Work and Family Response 5

In her article, Frances Goldsheider determined that household tasks are gender-differentiated, and hence perpetuate the unequal division of labor between men and women. Though kids don’t do that many chores, older children tend to get more involved in household work. Teenage girls take on a lot more than boys, though teenage boys do a substantial amount if they live with a single mother. Tasks are generally allocated based on traditional gender roles (girls do laundry, boys do yardwork), though boys with single mothers learn how to do traditionally female tasks as well. Interestingly, both boys and girls living with stepfathers do more work than their two-parent counterparts.
Ellen Galinsky asked children what they thought about their mothers working. She hoped to add children’s input to some of the current debates surrounding this issue. She concluded that most children don’t mind their mothers working. Kids want to spend more time with their fathers. Child care is good for kids, unless it is low-quality. Also, she determined that kids would rather spend fewer hours with their parents if they are not stressed and tired than spend more time with grouchy parents. She said that we as a society should help mother find a middle ground, since working and parenting does not have to be an “either-or” situation. She also thinks it is vital to get kids’ input on these types of issues.
In “How to Succeed in Childhood”, Judith Harris questions whether the emphasis on parents modeling and instilling values is really necessary. She says that a “successful” child is really just learning what different behaviors they need to adopt to be accepted at home or at school or with their peers. She argues that most socialization occurs with peers, and that children’s groups/cliques are how they truly learn their own identity. The purpose of her article, she says, is to take some of the burden off parents.
Zelizer traces the changing notions of children’s economic usefulness. She outlines some of the current debates going on about whether children should work, and whether it should be for pay. The image of the child as “priceless” is changing, as people see t hem as obstacles to career success or encourage them to act like adults too early. Also, as more mothers work outside the home, it is becoming more necessary for kids to help out around the house. Consequently, people argue that children should do more work in the home, though there is debate over whether they should be paid. She points out that attitudes about children’s money will have to change if they begin to take a larger part in work, whether in our outside the home.
I liked the Goldsheider and Galinsky articles because they provided a factual (statistical) background to the debates around these issues. Though surveys don’t tell the whole story, they help set up the framework for studying topics further. Both articles also resonated with me because of my own personal history. When Galinsky stated that children would rather spend less time with their parents if it meant that they were less stressed and tired, I was reminded that I often felt like that as a child. Both my parents worked very long hours, and would often be grouchy and exhausted on weeknights. I remember thinking that I would rather only see them on weekends, because that is when they were happy and we had fun. Also, I agree with Goldsheider that tasks are gender-differentiated. While this may sometimes be appropriate (like if teenage boys lift heavy objects instead of girls), it doesn’t have to be as divided as it is. I have noticed that many males in my generation do know how to do “feminine” household tasks, especially if their parents were egalitarian/progressive, but most still are a little shaky. In fact, many girls are shaky on them too. As Zelizer reiterates, people our age, on average, did not grow up doing that many household chores. If we did, they were pretty light ones. As Zelizer implied, this is rather counterintuitive. Since our mothers are working and our parents have less time than ever before to do housework, wouldn’t it make sense that children helped out more? However, our notion that childhood is a time for play and study, not work, prevents parents from delegating too many tasks to their children. It is almost as if parents want children to spend time preparing for the workforce so that they will be so successful they will not need to do their own housework. Housework is becoming less and less valued, so now kids are being taught that it is something that they should avoid. But, Harris would argue, it is not what parents are teaching their kids about the value of housework that will shape their attitudes about it, but rather their peer groups.