Division of Labor

My new Mile High Mamas post talks about how drop-off and pick-up can get out of balance.

How does it go in your house?

This article has 20 comments

  1. Tanaya

    I do both pickup and drop off about 90% of the time. However, KMan’s preschool is literally across the street from my office. Mister is always agreeable to do it if I can’t for whatever reason. Plus, it isn’t realistic for him to drive 30 miles roundtrip from home just to make the routine fair. Also, Mister more than makes up for the inequity by making KMan’s lunch everyday and getting him ready to go each morning.

  2. Meghann

    Hubby does it whenever he can. That is, whenever he’s not physically at work or in the car driving to work. It’s one of his “things”. I still have to get the kids ready though if they are to have any prayer of making it on time.

  3. Sue at nobaddays

    I used to do drop off, D did pickup. While I’m taking time off, I’m obviously doing both. But when I go back to work, it’ll be 50/50.

  4. Anonymous

    u kidding??? it’s all me.

  5. monstergirlee

    When I started back to work when #1 son was 14 months old, I dropped off and picked up every day for about 6 months. One day, I freaked out on husband saying how I’m always in a hurry and never have a moment to myself and use my lunch hour running errands for the family and I’m always rushed and I’m tired of it.

    Well, apparently he heard me. And the next week, he dropped off, and I picked up. And thats how it was until we lost our 2nd car in an accident. So now its back to me doing both, however usually Husband is with me and I drop him off at school on my way to work.

    Its pretty tiresome, but at least in August when he’s done with school, we’ll need a second car and he can go back to dropping off.

    Oh I long for the days when I’m not rushing to get the kids out to the car so I can make it work on time. The end is near… the end is near… I just keep telling myself that.

  6. Gretchen

    When I worked outside the home, I did 99.999% of drop off and pick up. It only made sense, because I had daycare on site. It would have been rather silly for my husband to drive to my office…

    I was fortunate in that they also fed the kids breakfast and lunch, so I only really had to get them dressed in the mornings.

  7. Stacey

    I feel lucky we are able to have it be pretty close to 50/50.

  8. Builder Mama

    It’s pretty much 50/50 for us too. Joey drops off in the morning and I pick up at night about 95% of the time. It used to be that I did most if not all of it, but with my work schedule it was just way too stressful being late every day and then trying to get off work on time after being late. This works much better for us, although I’d be interested to know if Joey agrees with me, LOL.

  9. J at www.jellyjules.com

    I do dropoff, since my husband works earlier than I do. I like it, because we live 2 miles from school, and my daughter is old enough to walk, so we get some nice chatting time in there while we walk the dog and take her to school.

    My husband usually does pickup, though if he’s busy, I’ll do it. Like I said, the school is close, so it’s no big deal, and I don’t mind. But it’s usually him.

  10. Mayberry

    I do it most of the time since I work shorter hours and I work at home (so closer to school/day care). But when we both worked/commuted, he did maybe half the pick-ups.

  11. mama2munchkin

    I currently do both 99.9% of the time. Dh has a long commute (close to an hour each way), so unless I want the kiddos going to the sitter’s way early or coming home after 6, drop off and pick up is my choice. When we lived in FL, and dh worked much closer, I dropped off and he picked up.

    So for us, it’s not so much b/c it’s the “woman’s” job, it’s out of necessity due to his commute.

  12. Tree

    Old schedule – me 99%

    New schedule – Dh takes 3 days, I pick up 3 days, I take & pick up 2 days – only because dh is going out of town Wed – Fri and will drop off on his way out of town.

    Before, I think I just assumed I would do it and I was happy doing it, although I totally relate to Monstergirlee wigging out one day. When I do both for extended periods of time, I feel the tension building up and getting crazy.

    Now, dh has a good feel for the responsibility of taking and picking up and single parenting at times. It’s not easy.

  13. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    I am glad to hear there are less “women’s job” type opinions!

  14. Anonymous

    My partner does most of it, due to her schedule.

  15. SP

    I make them walk their little butts home. I know it sounds harsh but that’s the way I roll.

  16. Shannon

    When I was working, I would drop off and my husband would pick up. He loved having our daughter running to him at school with a big smile on her face, jumping in his arms, and saying how much she missed him. And it gave me time to get home and get dinner started while the house was still quiet.

  17. MB

    As a single mom, I have no choice, and I have to say that if I could ask for one magic thing to happen in my life, it would be that somehow I didn’t have to do both, everyday. It sure would make life less hectic!

  18. Aimee Greeblemonkey

    Yeah, I feel for you MB – that must be hard!

  19. Queeny

    I read that post with great interest. For the past several years, I’ve been doing most of the dropping off and picking up, and waking up and dressing and feeding, etc. But, now that my husband has a new job that’s more flexible, he’s in charge of getting our preschooler dressed and out the door; I take care of our first-grader; our middle-schooler gets himself ready. That’s a big load off my shoulders that allows me more time for myself.

  20. Anonymous

    We are also lucky to be able to do 50/50.

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