HBR Guides to Managing Your Career Collection (6 Books)

CHAPTER 16

Balance Parenting and Work Stress

by Daisy Wademan Dowling

“Ask for a flexible schedule—it’s the only way to balance work and family.”

“Think hard about part-time. You’ll end up working on your days off anyway—for less money.”

“Back in ’86, when my first daughter was born, I learned to completely check out on evenings and weekends.”

“Hire more help!”

“It only gets harder as they get older.”

Most working parents look to their networks of mentors, coworkers, and professional contacts for advice on balancing the competing demands of work and home. But the off-the-cuff guidance that most new working parents get, even if it’s candid and well intentioned, isn’t always helpful. Too often it’s contradictory, vague, out of date, unactionable, ...