Dads are getting just as stressed out as moms

Well, the good news is the bad news: Dads are starting to feel just as stressed out as moms when it comes to balancing work and home life. According to a recent study reported in the New York Times, a combination of economic and social factors have brought us into a brave new parenting landscape, one in which women and men make up an equal percentage of the workforce and are increasingly sharing the child rearing duties at home. The result? Dads are having a hard adjustment period.

The Boston College study maintains that at least part of the difficulty is due to perception: even though dads are taking on more responsibility at home, the assumption in the workplace is that "they will be largely unaffected by children." They are also less likely to advocate for themselves-rather than ask formally for a flexible schedule or time off to take care of sick children, fathers tried to take care of their families "in 'stealth' fashion."

"Men are facing the same clash of social ideals that women have faced since the 1970s - how do you be a good parent and a good worker?" Joan C. Williams, the director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California told the Times. "This is a pretty sensitive indicator of the rise of the new ideal of the good father as a nurturing father, not just a provider father."

So does more stress about work/ life balance mean that dad is doing more household work than mom? Er, not really. According to the National Survey of Families and Households from the University of Wisconsin, when both husband and wife work outside the home, the woman spends about 28 hours a week on housework, while her husband can only claim about 16 hours. Then again, men are still primarily the breadwinners in their families, although that statistic is also rapidly shifting.

What do you think, parents? Which of you does the majority of the child rearing and household duties? Are you equally stressed, or does one of you seem to feel it more than the other?