Did you know that this Thursday, April 26th, is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day? Are you planning to participate?
According to the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day program was founded to create an opportunity for girls and boys to share and communicate their expectations for the future.
Courtney E. Martin has an interesting article over at The American Prospect titled “Fighting Apart for Time Together: Why is all the activism for work/life balance split along gender lines?”
Ms. Martin takes the very complicated issue of work-family balance activism and makes it understandable. Here is how the discussion shakes out:
My PDA phone cashed it in the other day and I had to purchase a new one. I’ve spent several hours over the past 3 days getting up to speed and ensuring that all my data has transfered to the new one. I also played around a bit, much to my wife’s amusement, importing some pictures so that when my wife and kids called, I’d see their smiling faces on my phone’s display.
My daughter is a bit finicky about her photos and didn’t like the one that I chose, so I went to her MySpace page to download one that she had posted, reasoning that she’d obviously given it the thumbs up, and here’s what I found instead:
Fact: When we talk about “family friendly” companies, we’re usually thinking about working mothers, not working fathers.
Family friendly workplaces are usually characterized by discussions surrounding flexible hours, telecommuting, time off and leaves, child care support and assistance, and company culture – and company culture involves all of the aforementioned.
I’ve made several posts to this blog opining about the work-life discussion as it relates to corporations and employees. The way the debate is being shaped today, there are two conflicting formulas at work here:
For the company, Work-Life Balance boils down to this: Company = Good, Family = Bad For the employee, it looks like this: Family and Personal Time = Good, Company = Bad.
In an earlier post today, I wrote about examining our motives when it comes to buying things – goods and services – to seemingly make our lives easier.
The vicious cycle looks like this: We work hard and long, so we wind up dining out several nights a week, or we hire a service to attend to our lawn or our homes or our pets because we “don’t have enough time.” We rely upon these things, and they become integral to our new budgets. This becomes our new ‘norm.’
We then want still more, so we work even harder, finding ourselves with even less time …. The pattern goes on and on.
Check out this post from A.J. Donnison, “the grumpy developer in the corner: Retail Therapy or Low Self Esteem?
‘Retail Therapy’ refers to something many of us indulge in: the act of buying something to make ourselves feel better after working many long hours. It may seem innocent enough, but, as Adam points out, it might serve us well to examine out motives:
Well, it’s snowing here. I find it extremely ironic that the Cleveland Indians are in town playing ball at Miller Park due to the snow storm in Ohio and because our stadium offers the protection from the elements in the form of its retractable – and close-able – roof.
I’m taking advantage of a canceled appointment or two and some snow closings to share with you some photos I snapped a few moments ago, as well as to let you all know that my life balance/ work-life balance/ work family balance doesn’t consist only of work!
Check out Gillian Hood-Gabrielson’s Fit for Business blog. Gillian features a Q & A with Sharon Williams, Chairperson of the Alliance for Virtual Businesses.
Ms. Williams supports what I’ve discussed with some of you when it comes to work-life balance:
“A benefit I haven’t covered is the ability to improve work/life balance. By hiring a VA, clients can systemize the business and automate its processes.
Working Mother magazine has published its list of 100 Best Companies – The Family-Friendliest Companies in America. The list measured 7 areas of the companies’ work-life programs:
The Work-Life discussion rages hot-and-heavy. From National associations to corporate HR departments to non-profit organizations to think tanks to university work-life centers and foundations – everyone is getting involved in advancing the work-life debate.
But are all interested in achieving the true goal of work-life balance? That is,are all parties dedicated to, as the Third Path Institute rightly defines it, “assisting individuals, families, and organizations in finding new ways to redesign work to create more time for family, community and other life passions?”
Separation of work life from our home and personal lives is becoming harder and harder. We are constantly being interrupted by ringing cell phones and PDAs beeping with new email messages waiting for our attention.
When we think we’ve escaped the microscope of our working lives, the lights are tuned up brightly and the wonders of technology pull us back – they often divert our attention from achieving what’s most important to us.
Some of you have noticed that I have posted a book on My Reading List on my Squidoo page Who is David B. Bohl? titled “I Don’t Want To Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression” by Terrence Real. When I say “noticed”, I mean you’ve wondered to me what that’s all about.
It is true – Dr. Real’s book is about men and depression. But it is so much more. I think the book jacket does a great job when it states: “I Don’t Want To Talk About It offers great wisdom, hope, and practical guidance to men and their families. This is one of the most important and straightforward books ever written about men.”
What I get most from Terrence Real’s book is a person who understands me. If you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’ll explain.
A recently released University of Maryland study conducted by Suzanne M. Bianchi, Chairwoman of the Department of Sociology, today’s mothers spend more hours focused on their children than mothers of40 years ago did.
What is especially interesting about this is that mothers of today don’t perceive things that way: Approximately one-half of those interviewed in the study felt that they did not have enough time to spend with their children.
I had the opportunity this past weekend to participate in an event that showcased 150 of the local community’s businesses. I met many wonderful people at the show, and for the first time had the occasion to meet husbands and wives attending the venue together.
There was a common theme that seemed to resonate throughout: These partners weren’t satisfied with the balance they were experiencing in their lives. Moreover, there appeared to be a general breakdown in communication between the couples. In fact, legitimate distractions had caused them in many cases to avoid communicating.
My wife and I became empty-nesters last August when our youngest went off to college, and we’ve been adjusting our balance ever since.
Not being one to always want to have to reinvent the wheel, I asked several friends who had been through this chapter in their lives to share with me what it was like for them and what they had learned. Although the range of experiences was huge, I did garner two consensus opinions: First, that things were strange for a while. Second, that it was a wonderful time for all.
There’s something about this time of the year that make things very intense, and I don’t mean the wonderful excitement surrounding the NCAA’s college basketball tournament.
Is is just me, or does it seem that most everyone is stretched at this time of the year? Maybe it has something to do with tax time for individuals and businesses.
Possibly it concerns the sheer number of conventions and trade shows that occur between now and the middle of May. Maybe it’s related to the earlier daylight savings time change, spring breaks, the upcoming Easter holiday, and spring fever in general. Maybe it’s simply a cycle of the year in the world in which I operate.
I think the bigger concern we all have is that, because the world now operates at the speed of technology, is that the access we now enjoy to the outside world means that we’re within easy reach of those who wish to contact us no matter where we are and what we’re doing.
Susan Burns offers an excellent guest post on Leslie Morgan Steiner’s Washington Post On Balance blog. This provides a real-life case study on what we’re all facing in some way: wondering whether or not we’re doing what’s right for all involved in our lives.
I applaud Ms. Burns for her taking a look at the external factors in her life – her job and commute, her husband’s job, her family. Now, I cannot possibly know exactly what her life is like, nor would I presume to offer advice without knowing much, much more. But, as a case study, it’s now time for her to examine the internal factors.
