Career and Kids

Each parent has their own responsibilities

by mike on December 11th, 2006

A few of my household responsibilities are taking out the trash and anything that involves fixing the computer and the vacuuming. If either of these chores need done during the day, the kids know that they should just wait until I get home and don’t even bother bugging mom about them.

My wife does almost all of the cooking, sewing and managing the checkbook.

We both participate in cleaning up the house after the kids go to bed.

This is a gross oversimplification of what we both do, but it gets the point across.

I do not think that either of us see these tasks as gender based. I think we have just fallen into routines based on when we have available time and what our interests and concerns are.

This article on the Wall Street Journal about the differences between the chores done by girls and boys is a little shocking to me. I would not have been surprised to learn that boys and girls do different chores, but the difference in how much fewer chores have is pretty surprising but probably should not be.

In our own house, every single complaint about chores comes from my wife when I start slacking off. It normally comes up a couple times a year. And, every single time it is a valid complaint. This article is a good reminder that I not only have to stay alert to doing my fair share, but also that I need to make sure I am not accidentally teaching my children that boys don’t have to do as much as girls.

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POSTED IN: Raising Kids