I am interested in who does the chores in your family? As a SAHD with a child now in daycare most of the day, I have taken on all of the chores except cleaning the house. We still have maids for that because my wife prefers it that way (I am just okay at cleaning).
I do all the shopping, light cleaning, cooking, errands, etc. I prepare the "gourmet meals" and clean up after. I even make her lunch and breakfast.
I never thought I would be a SAHD and a mr. Mom. What about you?
I would say I do the majority of the cleaning. I do the floors, dust, fold laundry (she throws it in the washer often), grocery shopping, mow lawn/shovel, and clean bathrooms. She handles the showers... I am not sure why, but I hate cleaning the showers/bathtubs.
Other chores we share. She makes many of the dinners when she is home. Dishes are about 50/50. When we need to wipe down floorboards, doors, lights, etc she always pitches in or does it on her own often.
I typically don't complain about her not helping, and I don't hear her complain about my contributions at home. I guess I assume we have pretty good balance when it comes to the chores, but a maid would be AWESOME!
During the early years I did about 80%. As the kids got older, Tina took on more of the chores. Now it's Tina 80% and me 20%.
Quick story.
When Tina returned home from work, first thing she'd do was vacuum the house. I interpreted her action as telling me that I wasn't doing a good enough job because I had vacuumed earlier in the day. I asked her why she vacuums even though I had done it already. Tina explained that vacuuming the house was downtime for her. So I stopped vacuuming. Vacuuming (and cleaning) was and still is theraputic for her. Tina enjoys cleaning. I don't. This led to me relinquishing most of the cleaning chores. I can't remember the last time I cleaned the toilet.
Tina and I made a list of what chores we like and don't like to do. Then divided the chores up based on what each of us likes doing. Worked for us.
I do most of the chores around the house. Cooking, cleaning, pets, etc. My wife helps out with organizational stuff (paper work, coupons, closets)because I am lousy at that stuff, does a lot of the clothes shopping and toy shopping for the kids, and since I started working out of the house one day a week she makes sure the house is neat and there is food cooked on that day. She also does the laundry folding and picking up of the kid's rooms. She works hard and I'd feel pretty guilty if it were any other way. Although if we could afford maid service, I would not sneeze at that.
www.musingsfromthebigpink.blogspot.com It's funny! I think . . . sometimes. No wait it's definitely funny. Mostly.
Being a Stay at home father can be challenging. As your kids get a little older (my boys are now 12 and 13), it gets a little more difficult to fill the time between when they leave for school and when they get home. I was just explaining to my wife that women have these established social networks in the neighborhood which help them to express themselves and feel appreciated and accepted. Currently, It's harder for a guy to receive this kind of appreciation (especially in the neighborhood). Just recently, an ultra-conservative family basically banned their son from coming over to the house because they felt "weird" about the set-up, with me being home and my wife not returning home until 8 pm. Seems that families are always watching with a curious eye as to what will transpire in what they may consider to be a strange family set-up. Good luck to you!
Me. I pay the bills, keep the checkbook balanced, keep the grocery list updated, tag along at the grocery store, (We all three make a field trip out of the grocery shopping once a week, we enjoy it!) I run all of the errands; dog groomed once a month, child's haircut, Rx's filled, LAUNDRY - LAUNDRY - LAUNDRY! I can't get a damn thing done for the laundry basket filling up every third day, and I do a better job than she does. I wash, dry, fold and put away. I don't iron. I don't own anything that needs ironing, and it's my humble opinion, no one else should either! :) I do most of the cleaning, most of the time. If I'm involved in something else, or just don't feel like !@cking with it sometimes, my wife will step up and clean enough to make herself feel better. She never tells me, "Why didn't you do this, or why didn't you do that?" I'm also in charge of maintenance. I get to rake leaves, mow, pull weeds, fix/maintain everything. The only 'collection' I've amassed in my lifetime of wandering, learning, working, is an AWESOME set of tools! Tim Allen would be proud, Huh huh huh! :) I also help with the homework most of the time, keep an eye on the maintenance schedule for the vehicles, I built and maintain the home network, I've built two of our PC's from scratch, (Newegg rocks) and I build things out of wood. :) BUT, "I do have weekends off, and I am my own boss." :)
Arthur Johnson
I mow the lawn, weed the beds, plant the vegetable garden, paint, fix things etc outside. Inside, I clean everything but the shower stalls, I cook, do food and clothes shopping, do "projects" around the house, etc. She does laundry and on a very rare occasion, may cook a meal or two. At 5:00 p.m., when the wife comes home, I go to work 2nd shift till 10:30 at night. To be honest, I feel overwhelmed, tired and unappreciated. I guess I wish my partner would try harder. On her days off, she relaxes. On my days off, I work... or things dont get done.
I do all the chores in my household, inside and out. I usually pick one thing to do a day while my 30 month old takes an afternoon nap and my 6 year old is at school. Whatever I can't get done at that time gets done on weekends. I'm a good cook so I do that as well. My wife has cooked for me less than 10 times I would say in the past 13 years. She works all day and pays the bills. When I have brought up the issue of her helping me out, she flies into a rage and tells me how hard she works. I've learned not to bring up this issue anymore. I'd rather her spend time with the kids on the weekend anyway and I do the chores, this way I know things will get done properly.
I'm a Part-time SAHD. I work some at home and the rest in the office. My wife works 2 jobs with some weird hours. But, when I get home I'm the one to clean the home, feed the baby, change him, bath him, play with him, get ready for bed, and then: clean high chair, tables, floor, dishes, clothes, tub, all before I can relax and do what I want to do for the evening. . . . when do the Bears play next ?
Take it from a Denver fan you did us a favor! haaa.
As far as "Chores", it's more like catch up! If i have time to take care of a few things and give my kid the time and attention she deserves, If it isn't finished- who cares?
Just bumpin' my music!
We don't really say that she does this chore and I do this chore. If I see something that needs done and I can spare the time and effort, I will take care of it. She has more demands on her time at home than I do, but she is the same way if it can be taken care of at the moment. Everything gets taken care of eventually, but some tasks do fall into one or the other most often. This is generally a natural evolution based on recurring performance. For example, I am not anywhere close to the world's best cook and I don't take healthy eating as serious as I should. She, by my standards, is a great cook when she applies herself and does take our family's health very seriously. As such, she does the cooking 99% of the time. Tonight she got busy with our son and I finished the majority of dinner, but this would be the exception. Duties such as the trash (both removal from the house and placement for pickup) as well as hottub maintenance typically fall to me, but she has stepped up from time-to-time.
I'm not sure that, if we sat down and had a discussion and came to reasonable assignments of chores, this discussion would improve the effeciency of the home by any substantial metric. That may change as our young babies grow and start taking on their own responsibilities or community roles, but actually the oldest, who is 20 mo, has already picked up on our system. She is very keen on cleaning up her own mess or managing her stuff, like her sippy cup or toys, but also likes help wipe down tables or put various items in their proper spots.
Just our 2 cents!
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Ryan
Daughter = Flower of the Earth
Son = Diety of the Sky
Mother = Light of our Life
Father = Me
Joined: 2009-09-14
Dad Points: 91