Category Archives: Families

Ellen Galinsky: “We have seen a real change in both women and men.”

By FWInews | Published: March 10, 2010
Here is Ellen Galinsky on PRI’s The Takeaway Since December 2007, seven million jobs have been lost in our country, and the majority of those who’ve lost their jobs have been men. At the same time, females have been returning to the workforce in higher numbers than their male counterparts, and more and more women [...]
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Kids Directing Air Traffic Control: What’s the Story?

By Lois Backon | Published: March 8, 2010
I was on the treadmill, after listening to The Today Show’s 7:00 AM opening.  The lead story was about the Air Traffic Controller who brought his 8 year-old son and 8 year-old daughter to work with him, two nights in a row.  The children took the microphone, and with their Dad’s instructions, communicated with pilots [...]
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Dual-Income Parents: The Exhausted American Middle

By Morra | Published: March 4, 2010
I posted this on BlogHer.com this week. Back in the mythic 50s and 60s, housewives like Betty Friedan and Betty Draper were very bored. The Feminine Mystique opens with this description of an average housewife’s day: “Many women no longer left their homes, except to shop, chauffeur their children or attend a social engagement with their husbands.” Contrast [...]
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Preventing Aggression in Children

By Ellen Galinsky | Published: February 24, 2010
Since the days when my children were little, child development researchers have made great headway in understanding the genetic, biological and family triggers of aggression. There have also been new and much more sophisticated studies on how to prevent aggression or reduce it, if it has already flared up in children. A new study by Colleen [...]
Also posted in Child Development, Early childhood, Mind in the Making, Minds in the making | 1 Comment

Listen to the “What Kids Really Think About Their Working Parents” Podcast

By Morra | Published: February 10, 2010
Great discussion with Ellen Galinsky, Lisa Belkin, and Dr. Joshua Coleman: click here for the podcast. (Note: the Talkshoe service doesn’t like Firefox, for some reason. If the link doesn’t work, try another browser. Sorry). Lisa Belkin blogged about the show here. For highlights, check out the live Twitter feed on Fem2pt0, with good quotes, including: # [...]
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What Do Kids Really Think About Their Working Parents? Tune in Wed. 1pm to Learn

By Morra | Published: February 8, 2010
This Wednesday, February 10, 1 PM EST, join us on Talkshoe.com, as Ellen Galinsky, president of Families and Work Institute and author of Ask the Children and Mind in the Making, moderates a discussion with Lisa Belkin, New York Times writer and author of the Motherlode blog on nytimes.com, and clinical psychologist Joshua Coleman, author [...]
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Don’t lose the family in the headlines about the State of the Union

By Ellen Galinsky | Published: January 27, 2010
Cross-posted from Huffington Post: In listening to the political commentators prepare for the State of the Union Address tonight, most of them are telling the President that he must reframe the discussion, have courage, and focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. I think that the President is doing something quite courageous that SADLY may be missed in the [...]
Also posted in Economy, Eldercare, Men/Fathers, Michelle Obama, Obama Administration, Policy, Women/Mothers, Work Life Integration, Workforce/Workplace | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Homemade Playdough and other snow-day projects

By Morra | Published: January 18, 2010
Here in Boston it’s a snowy, cold day and we’re inside. On a day like today you need an activity that engages kids and the grown-ups. A project to stick with for a little while, no pun intended. A friend suggested the toddler and I make homemade play-dough today. So I asked for recipes on [...]
Also posted in Early childhood, Mind in the Making | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

“The House of Work Is a Tear-Down”

By Morra | Published: January 14, 2010
Arresting title, and absolutely thought-provoking post from Chrysula Winegar here: “Adjusting for both factors (of access to better childcare and equal pay for the same work), I still will not be enticed back into full time work right now. Possibly not ever. I simply do not want to be away from my children for all those [...]
Also posted in Flexible work, Men/Fathers, Women/Mothers | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

“Motherhood wasn’t just all about me as one person”: Mojo Mom Looks Back on the 2000s

By Morra | Published: January 4, 2010
This retrospective piece from Amy Tiemann, aka MojoMom, crystallizes what so many working parents face as we think about the larger meaning of our own, cobbled together work-life situations. Amy writes that when she became a mom in 1999, from her own “ruggedly individualistic” perspective her choice to opt-out for a bit wasn’t so bad. [...]
Also posted in FWI news, Flexible work | 1 Comment