Posted on 15. Nov, 2005 by Brian Reid in General
First, convention stuff: I plan on keeping open for one more day the voting on the time/location question. I’ll break any ties. (And yes, there are black bumper stickers for those who have signed up. Haven’t seen ‘em yet, though, so I can’t vouch for their coolness. But they’ll be free.)
Also: UPDATE: Dr. Pruett has reconsidered. There *will* (technology willing) be a podcast of the keynote.
Second: Work-life balance. The Washington Post yesterday ran one of the more interesting pieces I’ve see on the working vs at-home dichotomy. The author, a lawyer named Lynn R. Charytan, makes the argument that staying home (or working) doesn’t make you a different parent. Staying home won’t change your level of patience or the value of time. As someone who has straddled the line, it rang true, and it is certainly a different take on the subject.
Jeff
15. Nov, 2005
Man….. that stinks.
Not that I’ll be missing it, but I would have liked to have a podcast of it.
chip
15. Nov, 2005
Can you do podcast reporting with snippets of talks? I too was looking forward to getting a feel for the convention from afar. But reports after the fact will be fine too.
On the article, this mom’s kids are already pretty far along (11, 6 and 2) and patterns already well established, I wouldn’t expect any change. But I have to say that I think that staying home for two years with my daughter when she was very little did make a difference in how I am a dad. By spending that time full time with her as a baby I learned some really important lessons about parenting (and life) that I don’t think I would have picked up if I’d been working full time that whole time. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy, but as I’ve blogged about, that time brought about a real paradigm shift for me that I’m not sure would have happened otherwise.
Sylvia
15. Nov, 2005
The article made some good points - however, I don’t believe three months of temporary SAHM duty equates to being a SAHM over a longer period of time. I left my career 2.5 years ago. It took me well over a year to feel like a SAHM and the points she made did change for me over time.
The fact that she knew she was returning to her job makes me wonder if she mentally really left it - therefore, no wonder she didn’t notice a change.
Jeff
15. Nov, 2005
How are you planning on recording the keynote?
Just curious.
Also, I’m pretty handy with a camera. If you’d like, I’d be more than happy to share some photos with ya (seeing as that I don’t have my own Flickr set up yet and don’t feel like doing it right now….. call me lazy).
Rebel Dad
16. Nov, 2005
I’ll probably record directly into the laptop in as simple a format as possible (.wav, most likely, unless I get ambitious and install my audio software onto the laptop). I’ll convert to MP3 in production.
And the more photogs, the better.
Mark Andrew
16. Nov, 2005
I can agree with the SAHM that some things don’t change, especially after 3 months. I’ve been on a 6 month sabbatical and I still need to lose 10 lbs, haven’t done most of the projects that I’d planned to, and my patience on doing homework with the kids (11 and
is about the same. However, there have been alot of subtle changes that have made the lifesytle change well worth it. My wife is a full time student and is able to focus on her studies with alot less stress, the house is more organized and structured (yes, I’m Type A whatever that still means), and I’ve been able to pursue several areas of study that I’ve put off for years. These are just a few examples.
I guess I need to write a longer article and submit it.
mark
a rebeldad in Texas
Bill
17. Nov, 2005
Thanks Doc Pruett, for reconsidering!!