Moms Have More Leisure Time Than They Think, Researcher Says

Why sleep? Just find something to keep yourself awake all the time.Then you could also work extra hours at the job. HAHAHAHAHA

I don't know how this so-called researcher got his/her information, but I'll bet that drinking their own bathwater had something to do with these findings. Most of the men and women I know, barely have enough time to scratch their asses, let alone go out and enjoy 30-40 hours of some laughable "spare time". It seems to me that this so-called "researcher" found some new way to screw the government out of grant money and sat back and made up a bunch of figures. Well, I'm not buying it at all...

Get the kids up for school? Oh my! That must take all of 10 seconds out of your day. Do the laundry? Wow! Because it's not like we have machines that wash the clothes for you....

I'm so sick of women complaining about how touch it is to be a mom and how they're soooo busy with the kids all day long and making beds ALL DAY LONG.

Give me a break. The kids go off to school and you sit your fat, lazy asses on the couch watching Oprah, soap operas, and reality television with a case of ice cream. Sometimes you'll get off your asses do run "errands" (shopping for clothes with your husband's money), but for the most part, you have it about 100 times easier than your husband will ever have it.

Now I'm not saying it's wrong. A wife has to be keeping up the home and making sure the kids get picked up at school and so forth, because this is a role that should never be filled by nannies or hired help, but at the same time, don't complain about not having enough time in the day to relax or act like being a mom is toughest job you can do in the world.

I go into work at 9. I take my son to day care at around 8. I leave my house at 7. I get up at 5:30. I do not get off work til six and then I go pick up my little one and drive home and get there maybe at 7 pm. Once I get home I have to cook supper, wash clothes, give him a bath, clean up the house somewhat, then get a spare second to eat my food before putting my son to bed.Once he is asleep, I get to lay my clothes out for work the next day, shower and pack his bags for daycare the next day. That puts me at around 9, and by that time I turn on the baby monitor and pass out, only to be woken at early hours of the morning to comfort a little boy from a bad dream. Now I am not sure who these researchers are but I would love to know where the 30+ hours that are suppose to be leisure time are because I would love to spend more time with my son. As for the men working equal that is by far a stretch of the truth b/c my husband works 40 hrs and then comes home to eat the food I cooked and is in bed long before I am to get his good night sleep.

This thing is like a bad penny. Totally uninteresting. I can't believe Robindson's research was ever deemed worthy of coverage in the first place and I am sad to see that it has resurfaced after the asinine Washington Post article.

The only REAL issue this surfaces is a definitional one: what is leisure time. There seems to be broad-based consensus that Robinson's definition is absurd. Why not develop one that makes some sense and measure again.

To Dan...you must be an idiot and eat paint chips right? every comment you made is so far off base and Im a guy and can see you have no clue...;yeah lets see 3 kids getting them up cleaned dressed and fed and to school takes 10 seconds does it? Guess you never saw a kid in your life as you know this takes alot more then 10 seconds..yeah machines wash the clothes but who gathers them seperates them dries them then takes them out folds them hangs them sorts them pairs the socks up turns all your inside out socks and shirts right side out oh wait thats the laundry fairy and how many loads a week for a family of 5???Ok so now lets see who went grocery shopping made breakfast school lunches oh and dinner for the asshole like you coming home.. Guess in between someone washed dishes fed the dog or cats, vacumed cleaned the bathroom, moped the floors, dusted, scheduled the doctors appointment oh wait some one has to go pick the kids up and make sure they eat and do thier home work...yeah id say pretty much a lounge around day...I dont have kids but had parents and 2 brothers and I have ton of single friends who do this alone and then they have jobs..All i do is work my 85 hours aweek and come home and take care of me and my house and I get 5 hours of sleep on a good day...dumb ass

I think this article could be accurate in a family where both the mother and father are together and both are doing their part. However, often times it becomes a battle of wills and the natural order of things gets thrown off. People make it harder on themselves sometimes. When you work together you get a lot more done, thus more free time. But people resist. I have seen couples fighting over what groceries to buy, and no it's not because of a money issue..it's because of control issues. It makes you wonder what else they nit pick about.

Man, I know what you're talking about! My husband is constantly telling me I don't do anything. If I do nothing, he does less than nothing! I wish he had to do everything I have to do during the course of a day. He can't understand why I'm always so tired. Well, let's see, my mornings start at 5:45 am, I work outside the home 8-9 hrs a day, come home and am immediately asked "What's for dinner?" by someone who just woke up (he works Fri-Sun overnight 12 hr shifts) and am constantly battling laundry, dishes, and trying to take care of my four dogs.

This guy is just that--a guy. He doesn't have the strength to even imagine what it takes to be a woman.

What's sad is that any woman would post that she has to take care of her kids AND HUBBY ! Why would a grown man have to be "taken care of ?"

Yeah.. I don't care what the 'societal ideal' is men do NOT do much at home. Some help more than others, but to be honest they do not and won't help as much as moms need them to. (for the most part, there are always exceptions to prove the rule).

Tazdvl, congrats on getting your ex to finally realize how hard you work... too bad it took him so long. And Joyce, you need a new husband! :P
We women need to put a foot down and stop carrying more than our weight. If you are doing more than your share, STOP! Maybe hubbies will learn how to run the washer when they run out of clean underwear.

Some of us Dads have the same schedule. Before I lost my job (in manufacturing), I still did 99% of the grocery shopping, most of the cooking and kitchen duties, most of the yardwork (kids did a little), all "home repair" tasks, and some of the laundry.
Example: one Saturday I was reparing the ceiling of our covered back porch. (Ceiling had collapsed during recent storm.) While on the ladder, with a Skil saw in my hand, my wife walked outside and wanted to know when I was going to start dinner!! The only thing that kept me from fussing at her was the presence of a visiting child!
BTW - my wife has not worked a "full-time" job in 20 years!
Some of us Dads are in fact doing MORE than their fair share!!

I like those surveys that always make the woman look like a slave. They don't include most of the routine work males do around the house like shoveling snow, fixing the house and car, taking out the trash, lifting anything heavy.. But really, there are plenty of lazy SLOBS of both genders, and their partners suffer, at least until they leave.......................first of all shoveling snow, fixing the house and car and taking out the trash and heavy lifting at the home is not an every day chore........

Shoveling snow? Taking out the trash? Fixing things about the house? Poor men. That's just so much. Not really. My mom was a single parent and had to do all of that. Plus what about places where snow is pretty rare? I live in VA and it honestly took years for us to get anything worth making a snowball about. Any idiot can seriously take out the trash. I'm having a very hard beginning pregnancy and I took out two weeks worth of trash(we're not wasters so we can do that.) on ice. And my mother(who has RA) and I are both renovating a house. Floors, paint, electrical work, plumbing etc. are all being done by two less than perfectly healthy at the moment females. We both work, I'm in school, and starting a business.

My boyfriend, in comparison, doesn't do half as much outside his job. I asked him to bring me cupcakes two weeks ago. I'm still waiting.

Are you kidding? I am the one who shovels the walks, takes care of the house, the yard, lifts heavy stuff, takes care of a 2 year old, holds down a job and a thousand other things a man wouldn't even attempt. Just ask yourself how many times you say one of the following:
Honey, where is (fill in the blank)
Honey, what do you want me to do with (fill in the child and/or activity)
Honey, do we have (fill in the food, toy, or paperwork required to run a house)

Mom's with young kids have no free time, those little ones are a 24/7 responsibility! But when your kids are older it changes. I am a single mom (60% of all households) and I do everything around the house, inside and out, maintain vehicles plus am a room mom, teen leader at church and a volunteer for several ministries. I work 3 to 4 12 hour shifts as an RN. II have taught my kids to wash their own clothes, help with meals or prepare their own, have a fairly clean but not perfect house (do not stress about whether my bed is made or not, who really cares, judge me on what I do for others not on whether my bed is made!). My kids are involved in everything from band to football and we are very active in church. I still have probably about ten hours a week I would consider leisure time (watching movies, going out, etc.). I get regular massages, pedicures, etc. It is all in the planning and organizing. I think 30 is stretching it, unless you have a husband to help you. I do get sick and tired of these "housewives" complaining about all they have to do and how underappreciated they are. Wake up and appreciate how lucky you are!