In over 60 per cent of Australian households, both parents work.
Sharing the responsibility of raising children is critical to achieving a satisfying work and family balance. Both parents are responsible for children they bring into the world. If one parent in a two working parent household is solely responsible for child rearing, pick-up and drop-off, cleaning, and preparing meals, in addition to maintaining their career and supporting their family financially, it can create an unsatisfactory, unbalanced home environment.
A good starting point is to write down all the chores and domestic duties that need to be performed throughout the week. Make sure you include the drop-off and pick-up times for the kids at child care or school.
Talk to your partner about how you can divide these responsibilities. If necessary, create a weekly calendar so family members know what their responsibilities are. If the children are old enough, assign chores to them. Other ideas are pre-cooking meals for the week on the weekends, and hiring a cleaner once every two weeks.
Loving and respecting one another’s life challenges and sharing parental responsibilities will create a more happy and harmonious home environment and loving partnership.
If you are a single parent juggling work and family, you are amazing. If you don’t have a full-time partner to help you, search for networks or associations for single parents in your community. There may be opportunities to assist each other with before and after school care, for example.