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Chronicling the new American family

Tess Vigeland Jun 15, 2012
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Author Jeremy Adam Smith discusses stay-at-home dads, bread-winning moms, and the evolving American workforce. Jeremy Adam Smith

Chronicling the new American family

Tess Vigeland Jun 15, 2012
Author Jeremy Adam Smith discusses stay-at-home dads, bread-winning moms, and the evolving American workforce. Jeremy Adam Smith
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Insure.com released its annual Father’s Day Index this week and some of you dads may not appreciate what I’m about to tell you. According to this index, domestic tasks associated with fathers are worth a little over $20,000 a year. The company’s Mother’s Day Index found her household jobs are worth more than $60,000!

Now we are not here to add fire to the mommy-daddy wars. Frankly, today the roles of mom and dad are more intertwined than ever, with both parents as likely to be working in an office as in the kitchen. We talked about this with Jeremy Adam Smith, author of “The Daddy Shift: How Stay at Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms, and Shared Parenting are Transforming the American Family.”

Smith pointed out that while more and more women are entering the workforce over the last few decades and starting to earn more money than men, society has remained focused on the idea workers give everything to their job and have no responsibilities at home.

Listen to the audio above to hear his thoughts on the changing workforce and family structure and tips on how families can transition into having dad stay at home.

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