Working Parent Stories
  • Home
  • Why
  • Stories
    • Index
    • Feedback
    • Submit >
      • Guidelines
      • Updates
    • Inspiration
    • Tips | Thoughts | Ideas
  • Book
    • Amazon-WW
    • Gifts
    • Borrow Book
    • Book Club
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Services
    • Connect
    • Subscribe
    • Metrics

Index of Stories

How Do You Do It?

11/7/2017

10 Comments

 
A question for you: Who is responsible for the household chores within your home?
Picture
Who is responsible for the household chores within your home?
A blogger contacted me and wants the opinion of Working Parent Story readers; that's you! 

She works full-time, and her husband stays home with the kids, a division of labor that is becoming increasingly common. She is enthused that fathers are taking on the role of full-time caregivers to children in increasing numbers and that more moms are feeling empowered to thrive professionally.

She also recognizes that the load on moms could become greater than ever if stay-at-home dads don't take responsibility for many of the household chores. This has become a bit of an issue within her own home, and she wonders if other women who work are struggling with it too.

Will you share your thoughts with her by leaving a reply/comment on this site?

Thank you!
Picture
This question was posed by a mother and wife who works full-time outside of her home. She blogs at Mommin' By The Seat of My Pants.
Read More Stories
Don't Miss a Story
10 Comments
Kathy Haselmaier link
11/7/2017 01:47:33 pm

Here's what I've learned in 32 years of marriage. People rarely do a good job on a task that isn't important to them, and it's hard to convince people to change what they care about. After a lot of responsibility "experiments" within our house my husband owns all of the cooking, grocery shopping and a lot of the car maintenance. These are all things he cares about more than me. He can't see a crumb on a counter to save his soul, so I do most of the clean up. I can't keep up with the house cleaning, so we hire help with that (not to be confused with all of it). A *lot* of my working mother friends have husbands who do most of the cooking and grocery shopping. While our kids were little I did almost "everything else" which kept me very busy. It basically took both of us "giving" 100% of the time to keep up with the basics. (My husband approved this comment, but did ask, "What car maintenance have you ever done?" LOL)

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
11/7/2017 03:17:03 pm

There's some input here too: http://www.workingparentstories.com/contributors/laundry-lineup

Reply
Greg Fischer
11/7/2017 03:33:44 pm

Mary Beth does shopping and cooking. I try to do the dishes when I am not running off to band practice. Basic housecleaning is done by hired crew. MB washes sheets and towels and makes the bed. The rest of the laundry is split. I mow and fertilize the lawn, prune trees, monitor sprinkler, shovel snow most of the time. MB prunes shrubs, cleans out leaves, takes care of flower pots and herbs. I generally take care of car maintenance and home repairs and plan all travel. I kill all spiders (when available) and reach stuff on high shelves. I manage the Netflix queue and all other heavy lifting :)

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
11/7/2017 03:57:26 pm

Thank you, Greg, for the info and for the laugh! (And for "Mommin' By The Seat of My Pants", Greg and MB both work full time.)

Reply
Kimberly Wilson
11/7/2017 03:42:34 pm

My husband and I both work although I have an online business I run from home so I get more of the chores so to speak since I am more flexible. I like cooking and am better with the finances so I cook, shop and pay bills. I hate cleaning so my hubby does kitchen/dinner cleanup and all the “old school” traditional male chores: yard, fixing things, etc. I do the light housework (dusting and such) and he does the major stuff. As the kids got older they were required to do more. I do our normal laundry and he does his workout clothes. The kids have to do their own (since age 10 or so). Asking for help and finding what roles work for the family is important. If there is something I don’t want to do I ask him to do it and I offer to take in one of his chores.

Reply
Kathy Calder Haselmaier link
11/7/2017 03:59:15 pm

Thank you, Kimberly. And I know from many lunches with your husband that he spent a lot of time leak-proofing your basement (or something like that)!

Reply
Kathleen Helbling
11/7/2017 03:58:01 pm

My husband, Paul and I are now retired and , interestingly enough, have continued the division of labor that we began when we were both working. It is much as Kathy says, who cares about what. We each take one week of cooking, cleaning up, and shopping. The other takes the next week. Occasionally we would trade a day. Paul does all the floors throughout the house and I do all the laundry. I clean the bathrooms and he mows and prunes the trees and bushes. I take care of the flower garden, and he cuts wood for our wood burning stove.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
11/7/2017 04:01:01 pm

Thank you, Kathleen! You are one of the few I know where you truly share cooking. Interesting.

Reply
Glenda McCall
11/10/2017 08:01:49 am

My husband and I are retired and have always had a pretty even split. We also split chores according to interest and abilities. Tom is the technical guru, a big interest for him. He is an expert window-washer (lots of windows at our place!!). He does most of the car-related chores, although I sometimes wash and vacuum. Mostly I cook and he shops, although he's a good sous-chef. Tom does anything that takes strength, of course.

When we both worked, we used a cleaning service. Now, Tom vacuums and cleans the shower. I do most of the rest...because I like to clean (?? yes). Outside, Tom does mowing and fertilizing. I do weeding. We share trimming. When there is any painting to be done, I usually take that on.

We often make lists of what needs to be done and who is responsible. This also works for us when we do maintenance at our rental.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
11/10/2017 08:32:43 am

Thank you, Glenda!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    The Stories

    Picture
    Paperback | Kindle | Audible
    Read More Stories
    Don't Miss a Story
    WorkingParentStory

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017

    Categories

    All
    Authors
    Balance
    Book Review
    Childcare
    Children
    Choices
    Compensation
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Crisis
    Culture
    Depression
    Eldercare
    Encouraging
    Fathers
    Finance
    Flexibility
    Fulfillment
    Funny
    Goals
    Guilt
    Health
    Independence
    Inspiring
    Kids: 5 12
    Kids: 5-12
    Kids: All Ages
    Kids: Babies
    Kids: Teens
    Kids: Toddlers
    Laundry
    Meals
    Medical
    Mornings
    Most Popular
    Mothers
    Parental Leave
    Perceptions
    Pregnancy
    Provacative
    School
    Self Esteem
    Self-esteem
    Stamina
    Stress
    Teachers
    TED Talks
    Telecommuting
    Tenacity
    Thought Provoking
    Time
    Tips
    Travel
    Videos
    Wage Gap

    RSS Feed

Working Parent Stories

Copyright © 2022  |  Working Parent Stories  |  Colorado, USA  
Photos used under Creative Commons from barnimages.com, marcoverch, truewonder, donnierayjones, shixart1985, Gustavo Devito, edenpictures, nan palmero, quapan, The Pumpkin Theory, bark, opassande, Semtrio, Didriks, shawnzrossi, madprime, marksmorton, CT Arzneimittel GmbH, NwongPR, franchiseopportunitiesphotos
  • Home
  • Why
  • Stories
    • Index
    • Feedback
    • Submit >
      • Guidelines
      • Updates
    • Inspiration
    • Tips | Thoughts | Ideas
  • Book
    • Amazon-WW
    • Gifts
    • Borrow Book
    • Book Club
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Services
    • Connect
    • Subscribe
    • Metrics