Meeting halfway
March 31st 2009 06:37
In the USA they call it equally shared parenting. It means Mum and Dad, still together, looking after their kids equally. In Australia, mention the term shared parenting and you are automatically talking about divorced or separated families. Isn't that weird? The only people here doing equal shared parenting are actually doing it in separate houses.
Of course that's not true. There must be people in Australia living this way. In fact I know a few of them. But according to studies, most families in Australia still operate along traditional lines, with women doing most of the housework and child rearing. The added bonus is that many women now get to do paid work as well as running the home front.
The point of this blog is to rally support for the idea of sharing everything - the childraising, the paid work, the timeout and the housework. This is the nirvana we have been chasing at our house for the past 8 years. Sometimes we have even achieved it. If you look at this website, www.equallysharedparenting.com you'll see some ideas about this.
And I'll take it a step further to include developing independent children who learn from a young age to be participants in family life, rather than passengers.
I'd like to hear from other Australians trying to achieve this kind of work/life balance. Surely we owe it to our children and ourselves to create a family life where no one feels ripped off.
Of course that's not true. There must be people in Australia living this way. In fact I know a few of them. But according to studies, most families in Australia still operate along traditional lines, with women doing most of the housework and child rearing. The added bonus is that many women now get to do paid work as well as running the home front.
The point of this blog is to rally support for the idea of sharing everything - the childraising, the paid work, the timeout and the housework. This is the nirvana we have been chasing at our house for the past 8 years. Sometimes we have even achieved it. If you look at this website, www.equallysharedparenting.com you'll see some ideas about this.
And I'll take it a step further to include developing independent children who learn from a young age to be participants in family life, rather than passengers.
I'd like to hear from other Australians trying to achieve this kind of work/life balance. Surely we owe it to our children and ourselves to create a family life where no one feels ripped off.
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