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Division of Labor with Mother's Rule
Dear Holly,
I am presently working on my Mother's Rule. I am a working Mom and my husband works in shifts. Now, I've made two kinds of schedules, one for his working days and another one for his days off. I kind of 'assigned' most of the housework to him on his days off (i.e. I didn't write those things down on my schedule, but assumed he would look after them, as he usually has up to now). Do you think this is bad? On these days I sometimes need to work very late to catch up the hours I've missed because of kids' doctors' appointments etc. Especially then, and to be honest on 'normal' days as well, nothing would work if I tried to do it all by myself. There was some discussion about this on the web site, and I felt the general opinion was for a rather traditional division of duties. But if my husband is better at cooking and cleaning (and enjoys them more) than at doing house repairs etc. (my duties at the moment), I guess that shouldn't be a problem?
Labels: 5th P Provider
posted by Holly at 2:34 PM
1 Comments:
When Philip and I first got married, we sat down one evening and decided who was going to do what. He chose the outside work and I chose the inside work. I later took over planting and harvesting the garden. I strongly encourage women to sit down with their husband and do this 'division of labor' exercise with each other.
I think you've got it right when you recognize that Mummy can't do it all by herself, unless she is a full-time housewife who has committed to this. But when other responsibilities enter in, it is only natural for the family to assume responsibility for the stewardship chores of the home. And this includes children too!
I don't think it's 'bad' for you to assume your husband will do all he already does! But I wouldn't exactly call it 'assigning' either! I read something today in the breviary - "God asks us to do to no one what we wouldn't want done to us." Do you want your husband to assign or assume things about you? Now, that's pretty straight forward! :-) I'd just clarify it with your husband to eliminate misunderstandings. :-)
And of course, I mentioned in MROL that I don't believe there are any 'gender-based' house chores or family duties necessarily...(outside of childbirth that is) :-) If he cooks better than you - pass him the oven mitts!
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