ideas & inspiration

Cry, baby

Thumbnail image for Cry, baby September 7, 2010

My first semester in grad school for journalism, more than a decade ago, was a shock. Boom! Right from the beginning we had daily story deadlines. Each of us desperately wanted to prove ourselves to be the next Edward R. Murrow. None of us knew what we were doing. We were awestruck by our professors, [...]

9 comments Read full story

Your boss needs this book!

Thumbnail image for Your boss needs this book! September 2, 2010

Today’s workplace is profoundly out of sync with today’s workers. Longs hours, rigid schedules, and lack of parental leave was (sort of) fine, as long as one parent (usually mom) stayed home with the kids. Now that about 70% of mothers in the U.S. work, let’s agree that this system is officially broken. Why don’t [...]

4 comments Read full story

Working moms need to laugh

Thumbnail image for Working moms need to laugh August 24, 2010

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” –Mark Twain Most of the stuff on this blog explores the problem of work-life conflict. But I got a lot of compliments about an advice-oriented post I wrote in June, which had some tips for managing extreme stress. Thus encouraged, I’ve put together a sequel. Here are [...]

9 comments Read full story

Starting a mother-friendly campaign at work

Thumbnail image for Starting a mother-friendly campaign at work August 16, 2010

A few weeks ago, someone named Sarah* left a comment on my blog saying she was starting a “mother-friendly campaign” at work. I’d never heard of such a thing. A mother-friendly campaign? What does that look like? Is it for coworkers? HR? Company executives? New mothers? Is it about changing attitudes, or policy, or both? [...]

3 comments Read full story

Sunday Night Blues

Thumbnail image for Sunday Night Blues August 1, 2010

I would get it every Sunday. It would start in the late afternoon, a sadness laced with dread, a weight pressing lightly on my chest. As the evening wore on, the feeling would get stronger, the weight on my chest heavier, until I tucked the kids in bed. Only then could I fully contemplate the [...]

4 comments Read full story

Work-life balance: Finding the Swede spot

July 26, 2010

A quiet revolution has been taking place in Sweden for 15 years, affecting everything from the gender pay gap to workplace culture to relationships between parents and children. It all started at home. Here’s a link to the fascinating New York Times story about this phenomenon. Now here’s my distilled version—with original illustrations! This Swedish [...]

5 comments Read full story

Who clips the nails? (Part IV. How it got this way)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part IV. How it got this way) July 21, 2010

This is part of a series of posts about how working couples share the under-the-radar chores that, taken together, represent the “psychic burden” of parenting. Be sure to read these parts first: Part I. Survey results Part II. Why it’s fair Part III. Why it’s not fair My last post explored how parents (mostly moms) [...]

3 comments Read full story

Who clips the nails? (Part I. Survey results)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part I. Survey results) July 14, 2010

This is the first of a series of posts about how working couples share the under-the-radar tasks that, taken together, represent the “psychic burden” of parenting. Even though studies show fathers are changing more diapers and folding more laundry than ever, mothers are still bearing most of the “psychic burden” of parenting—the scheduling, organizing, and [...]

17 comments Read full story

Something rotten…except in the state of Denmark

July 12, 2010

Several of my friends have been talking about a story that appeared earlier this month in New York Magazine called “All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting.” Do parents hate parenting? According to the story, studies show that Parents are as happy or less happy than their non-parent counterparts everywhere except Denmark. Mothers [...]

17 comments Read full story

Happy campers

Thumbnail image for Happy campers July 5, 2010

A family vacation sounds good in theory, but in practice it has three things going against it. Traveling with young kids is 1. expensive 2. not relaxing 3. requires cleaning, shopping, packing, unpacking, repacking, and unpacking again. And cleaning. Which is why we haven’t taken a trip with all three kids since our youngest was [...]

4 comments Read full story

← Previous Entries