 Mai
and Paul - Radio
executive and teacher/ basketball referee work 9-5 and use fultime
childcare for their two sons.
Family Story:
Over the years Mai had risen rapidly through
the ranks of a public radio station; prior to the birth of her son
she worked long hours managing a large development staff and sales
team. Paul taught high school business classes at a local parochial
school, was a basketball referee in the evenings, and ran a small
realestate business on the side. With the birth of their first baby,
however, Mai and Paul’s priorities shifted.
Although Paul only took a few days off, Mai arranged with her workplace
to take three months' leave. After Mai returned to work full time,
neither she nor Paul wanted to put in the long hours they had previously
required of themselves. Mai was determined to nurse her son for a
year, and as a consequence, delegated all work-related travel responsibilities
during that first year. The couple found a first-rate daycare center
close to Mai’s workplace. When they dropped their son off in
the mornings, Mai or Paul would spend time playing with their son
and the other children. Mai often walked over and spent lunchtime
with the baby, and both parents were strict about leaving work promptly
at 5 p.m. During the summer, when Paul was not teaching, he cared
for their son two days a week. Mai and Paul’s nearby extended
families played significant roles in supporting the couple as well;
for his first two years, the baby spent a large part of almost every
weekend in his aunts’ or grandmother’s arms while the parents
rested and enjoyed family gatherings.
Three years later, after the birth of their
second child, Mai took off two months, and then worked part-time
for another two months, extending the time before she went back
to work 40 hours a week from three months to four. This second baby
was born at the start of the school year, so Paul was again home
for just a few days before returning to work. The older son was
in childcare between 3 and 5 days a week during this time. Once
Mai went back to work full-time in January, both children went to
the childcare center full-time.
Throughout their marriage, Mai and Paul divided
the additional work of running their home; Mai was responsible for
all the cooking, and Paul was in charge of laundry, cleaning and
house repairs. On weekends the family would make a special outing
out of spending the afternoon at the local farmers' market buying
food and meeting up with neighbors and friends.
Like so many couples, both Mai and Paul express
some ambivalence about whether one parent should or would want to
stay home with the children, and what would happen to their careers
if they redesigned their work to make more time for family. They
feel that they have found high-quality care for their children;
the combination of their work, parenting and childcare choices,
although not always 100% satisfactory, meets the bulk of their work-family
balance criteria.
Adapting to the Changing Needs of Family
After the birth of their first son, Mai and
Paul decreased their workloads from 60+ to 40 hours a week. Mai took
three months off to be with the baby. With the birth of their second
son, Paul again had a few days at home, and Mai took two months' full-time
leave, and then worked part-time for two months.
Redesigning Work
Parent I: Mai took three months’ leave
and then decreased her workweek to 40 hours after the birth of her
first son. She did not travel for work for the first year, and then
negotiated to bring her son and husband on some of her work-related
trips. With the birth of the second baby Mai took two months off,
and then transitioned back to part-time work over two additional months.
Parent II: Paul reduced his evening and weekend
workloads after the birth of his first son.
To learn more about other
work-family models, click here.
To learn more about Shared
Care, click here.
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