Blog #4

I believe there are many different opinions of what defines a good family life, subject to whom is being asked and how they grew up. For some a good family life may be a steady income, open communication, and general good moral in the home. To others it may be more materialistic- such as a nice house, cars, and other commodities. It may be all about openness, being able to talk, and spend time with one another. It depends on how they grew up; someone who grew up with only one parent may believe that is a good family life while some may define it only as two parents. To me, I believe it is about balance of a few things: communication, time spent together, and problem solving. It is important to me to communicate with my family members about my daily life and problems. I try to spend as much time as I can with my little sister and with both my parents; my parents are divorced so this is sometimes a challenge. Also, problem solving is key, because no family is perfect and there will times when we disagree. A major source of conflict is holidays for my family. Since my parents did not finalize their divorce till after I was 18, I have always been able to choose which holiday I spend with my Mother and Father. Sometimes it is so hectic where I have to go to both on Thanksgiving and Christmas; when I had a boyfriend sometimes I would just go to his family events. But being able to talk it out with my parents and make their feelings are hurt is important to me, so problem solving comes in handy during the holiday season. To me, I have a good family life now although my parents are divorced.

As I mentioned before balance is essential in a good family life, especially when it comes to career and family. In most situations at least one parents must work, or both, to support the family. Growing up my father was often away on business but it was essential for his job. I was lucky enough to have my mother work at home so I did have a fulltime parent. In the “Juggling Work and Family” movie they showed a couple with two children; the mother works during the day and the father works at night. At this point, they are only able to work these hours so their children can always have a parent around. Another example the video showed was a working mother who leaves her children alone from 3:00 to 6:00pm but when she gets home from work she is still exhausted. Also, the hospital worker picks up as many overtimes shifts as he can to earn money. It may seem like these families are only focusing on work, but in order to support their family they must work these shifts. There are all making the best out of their situations, despite the complications.

Some factors which contribute to these complications are that kids get out school between 2:00 and 3:00pm while most office jobs go until 5:00 or 6:00pm. Also, there is a lack of understanding and flexibility from management. The study conducted look at traditional flextime, daily flextime, and telecommuting. Daily flextime showed the best results while telecommuting caused the most problems within the office. Both flexibility options showed a positive effect on work productivity. This study could shed some light on how managers can be most understanding to those supporting a family. Someone who was allowed more flexible hour could work while their child was at a school and then telecommute from home if they needed to complete more work.

Another factor contributing to this is the gender roles, after World War Two many women entered the workforce and their presence in jobs just continued to grow. Inflation caused more women to go to work because their husbands salary could not cover all household costs. This also caused a shift from males being the sole breadwinners to possible staying home with the children. If their wife had a successful job they could stay home with the child, in essence a role swap. Going back to a previous blog, most jobs that are being cut belong to men in the construction and finance areas so the women have to work while their husbands are unemployed.

Since all the responsibility cannot be left up to management, people may need to reach out to their coworkers, neighbors, and possibly other family members. In another blog video, a company used a team approach instead of having a manager. So the team was able to decide if someone could leave work early. The use of neighbors could help out if you need someone to check on your pet or make sure your child gets home from school. Finally, the collaboration of all family members can really help out in balancing work and family. The career woman who had her child make dinner twice a week is using her other family members to achieve balance. Not only are they helping out heir mother, but also learning skills they can use when they have their own family. Overall, there are many approaches to achieve a good family life and balance between career and family. Understanding from management, exploration of flexibility techniques, improving telecommuting, and using neighbors can help achieve a good family life.