parents

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 [...]

3 comments Read full story

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 [...]

10 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

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 [...]

8 comments Read full story

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, [...]

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

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?

5 comments Read full story

A mother of a day

Thumbnail image for A mother of a day May 11, 2010

I had a truly crappy Mother’s Day this year. I think Anna Jarvis would understand. Inspired by her own mother’s life, she started a campaign in 1907 to recognize mothers for their contribution to society. She was successful in making Mother’s Day a national holiday, but then spent the rest of her life fighting its [...]

4 comments Read full story

← Previous Entries