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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 [...]

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Minivan rap

August 20, 2010

I drive a minivan. There. I’ve said it. Maybe you think that’s not cool. I’ll try not to hold that against you. I happen to think that SUVs, which are less fuel-efficient than my minivan, aren’t cool. I hope we can still be friends. Toyota has come out with this video (“Swagger Wagon”), proving that [...]

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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 [...]

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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) [...]

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Who clips the nails? (Part III. Why it’s not fair)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part III. Why it’s not fair) July 20, 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 raising children. Be sure to read these parts first: Part I. Survey results Part II. Why it’s fair My last post looked at why half of the parents surveyed felt they [...]

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Who clips the nails? (Part II. Why it’s fair)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part II. Why it’s fair) July 19, 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 raising a family. Part. I is here. Working moms are bearing more (sometimes much more) of the “psychic burden” of parenting than working dads. Yet, when asked in my recent survey, [...]

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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 [...]

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Survey: Who clips their nails?

Thumbnail image for Survey: Who clips their nails? June 14, 2010

Studies show today’s fathers are doing significantly more child care and housework than their fathers did. Here’s my question: Are these dads just folding more laundry, or are they also taking responsibility for the complicated logistics of family life? And here’s my other question: Do heterosexual couples divide up chores differently than gay and lesbian [...]

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Working parents in the wild

Thumbnail image for Working parents in the wild June 1, 2010

Anthropologists are starting to pay attention to a growing tribe of humans: dual-income, multiple-child, middle-class Americans. In other words, families like mine…It got me thinking: What would these young, childless, career-minded graduate students see if they filmed every waking moment in my home this week?

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Herd feelings

May 24, 2010

People keep telling me how brave I am to write about my nervous breakdown on this blog. I don’t feel brave. Actually I’m quite sensitive and I worry about what other people think. It helps that more than 100 women and men, parents and non-parents, have sent emails or written comments on the blog about [...]

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