Division of Labor (mystic, tradition, beliefs, choice, bless)

[evearael]

What is the division of labor within your household? Do you follow certain cultural or religious traditions? Why? Does gender play a role? If you are not on your own yet, how do you intend to divide labor?

[Aqualung]

I do almost everything. My dad has to work out of town, so he's gone except on the weekends. My brother still isn't back for summer break. My mom has medical problems. The only thing I don't do is cook (because I don't know how) and sweep (because it's the floor. Who cares if it's dirty?)

Actually, I probably don't do that much, but sometimes it feels like it.

My dad usually cooks when he didn't have to go out of town for work.

We don't follow gender roles. My family does not have religious traditions that affect division of labour.

When I was little, I fed the dogs and my brother took out the garbage.

This is probably the most rambling post I've made in a while.

[michel]

We're a team. We always have been. Of course, in the past, I have tended to do the hard manual stuff, but now, we're going to have to call someone if big jobs need doing (the last one was when I installed a bath & basin where a shower cublicle had been, and that was some years ago - I doubt that I'd be fit enough to do that sort of job now)

Cleaning: I do most of it, because I am no good at cooking, and I'd rather leave that to my wife.

Apart from that, we both work together until everything's done.
When the kids were babies, and we had all those terry nappies, yes, I even got to cleaning and washing those; what fun!

Tell you on thing though; all my squeamishness that I had as a youngster has disappeared - I don't think anything would faze me now.

[James the Persian]

I'd say we split things evenly according to what we like and are capable of. I do most of the cooking, heavy gardening, DIY and my fair share of looking after the kids. My wife does most of the cleaning and ironing and the lighter gardening work (looking after flowers!) that I don't like. Luckily she does like them. I think Michel's description of working as a team is also appropriate to us.

James

[MysticSang'ha]

Wow, I guess it'll be me to say something rather unexpected.




I do most everything in the home. I clean most of the time, cook most of the time, and look after the kids most of the time. I shop for groceries every time, too. And bill-paying is another one on my job-list.



My husband works his tail off to provide for us, working and being on his feet for around 10 hours a day, so I'm not complaining.




However, the last few weeks has seen a slight shift in division of labor. I'm in the middle of rehearsals for a show which sees me out of the house for 6 hours a day, so my husband has no real choice but to do the dishes if he needs to use a plate. He hasn't complained either, bless his heart.



To be honest, for us it's a lot easier when I tend to the home mostly. I guess in the middle of our hippie-like beliefs is a traditional family there............minus the Doris Day look-a-like in her pressed pleated skirt and perfect hair.




Peace,
Mystic

[ChrisP]

Ummm well when I lived at home it was pretty much run by my mum, I'm not sure why she did it but she did. 3 sons no daughters in the family though so we all pitched in.

In my current household of a married couple and one other flatmate of undetermined sex, I do the fixing and operating of anything mechanical or technical and everyone else cooks and cleans.... unless it's a special occasion, then I cook.

[CaptainXeroid]

When I was growing up, my younger brother and I helped dad in the yard while my baby sister helped mom with household chores like dishes and clothes. I guess it was part gender roles, part religious tradition, part the fact that the baby of the family gets spoiled by not having to do the hard sweaty outdoor work.

My dad worked long hours as a bank manager, and my mom only worked outside the home a doing data entry for the IRS during tax season while we were young'uns. Once we were in school, she started doing child care in our home.

My wife & I both work outside the home out of necessity. At home, we do whatever needs to be done without much regard to 'gender roles', with the possible exception of killing creepy crawly bugs. "GLEN!!!! KILL IT BEFORE THE KITTIES EAT IT!"

I have no problem doing laundry or dishes, and some nights I will even start cooking dinner. Since I'm colorblind, I let my wife check the meat and make sure its done.

[Cerrax]

My fianceé and I have decided that we enjoy the traditional American family setup.

My responsibilities:
Two part-time jobs
Freelance work
Go to school
Pay bills and manage budget
Feed the cats
Clean the cat box
Take out trash
Make breakfast
Drive Leah to school and pick her up

Leah's responsibilities:
One part-time job
Keep the house clean
Do laundry
Grocery shopping (but mostly we do this together)
Make lunch/dinner
Clean dishes

It works great for us and we're both really happy. She loves making dinner for me and doing laundry. I love freelance work and I like to have control over our money (since she's a woman and she naturally just has to buy it because its on sale. That's where I have to put my foot down)

[Draka]

I have no problem cleaning everything in the house with two exceptions. I don't do the litter box or dishes. I told Turk when we got together that I would cook him anything he wanted if he did the dishes. I hate dishes, and I'm a really good cook. So it balances out.