It's a very slow day at work. Which is great (until I do my time sheet...)
A couple interesting articles that I've read today:
A perspective from Egypt on the nomination of Obama for nominee from a New York Times columnist.
A website by a couple that is achieving "Equally Shared Parenting". The New York Times has a great cover story about this. It mentions that in most households, despite working equal hours, women still do three times as much housework and at least twice as much childcare as most men. (The author defines childcare as the non-fun stuff: feeding, cleaning, correcting). Some couples are working hard to meet in the middle. For both partners to work part-time, to share in both the mundane and the quality time as parents and partners.
As I read the article, I realized that's what my sister and brother-in-law are doing. She goes into work in the afternoon, he works in the morning and they only do one day of childcare a week. I'm really proud of the choices they are making and the parents that they are. It's also strange to reflect that it's unlikely that, after 20 years of training for Jrex, any form of ESP would be possible if we do have children. I don't really mind, I like the idea of working from home or running my own firm without really having to worry if things are slow. Having a sugar daddy works for me, but after reading the article, it seems sad he might not get as much time with any potential kids.
6 comments:
I read that NYT article. It sounds great in theory, but I think the execution would be really hard, especially if one of you has a serious career. It's cool that your sister and BIL have been able to work it out. You're probably right that it would be hard for someone with JRex's career to be involved in family life.
...and if one of them had no interest in participating.
That is really great that your sister and BIL could do it - even when the circumstances are right, many couples can have a hard time finding an 'equal' balance that is actually fair to both of them.
Ah... yes, I think that's why a lot of the women in our labs have chosen to not have children or, if they do, they have just one. Unless, of course, they have parents who are willing to be live-in daycare for them. And that is probably venturing into a whole other topic so I'll stop here. :-D
interesting article. thanks for the link!
I've expressed concern often about whether your in-laws might read your blog.
Aren't you concerned that Jrex will read it?
He does read it. We've talked about this kind of thing before. It's not that he wouldn't be involved, but he won't be able to just work 32 hours a week and be as involved as OTRsis's hubby.
Did you read the article, Dad? It's long, but they're talking about a radically different way of handling the shared parenting world. Jrex and I would likely be closer to traditional, though he'd be way more available than a traditional Korean Dad.
Dad, you worked long hours and were often not able to be around, but when you were, you were totally involved and great. I'm sure that's what Jrex would be like.
No system works for everyone or is necessarily superior. You and Jrex will be great parents however it ends up working for you.
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