Men Do 13 Hours of Chores a Week, Research Finds

Shomo,
Your point has merit, but, when MOMS treat childcare as a "chore" or a "burden", do not blame Dads, or these surveys, for doing the same. Women's rights groups consider the "stay-at-home" mom as "sacrificing" her career or "supporting her husband's career". Well .... if the mom truly would rather have a career outside the home than inside the home, then, that is a fair assessment.

BUT - most moms I know would rather stay at home. And many Dads would also prefer to stay at home. So, for most people, the one making the sacrifice is the one leaving the home.

Two years ago, my father had heart surgery. The next day, in the ICU, my wife and I, my brother and his wife, and my mom, were visiting my father. The others were ribbing me about being unemployed. (The company I had worked for had been sold and relocated overseas. So, I was enjoying the "opportunity" to be the "stay-at-home Dad".) The nurse, male, ~35 yrs old, overhead the conversation and stepped in and made this comment: (paraphrasing) "I have been working in this area of the hospital for 5 years. I have met hundreds of people who are literally facing death. None of them ever said that they wished they spent more time at the office."
In most cases, the "stay-at-home" parent is the lucky one. And Dads are asking society to let them have that opportunity. But, few people, especially women, take these Dads seriously. That is teh point of this article.
We are doing alot around the house. In my case, before I lost my job, my combined efforts at the office and at home greatly exceeded my wife's combined efforts! (She worked part-time and did less around the house than I did. You can ask the kids!)

Having had two marriages, I've seen two kinds of men.

The guy who does the outside work (you know, mow the yard once every two weeks and change the oil once every three months) so he doesn't have to do anything in the house except make a mess. No cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry, child care, homework, music lessons, parent-teacher conferences. He does, however, smack the kids around and spend money we didn't have on drugs.

The other guy does so much for me I feel a little guilty. He shares the cooking and vacuuming and does his own laundry, as well as changes the oil on the cars and mows the yard. We share the yard work and he helps me with my gardening projects. He brings me flowers and candy and basically treats me like a princess.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are great guys out there who more than pull their load. And there are some who don't.

What do men do for 676 hours a year... I say "spank the monkey" :-)

When women complain about it all the time...and treat it as if it is a chore...why shouldnt it count? Why are you downplaying this?

I happen to have the most wonderful husband in the world. We both work outside the home, however I have 2 days off through the week and he has one. On those days we both do whatever needs to be done in and around the house. On days that we both work, whoever gets home first starts dinner and checks homework, when the other comes in they put the kids in the bath while the other is cooking. We appreciate what the other does, and we say "thank you" even though it is supposed to be our "jobs".

I hate when Dads refer to child care as "babysitting". Teenagers babysit. What you are doing when you care for your child is "parenting".

That being said, can you believe some of the husband and wife bashing going on in the comments that follow yours? Bitter much?

It never said marriend men or fathers were surveyed, so 6.9 hours of childcare is a lot when you include absent fathers and men with no children. Also, to kiki, childcare makes no direct reference to interacting, playing or loving your children so please don't try to give all men a bad name just because you have daddy issues.

Yeah, 6.9 hours. How many hours does the woman do the around the house stuff? Hom many times does she do the yard work or clear the snow? Maintain the car? The house? Ever change the oil? Who does the grunt work? And that's in addition to working and all the other stuff a man does around the house. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time for the kids.

ok..so we'll spend more time with the kids and you fix the cars, clean the gutters, do electrical work and other stuff not typically done by women around the house. Whats with your male bashing? Check this out. Im going to use your same trick back at you. Because the woman doesnt do the electrical work in the house, she doesnt care about the safety of her family. See what I did there. Thats what you are doing. Thats pretty messed up.

Just like the article outlines, women are very self centered and very fast to blow an attention trumpet everytime they have to pick up a single thing off of the floor. So in your obtruse opinion a mans job is 13 hours a week while yours is 24/7. You give us a prime example of why America fails to have real families. Men do most of the the things that they do while not even mentioning it so in an overinflated female brain this means he did nothing. All the while she wants a parade thrown in her honor everytime she does a little something, so to her this means she does everything. Yes indeed it is a 24/7 job to be a total bitch. Just because your attitude creates men problems in your life does not discredit men, it only discredits you.

I really hate sterotypes and generalizations. My wife and i have things worked out. She works and I volunteer roughly 60 hrs a week to worthwhile organizations. I also do all the cooking, all the cleaning and all the food prep (except for big family meals where she prefers to cook).

I've always been involved with the kids and always did at least 50% of the household chores including cleaning and home maintenance.

Get a grip gals. Not all men are slugs....

YOU ALSO COMPLAIN , BREAK BALLS , WHINE ABOUT VERYTHING , AND CONSTANTLY ANNOY

Like the good dads aren't?!!

Yea my wife use to complain that I don't do anything around the house. So we did calculate how much time each of us spent working and doing house hold tasks. It turned out that I worked about 20 more hours a week than she did. Her reply.... you like working outside in the yard so that doesn't count!

GROW UP GIRLS!!

Hey Bob-maybe the reason you can't get your wife's attention isn't due to her being exhausted or distracted by everyday problems from a job or financial worries thanks to this stinkin' Obama-borne economy on top of her wife & momy duties...maybe it's YOU, personally. Do you shower, compliment her or take her flowers, etc. "just because"? Women know when a man is stalking her for a "piece" or "quickie" or as I tell my "20-something" year-old friends of my daughter: "Don't be just a receptacal". Guys don't need a reason; they just need a place...Sounds like the word "Romance" doesn't exist in your vocabulary...