Browse by Tags

• Dustin Hoffman's wife wants him out of the house

  You would think that after two Academy Awards, numerous nominations and over 100 films that Dustin Hoffman would be entitled to take a little time off You would, however, be wrong. Hoffman's wife, after seeing him lying around the house in a cardigan, told him to get out...   Read More... Posted Jun 16 2008, 01:30 PM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: children, Celebrities, celebrity, entertainment, Movies, news, marriage, film, jobs, Brett Singer, Kung Fu Panda, dustin hoffman, retirement, william shatner, back to work, show business, lisa gottsegen

• Dads Get Screwed For Staying At Home--Just Like Moms!

  Here's a problem many women who took a break from working outside the home to be with the kids have faced for a while: How to explain the blank space on the resume? The fact that being a SAH parent isn't given much respect, and the unfair impression some employers have that it means you aren't serious about your career have meant women have had a harder time breaking back into the paid workforce. But hey, problems like this aren't just for the ladies anymore. Ain't equal treatment grand? With increasing numbers of dads opting out to raise the pups... Read More... Posted Jun 13 2008, 05:01 PM by Kelly Mills with | with no comments Filed under: dads, moms, working, sexism, SAHD, jobs, SAHM, career, employers, workforce, stay at home

• Women Not Having It All, Having It All, Had Enough

  Meg Wolitzer has a new novel called "The Ten-Year Nap". It's about moms, mostly moms who left the workforce to stay at home with kids. It sounds good, and she says, "In fiction, stay-at-home moms have often been [subject to] mockery, and I think it's very sexist: the stay-at-home mother whose children are oversubscribed, who has reduced her entire brain to trivial things." We can totally use some better depictions of SAHMs. But I have to speak to the fact that once again, we are gonna get a small wave of "Can women have it all?" headlines and I'm over it. 'Kay, look, I'm going to answer the question of whether women can have it all... Read More... Posted Apr 28 2008, 05:29 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: books, moms, feminism, fiction, WAHM, SAHD, working mothers, jobs, SAHM, career, Meg Wolitzer, having it all

• Pregnancy Discrimination Complaints On the Rise

  The Wall Street Journal reports that pregnancy-bias job complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were up by 14 percent this year, and up by 40 percent from a decade ago. Employers aren't allowed to discriminate against the with child in hiring, firing, and lay-offs--which doesn't mean they can't do all those things to you, it just means they can't treat you worse than men. So essentially you have to prove that the actions were motivated by the fact that you were pregnant, which isn't always easy. While many women also assume... Read More... Posted Mar 29 2008, 09:31 AM by Kelly Mills with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, wall street journal, employment, discrimination, activism, hiring, maternity leave, jobs, equality, firing, lay-offs, complaints, employers

• Easter Bunny Cracks, Injures Kid

  Ever since I read "Santaland Diaries" by David Sedaris (highly recommended for being utterly hilarious,) I've been sort of fascinated by those folks who dress up in costume and pose for photos with the kids around the holidays. Think about it: What gets you into that line of work? Perhaps some people are so into the spirit of various holidays that they clear their calendars to become Santa and the Easter Bunny, but I imagine it's circumstance that brings most people into the job. And while Santa has some dignity, being a grown adult in a giant bunny costume and dealing with legions of sobbing children... Well, it's ripe for a "Falling Down" moment.  Not that I'm justifying the actions of this Bunny gone bad, mind you. Apparently frustrated...   Read More... Posted Mar 24 2008, 04:46 PM by Kelly Mills with | with no comments Filed under: infant, babies, holidays, crime, stress, child abuse, easter, photos, jobs, arrest, mall, crying

• Dads Aren't Slacking, Are Getting Some

  There has been a glut of "guys do housework, get laid" stories out lately, and some of them frankly sound like a bid to get laundry help. You know, men who do housework are hot, if women aren't tired they feel more in the mood, and so on. If it doesn't make you feel like a low-paid call girl, I suppose you could even work out some sort of direct exchange of chores for hummada hummada, but I doubt either party really wants to feel like there's an ulterior motive behind the acts of cleanliness and love. No matter how you look at it though, a new report says... Read More... Posted Mar 10 2008, 03:29 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: research study, Sex, dads, fathers, mothers, marriage, work, childcare, moms, cleaning, chores, housework, jobs, equality, modern, division of labor

• Want to Get In Shape? Work at a Day Care.

  CNN just published a helpful list of ways to get in shape at work. Their advice? Pick careers that require strenuous activity.   Read More... Posted Feb 27 2008, 01:30 PM by Adrienne Martini with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: fitness, jobs, day care, bike messengers, day care workers

• Work-Life Balance? Don't Even Ask

  For most of us, balancing work with parenting ranges from something of a challenge to ridiculously impossible, sometimes within the same day. Or maybe that's just me. At any rate, family-friendliness or just plain flexibility varies wildly between companies, and sometimes even within departments at the same workplace, and it's a mistake to assume what worked at your old job would fly at a new one. This Wall Street Journal "Career Q&A" tackles the best way to address the issue when interviewing for a new job. Basically, the answer is "don't." It's best to bring it up when you're certain you're going to get the job, or even better, after you get an offer. There are ways, though, to get a sense of the company's  culture when it comes to balance.  For example, ask what a typical day or week was like for the person who previously held the job you're interviewing for. Read More... Posted Jan 30 2008, 03:46 PM by AmyinMotown with | with no comments Filed under: work-life balance, work and motherhood, jobs, interviewing, WSJ

• Girl Scout Robbed, Gets Crime Victim Badge

  I love those stories about heists and capers gone wrong because the thief tried to rob the 7-11 where everyone knew him or attempted to deposit a check with his home address while pointing a gun at the bank teller and demanding the contents of the safe. And this story--of a Girl Scout getting robbed--has elements of that. Now, who would rob a girl scout and take her cookie money? Isn't that right up there with punching a nun or something? I'll tell you who...  Read More... Posted Jan 17 2008, 06:39 PM by Kelly Mills with | with no comments Filed under: crime, child labor, money, cookies, Girl Scouts, kids activities, jobs, sales, robbery, kid clubs, kid entrepreneurs

• Researchers Say Young Kids Don't Make You Happier; Parents Say, "Duh"

  A new study has found that when it comes to a sense of satisfaction with life, it's your job that makes you feel good, not your kids. Men reported the highest rates of happiness when they had a full-time job, and women with kids were just happy with any hours worked. But young kids? Did not make folks any happier. Hmmm, why would going to a job where you can actually accomplish things all productive-like make us feel more satisfied than having children, whose very existence thwarts all productivity and who can manage to make even the most high-powered take charger feel inadequate? Plus, when you compare the pay scales for the two... Gee, I have no idea. Actually, it wasn't just that people reported kids did not increase their contentment: In fact... Read More... Posted Dec 13 2007, 04:28 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: research study, happiness, toddlers, working parents, infants, stay at home moms, stay at home dads, jobs, young children, life satisfaction

• Study: Women Still Stand By Their Men

  Between being stay-at-home/work-at-home mom for almost six years and moving every time my husband’s job requires it, I feel like I’m going to get my feminist credentials downgraded to a Focus on the Family pledge form. I swear, I SWEAR, I don’t think men are more important than women, or that my husband’s career happiness is more important than mine. It’s just that what he wants to do has geographical restrictions and what I want to do, well, it’s portable. But I know what it looks like. I just wish this following study weren’t actually reporting the facts: to a majority of American couples, the husband’s career is still more important than the wife’s. A study showed that gender roles are still entrenched and that more often than not, it’s the woman who takes a career hit or gives up a career in order for her husband to pursue his. Really? Still?! Read More... Posted Dec 04 2007, 07:23 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: relationships, jobs, working dads, working at home, working women

• Would You Stay Child-Free to Keep Your Job? Eva Longoria Is.

  Admittedly, I'm no Eva Longoria. Though I am pretty hot since I had all that "work" done. (Just kidding about the work, really.)(But now you're wondering, aren't you?) And admittedly, the prerequisites for my high-paying blogging job may not be identical to those of Eva Longoria's, where her appearance is likely one of her biggest assets, at least as far as her job and those who pay her to do it are concerned. Whereas me, you don't care what I look like. I could be pregnant with sextuplets and you wouldn't mind, would you? You'd still read me, wouldn't you? Well, what if it really did matter at your job if you became pregnant?  Would you stay child-free to keep your job? Eva Longoria has to. Read More... Posted Oct 12 2007, 09:36 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: children, pregnancy, babies, Desperate Housewives, family, jobs, teevision, Eva Longoria, Will and Grace

• Take Your Judgment and Shove It!

  It's been my experience that SAHMs are fed up, stressed out, and beat down.   Pretty much all the time.  Myself included.  When your job description includes 24-hour private nurse, chauffeur, cook, psychologist, art teacher, housekeeper, shopper, list-keeper, snack-maker and butt-wiper, in addition to your paying job in many cases, it's easy to lose your sense of humor about life.  What's funny is, us SAHMs?  We're the lucky ones.  And we know it.  But that doesn't make it any easier. Read More... Posted Aug 10 2007, 12:57 PM by Alisyn with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, parenting advice, moms, stay at home moms, motherhood and identity, CityMama, jobs, freitas family