Dads and Home Work...Are You Pulling Your Weight?

The Fall issue of the BYU Marriott Alumni Magazine includes an article titled By the Numbers, Home Work. The article made me reflect again on the distribution of work in the home. You can see the detail in the article but here is a summary...

• 7,300 = The number of diaper changes in the first two years of a baby's life.
• 405 = The hours a mom spends behind the wheel each year.
• 22 & 10 = The hours per week a college-educated mother (22) and a college-educated father (10) spend caring for their children.
• 330 = The loads of laundry an average family needs washed annually (more than six loads per week).
• $20,415 = The value of household tasks dads typically perform a year. I assume this is for all dads, most of which are employed.

The last fact peeked my curiosity so I did a quick search and found this from a blog in CBS's moneywatch.com. According to Amy Levin-Epstein, "the total average annual value for the work done by stay-at-home moms was $115,432, while for working moms, it was $63,472." Read article.

Hmmm. Let me think....(doing calculations in my head...). Though I believe times have changed and many dads now days change more diapers than ever before, take their turn doing the laundry, and spend more time (than perhaps the previous generation) with their children in a variety of ways (and all of that is great!), it looks like most of the weight of the Home Work still falls on the shoulders of the moms.

Now, now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that we need a role reversal (thought that would be an interesting experiment...see my post Don't Be Long Mama!), nor am I suggesting that dads and moms should divvy up the Home Work pie exactly in half. By divine design, fathers and mothers have different roles. But I do think that generally, dads can do more to contribute to the work at home. I know I can.

So, what can you do to create a real Home team with you wife? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.