Man Seeks Advice As His Wife Work Schedule Is Affecting Their Family Function And Their Own Relationship

"A full-time commitment has a gravely detrimental impact on our well-being"

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• October 31, 2023

It can be challenging to balance work and family obligations and if you're in doubt, ask any working parent around you as they can attest to that. Working parents have to juggle work and family while still focusing on their careers.

Both men's and women's lives are impacted by long work hours. However, women have been more affected by lengthy work hours than men have been in terms of their family relationships.

The influence of life and family obligations on the employee varies depending on the type of flexible work schedule that was arranged between the business and the employee. Workers who have opted for a four-day workweek or a shortened workweek are typically able to fit their planned vacation time around personal and family obligations.

Employees who work from home face unique challenges also. However, child care presents a unique problem for all parents and the OP of today's story didn't have it any different.

The OP works as a hospital-based physician and makes about $470k per year. His wife works in education and makes roughly $82k per year.

They have been married for almost 7 years and had their first child shortly after their one-year anniversary. Currently, they have two kids, and his wife wants to go back to work, while the OP doesn't want that for obvious reasons.

Read the OP's full story below to learn what reasons are behind OP's refusal for his wife to go back to work fully.

The OP writes

They’re busy kids who the OP and his wife feel require an above average level of energy from them

The initial 18 month maternity leave turned into a roughly 33 month leave of absence

The mother of the OP's wife used this as an opportunity to further compel her to return home

The grandparent supports would enable the OP and his wife to reignite their relationship

As this position was the only guaranteed way for their kids to go to their preferred school

The OP also has cleaners that come in every week to take that chore off their lists

They didn’t need her to be doing this every day, and that it made every morning awful

It’s like pulling teeth to get more than an hour of childcare at a time out of her

The Reddit post got hundreds of comments and we've gathered some of the topmost ones for you to read through below

Please stop making it about money

She can work and so can the OP

It sounds like OP's family issues could be solved by a nanny

OP needs to understand it from another point

Employers can agree that flexible work schedules benefit employees' personal and family lives. When children are ill, need to see a doctor, have teacher conferences, and have numerous life and family obligations that conflict with work, employees are often given flexibility.

Redditors have offered their own advice to the OP, and you can drop yours in the comments section below. Do share with your loved ones to get their own opinions as well.

Maryjane