There is a Q&A with me in Canada’s Globe and Mail today called “Sorry Moms, 168 hours a week is plenty of time.” I think the brusque headline is designed to get attention (and 168 Hours is certainly for men and women) but there you go. I may be doing a radio interview with a Vancouver station about it tomorrow.
Trust me the Globe and Mail headline only highlighted just how offensive your material was. Your arrogant and condescending tone throughout the article only reinforced the headline.
Yes, you’re headline certainly caught my eye! It was my first introduction to your blog and perspective of time, but after the initial shock, I learned that I agree with you in more ways than one.
I’ve been insisting on viewing my time by the week for years. That 168 hours is just about how much we can keep straight in our heads at one time. I print my calendars that way, and plan that way in everything, from grocery store visits to leisure time, to work tasks.
“But I fail to see how the universe would be improved if I spent more time cleaning my kitchen and less time working, exercising, volunteering, or interacting with my family.” You’re after my own heart!
And regarding how mornings are so very important to time management: Before getting to work I often fold laundry, unload and reload my dishwasher, and then sit for an enjoyable hour reading the newspaper and having a coffee with my husband. Now that the kids are old enough to sleep later than we do, it is great quality time without them 🙂
And all those who worry about a second child being more work than than the first are just crazy- when there are two they can entertain each other. Maybe not from day one, but soon enough. It just takes valuing the time your kids spend together as much as you value the time you spend alone with each one.
And for me, I’ll keep reading your blog- it offers me a really nice sanity check.
I look forward to reading your book. Thank you for highlighting the fact that working moms make it happen! There have been so many articles about woman leaving their careers to become stay at home moms which is fabulous. But I am glad to see an article commending working moms and the quality time spent with their children. I agree with the comment “quality over quantity”. I strongly believe in the saying “when you need something done give it to a busy person”. I work and have 3 children envolved in many sports. The people volunteering to coach, fundraise or other taks to make all these wonderful activities happen for our children are most of the time very busy families that both parents work and have 3 or 4 busy children. Let’s continue to encourage these people!
One topic that I am hoping will be adressed in your book is in your 168 hours week – how do you fit in 3 children in rep sports (4-5 times per week each…), work, commute, work out, food, sleep, chores, volunteer work, fundraising, and all the other madness that goes into making your week reasonably sane.
Looking forward to reading more.
Yes, the article Headline and title pissed me off to no uncertain degrees!!!
At the same time the topic/subject is one dear to all our hearts – the A Type personalities, that is! Which, clearly you are one!
However, your blog is sorely lacking your NAME and other particulars about YOU – is it intentionally ‘anonymous’ to avoid criticisms and stalking from vengeful mothers? (sarcasm stings)
I will review the content and cull from any good tips in my pursuit to progress my family’ life forward.
P.S. Good case study would be single mother’s fighting litigious family lawyers and having to manage their time under undue stress during divorce – this being just one case where your “one formula fits all” does not apply
Michelle Corsano
“However, your blog is sorely lacking your NAME and other particulars about YOU – is it intentionally ‘anonymous’ to avoid criticisms and stalking from vengeful mothers? (sarcasm stings)”
Go to the archive and check out the very first post, her name and link to her personal website is right there for all to see.
Response to Globe article, I am on my way back to work in 2 wks and was interested in what I might learn from the article. I know that there are steps to be taken to get our lives ready for the change, but not all of us have cleaning teams or like to have set schedules. I like to live life free of full-time planning. I see it as making my life a living hell if everything is planned or have a set amount of time for reading or playing or cleaning for that matter.
I know that I do not use all my time wisely, like now I could be making dinner but instead I am reading the Globe while my 1 yr old naps. But this is my “me” time. The dishes can wait, the house is clean but not tidy, the laundry will not rot if I don’t do it right now and as for dinner.. I am still thinking about what to make.
I will have a strict routine when I go to the office to ensure that I don’t have to worry about work when I get home. But I think I will enjoy being spontaneous in my family life.
The bloggers ID should be placed in About — noone is going to go back to original archived post to find the authors ID.
This is a new blog — where is the history and evidence of your credentials on this topic?
Laura, what are your credentials on this topic? I ask this in earnest.
I never said I went there looking for her ID. You stated that her blog lacked her name. I pointed out that it is in her first post.
Settle down everyone! We can all learn something from someone else. Many people have said to me, how do you have time to quilt, and have a garden, and make homemade soup, and work part-time from home, and have 2 little boys racing around, with no cleaning lady, etc. Well, where there’s a will there’s a way. I have forgone a lot of things for myself, my time is not my own, my career is sidelined/backburned in a hell-bent-get-to-the-top manner it used to be. And I’m okay with all this as it will all be back before I know it, when my kids are bigger and don’t need me as much. We all spend our time as we see fit. I personally think TV is a huge time waster. Our children think we just have one to check the weather – they don’t get any tv, videos or computer time. We only watch TV if there is a good English murder mystery on after the kids are in bed. But it takes discipline to not plunk in front of it after one of those days…. It depends what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. I have taken a huge cut in pay to work only part-time. It works for me but may not work for others. I don’t think it hurts anybody to periodically reexamine how they spend their time and rejig it, just like anybody would look at their budget and rejig it, etc. It’s all about how we all value time differently. And of course we all measure success differently as well. Should be interesting to hear what other timesaving tips people have – time is the one thing none of us can really buy in the big scheme of things. Like I say we can all learn from each other (and yes, the dynamic when you have #2 does change things, but my friend with 7 kids snorted milk out of her nose when I said that….so it is all relative!).
I agree that time-management is key to managing a household. Before quitting my job as a busy executive in the traditional workforce to stay home with my two young boys, parenting looked pretty easy to me too. I have since learned differently. My opinion is that fulltime parents require a lot of ‘mental decompression’ time in order to cope sanely with a busy household. I probably could be ‘perfect mom’ for about 4 weeks and then I would have anxiety levels so high that I would be committed. The other thing I have learned is that having two children requires far more work and energy than having only one.
I would love to see your next book in a few years after trying to deal with two young children (especially if they are both boys), and I’m expecting the title to be something like “my kids are driving me crazy, my house is a disaster, I have to take child A to soccer and child B to skating in one hour and I haven’t figured out what to cook for dinner yet”.
I was introduced to you only through the globe article, and I had to check out your blog to see more. The article makes you sound very judgmental and self-righteous, but I can see that is not the real you. Do you get a chance to read the articles after editors get to them? The G&M article will certainly anger people. It’s very one-sided and attacks women but says nothing about men evaluating their use of time. I definitely think a follow-up article is needed!
I don’t have time right now to read your blog – and if the article is anything to go by, I’m not likely to try to find the time. The contents of the Globe article were ridiculous. The fact that you did manage to make two valid points does not out come close to outweighing the rest of the arrogant foolishness.
For starters, most people who work have to commute, which means that a 40 hour work week is NOT 40 hours out of the week but 50 (or more). Furthermore, she blandly states that 4 hours is “too much” time on housework. Not that she gives any real way to spend less time on housework (unless you can afford the household help.) Laundry has to be done, food has to be cooked, space needs to be cleaned, if the family is to live sanely.
Her suggestion to use the time between 6:00 – 8:00 would by hysterically funny if it weren’t so insane. For one thing, most very young children do, in fact get up considerably earlier than 8:00 – actually 6:00 is not all that uncommon. And, if a mother is leaving the house and someone has to make sure that the kid(s) get to childcare dressed and fed, the Mother is almost certainly going to wake the kid(s) up. Feeding and dressing even one child just takes a certain amount of time, no matter how “efficient” you are – children and not inanimate simple geometric shapes into which we can shovel food and dump clothes onto.
I could go on, but I think you get the gist.
As for the mother who says that having more kids means that they entertain each other, that sounds like a case of selective amnesia to me. Until the kids are old enough to do a substantial amount of house work, each child adds housework time, as well as time for dealing with mundane care issues such as dressing (for younger ones), insuring adequate clothing, school supplies etc. And that doesn’t begin to deal with the possibility of an infant with sleep issues, school problems, or health issues (even minor ones) that require visits tot he doctor, etc. thrown into the mix.
All in all, to say I’m not impressed is a huge understatement.
I loved your article in the Globe and Mail! Very sensible. After working a high intensity job for many years, and learning to organize time, I found my eventual motherhood to be a breeze! Our family has no issue ‘figuring out what is for dinner’ or staying on top of chores, and we make lots of time for each of us, as well as spending time together. There is little make-work.