Open discussion: Men and work-life balance

Just noticed that Midmorning will host a show at 10:00 a.m. CT today, focusing on Men feel conflict in work-life balance:

A recent survey from the Families and Work Institute found that women in two-worker households are earning more money than their male partners, yet men are feeling more stress about the work-life balance.

I haven't checked out the study (here's a press release about the recent study on families and work) but I'm curious if this is your experience or what you think about it.

Don't most people feel stress about their work-life balance? How is it different for men?
What do men face - socially speaking, here, folks - that others should understand?
Does the two-worker household still require navigation, or is society getting used to it?

This is an open discussion. You're welcome to link to your related Gather articles or other online resources. Your comments may be quoted on the air or on http://minnesota.publicradio.org/your_voice/

________________
Julia Schrenkler
Interactive Producer
Minnesota Public Radio
American Public Media
Objects in Mirror

Comments: 7

Melina Simonson Apr 1, 2009, 11:17am EDT

I work full time while my husband now only works part time. We have an autistic son who my husband takes care of when I can't becuase of work. He picks him up after school, takes off of his part time job to be home when our son is ill, and doesn't work when my son doesn't have school. My husband likes the schedule. I still do the majority of the housework; however my husband takes care of the yard, cars and does the house fix it projects and other house projects like painting the house this summer. It works well for us.

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Julia Schrenkler Apr 1, 2009, 11:34am EDT

Melina, you made a good point there, "It works well for us." What works for one family doesn't work for another. It sounds like your husband (would love to hear him in this discussion!) and you have a good balance.

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Joseph H. Apr 1, 2009, 11:55am EDT

In my situation, I work and my wife stays home with our 2 kids. I help with all of the "mom" jobs when I am home. I give the kids their bath almost every night, cook, clean, wash dishes, change diapers. I think that's my "balance". I work my 8-5 job, then go home and deal with the family stuff. I am lucky that I have time at work to pay bills and take care of household paperwork.

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Julia Schrenkler Apr 1, 2009, 12:07pm EDT

Do you think that maintaining that balance will be different as your kids age, Joseph? I'm just curious if you think that will make a difference.

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Joseph H. Apr 1, 2009, 12:16pm EDT

absolutely. right now, they can't do much without our physical help. that will change over time and my role will change as well.

it's frustrating to see that I work a normal job with a normal schedule and my time with the kids is still limited. I see them for 2 hours at the end of the day. and the weekends are a mad rush to get all of the cleaning/shopping/visiting done in 48 hours. then, back to monday. I can't imagine what life would be like if my wife also worked, or I worked longer hours, or traveled all the time like I used to.

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