The parenting dance

I'm on a couple of parenting lists that recently have had lots of discussion about two "working outside the home" parents managing home life with one or more children. I have to say all the posts have been great to read because I have been fretting a bit about how in the world we are going to manage in the fall when Natalie starts Kindergarten.

Currently I handle both drop-off and pick-up, which does make a little bit of sense since my office is a block away and DH's office is the absolute other way in DC. It doesn't make it easy, though. It's still an additional 40 minutes of "on-the-job duty" of fastening car seats, controlling arms so that a toy doesn't go airborne, keeping peace in the car while we drive, getting children out of the car and keeping them safe until we get into the lobby, get them in classrooms and coats hung up, talk to teachers about the night, etc. Then add a similar 40 minutes at pick-up time. Times 5 days a week. Yes, that's an additional 6 2/3 hours -- or almost an additional WORK DAY -- each week.

DH gets it easy.