The man who said that working mothers have 30 hours of leisure time each week is incorrect. No working parent has 30 hours of leisure time a week. He could only find 30 hours in Schulte's life by counting "waiting for a tow truck" as leisure; and while one may make the most of waiting for a tow truck by doing yoga by the side of the road or telling stories to one's child, there's just no way it can be considered leisure.
That said: What parent expects 30 hours of leisure each week? Most parents I know would find five hours of true leisure perfectly acceptable.
Lastly I quote Penelope Trunk (who I just discovered & find to be a kindred spirit; I must have Asperger's as well; it would explain a lot) in her piece My financial history, and stop whining about your job: "I'm saying you need to be an adult, and realize that adults make big decisions. Things don't just happen to you. You have power to decide what your life will be like."
5 comments:
No kidding - 30 seconds is more like it.
Penelope Trunk is a moron who doesn't understand just how much privilege she has or how much it influences the choices she can make.
Wow, that was harsh. But accurate.
Single parents DO have constraints on their choices. I need to be able to pick Frances up by six, and I can't go on business trips. This eliminates almost every job in my field, which requier overtime and travel. I can't move out of the Toronto area (taking Frances away from her Dad) so I can't reduce my living expenses any more than they already have been--even moving to the suburbs and commuting (which I would hate for environmental reasons as well) is impossible as I would never be able to pick Frances up before her daycare closes, wherever it is. I am constantly on the lookout for positions that meet those criteria and don't require me moving Frances into a tenement; in three years I've yet to find one. As for ehr lovely "you made those choices, suck it up!" sentiment, WOW. Would I love to say that to her now that freelance writing is tanking nation-wide and her own income has probably dropped by half.
But (ahem) on the subject of free time for working mothers, yeah. Any calculation that includes time waiting for a tow truck is missing a few screws. Mind you, I do think a lot of people could get a lot more free time for themelves and their families by simply turning off the television.
Hey all,
I emailed Andrea privately but then thought I should put something here, too.
I don't think PT is saying that you have no constraints on your choices. I think she's saying that everyone is under constraints of some kind, and accepting those constraints & doing your best to maximize your life despite them is part of being an adult.
I don't think she's saying that the world is perfect & if your life is less than perfect, it's your fault. She is not talking about blame at all. She's not talking about perfection. She's talking about making your life less sucky.
I would like 30 hours a week of leisure time. I was thrilled to send my husband and child out of the house on Saturday to a movie, so that I could get some damned stuff done, like paying bills and laundry.
It's the definition of leisure (and choice, I guess) that's the rub, huh?
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