Overload

I have this book called Survival Tips for Working Moms by Linda Goodman Pillsbury, and in the beginning of the book is a list of life tasks. She asks the reader to go through the list, jotting down who in the household is responsible for each task. There are too many for me to list here, 91 to be exact, broken down into the following categories: A typical day, Sick kids, Cleaning, Laundry, Groceries, Outside, Errands, Cars, Organization, and School.

I counted which ones I am responsible for versus which ones Ken usually does. Let's call it a little uneven:

Me 79

Him 12

And that's being gracious by not counting for myself anything we both might do. I gave all those overlaps to his count.

Hey, no wonder I'm tired.

If you're a working mommy, how do you and your significant other (if there is one in the picture) divvy up the housework and childcare responsibilities? Apparently I've done a great job of screwing myself and am going to have to set out on a campaign of dividing the big to-do list more fairly. After all, both Ken and I work full time. Yes, I telecommute two days/week while he's at the office, but that doesn't provide all the time to get stuff done around the house that he (or you?) might think. In fact, I don't really get any housework done on those days since it's a full enough day just working and watching Henry. Maybe when Padraic is home instead I'll find time to throw in a load of laundry here and there, but let's not expect miracles.

Now I have to think of how to successfully navigate a conversation in which I ask my husband to do about 40 more things than he's been doing around the house. And on a regular basis, preferably w/o constant reminders from me. That's what Outlook is for, right?