Blog entry #5

Children’s Share in Household Tasks
Similar to adult life when women are responsible for most of the household tasks, girls usually participate more in household tasks than their brothers do. Girls are taught roles within the home, as well as prepared for entering the workforce and higher education in school. Boys, however, do not get any teaching in domestic tasks, and are only prepared to enter the workforce. However, with the increased importance placed on schoolwork and preparation for higher education, children spend less time on schoolwork. Most parents place little stress on preparing their children to be in the workforce, and do not view chores are a necessity. In rural areas, children share more in household tasks than in urban areas. This is often because in rural homes, there is more land and bigger homes to be responsible for. The study reveals that children only participate in certain household tasks, but in some tasks such as “… washing the dishes and for cleaning the house… [children] are taking more than a quarter of the responsibility for these tasks (and more than their fathers do)” (Goldscheider et. al 811). As children grow older, they participate less in household tasks, explaining that they and their parents want them to focus on their studies. When children are older, one role they take on, if needed, is taking care of younger siblings. Teenage years are often when boys begin to participate less in household tasks, and girls begin to participate much more. Thus, in the teenage years is when the sex roles begin to develop and there is a sharp distinction between the two genders.
Female-run, single parent, households have substantially less financial income, because the women are responsible for both the paid and unpaid work. Because of this, children are often needed more within the household. It is unknown, however, if boys or girls pickup more of these extra tasks within the household. We assume that both boys and girls work within the household. Research suggests that in single-parent households, parents and their children have more of a partnership because of this share in household tasks (Goldscheider et. al 815). Teenage boys often participate in the typically male tasks, such as yard work and maintenance, but in single-parent households they often pickup other tasks as well. Adult girls take on an incredible amount of work in single parent households, and this and the role of males suggests single-parent households are much different than married households.
Next the author investigates stepparent families. Families with biological mothers and stepfather see children doing an increased amount of housework than in traditional families, perhaps because children were used to doing increased amounts of work from when their mother was single. Stepdaughters often do increased amount of work than the boys in the family.

How to Succeed in Childhood
The author asserts that in her book, she found substantial evidence that ways of parenting is not responsible for differences among children (Harris). Throughout history, ways of child rearing have changed but children themselves have not changed drastically. Children often imitate their parents, but that is not how parents want their children to act. Parents want their children to act like children. Harris cities two main goals for children- getting along with their parents and siblings, and getting along with other members of society, most importantly, in their own generation. Children also need to learn how to separate their relationships with different types of people, which will help them understand how to act appropriately in different relationships. Children are able to separate relationships and places, and often act very different when at a different place or with different people. Humans have always functioned in groups, beginning with hunter-gatherer societies. Now, however, humans interact with many more different groups than before, and need to learn how to act appropriately within each group. The problem with groups is that when one group meets another they often react with hostility. “The mere division into two groups tends to make each group see the other as different from itself in an unfavorable way, and that makes its members want to be different from the other group” (Harrison). This is not to say, however, that there are not differences within groups, people want to be individuals within the groups they belong to. From this, Harrison concludes that this is often why teenagers and young adults rebel- they want to be different from the adult group. Harrison asserts that the most influential group is the peer group, not the parents. Children learn culture and behaviors through their peer group, not parents.

From Work-Family Balance to Work-Family Interaction
Almost all parents in dual-earning families somewhat or strongly agree that mothers who work can have just as good of a relationship with their children as mothers at home can, but fewer men agreed with this statement than women did. The researcher gave children a questionnaire to “grade” their parents’ parenting skills, and found no difference between the grades of families with working mothers versus non working mothers, as well as between mothers that work full time versus part time (Galinsky 222). The important factor is not how often the child is mothered, but instead how well they are mothered when their mother is around. Half of employed parents agree to the statement “It is much better for everyone involved if the man earns the money and the woman takes care of the home and children” (Galinsky 224). This concludes that a father’s employment is extremely important to the family, more so than the mother’s possible employment. However, fathers also agree that children would do well if they were the main caregivers, not the mothers. Once again, similar to the importance of the mother, the factor is not if the father works or not, it is how well he fathers when he is in the child’s life. When researching childcare providers other than the parents, the researcher found that children do not find these people as parent replacements, rather as extended family. However, that is only true if the childcare provided is of good quality. The above three conclusions of the importance of mothers, fathers, and other caregivers lead to the conclusion that the quality of the time spent with a child is as important as the quantity. While many parents feel stressed for time in today’s society, it is important for them to know that factor.