why. When I sat and thought about it, it’s like, why am I guilty? This is real life. This is what everyone else is also doing. They work, their kids are sick, or their kids are crying in the background. It’s always a challenge when you have kids in the mix, but that’s what so many of us are doing everyday. So why are we hiding them?”
She told “Inside Edition” that her bringing Fiona in front of her green screen brought joy to many people.
If Twitter is any indication, she is not wrong.
“I think it was fantastic that you were able to be with Baby Fiona,” one Twitter user said. “It says a lot about your station being progressive as it should be in today’s world.”
“As working moms, let’s stop pretending that it’s clear skies all of the time. Kudos to @CBS58 and @RebeccaSchuld for spotlighting real work life balance with a baby on the hip,” one woman said.
Schuld was later involved in another segment on the show alongside colleague Justin Thompson-Gee. They discussed the balance between work and home life as parents of small children.
“We’re shining a light on what real life actually looks like, trying to do it all & how Covid has changed the way we conduct work,” Schuld said on Twitter. “And we’re crushing it every day.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Meteorologist gives Wisconsin forecast with tiny helper. ‘Crazy amounts of cute’."