Comments on: delegation resolutions

By: tina

tina — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:58:15 +0000

QI/C&S: Clearly, you have never walked a dog and a 3.5-year-old at the same time. :)

By: qualitativeinterloper

qualitativeinterloper — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:38:39 +0000

Ok so yes I am also cute and smart but at different computers it logs me in different ways — so I am in on the Jeremy exercise plan and if I thought it was going to come out of my kids’ college funds I never would have signed up. But it is going to come out of my tv watching and scrabble playing (BTW — anyone play scrabble at isc.ro besides the obvious suspects?).

Yesterday my exercise was to walk/run up and down stairs while my kid was in his tutoring. I am going to get this exercise in unconventional ways.

And, isn’t walking the dog exercise?

By: Anomie

Anomie — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:00:41 +0000

Great resolutions! I have long wished there was grocery delivery in my town. We do have something called Dinner by Design, where people will make your dinners for you (all natural ingredients, etc.), and package them up for freezing. You just have to pop them in the oven. Tasty, cheap, and easy.

By: tina

tina — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:04:58 +0000

OW: What a great idea! You can see how I am not so good at the delegating thing. And you are also right on about delegating to Husband. Feeling like I shouldn’t have to be responsible for nearly everything is one of the reasons why these things haven’t been settled yet. Husband feels it should be more equal, too. We can beat ourselves up for being bad feminists, but that won’t solve anything. If a system is put in place, my life will be much better, and the resentment over the domestic labor squeeze will abate. Maybe not the ideal gender equality solution, but my life will be better, and I can live with that.

Brayden: No, but I will announce it very loudly at the bloggerly drink, right after the Orgtheory vs. Scatterplot thumb wrestling contest (you’re going down!)

By: brayden

brayden — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:08:57 +0000

If you don’t break your resolution will you attend the ASA business meeting and announce that Scatterplot is the best sociology blog on the planet?

By: olderwoman

olderwoman — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:06:02 +0000

FYI re delegation, I was thinking of hiring a student to research the information parts of this. “Delegating” to a spouse is a little more complicated. Not saying spouses don’t do work or should not do work, but something a person isn’t doing anyway is not likely to get done just because you announce you are “delegating” to them. It is different if the spouse volunteers to take on a job. Otherwise, it is a cleaner interpersonal process to pay someone, if it isn’t too hard to find someone to pay. Obviously, if you don’t have any immediate candidates for the “find information” post, then it is easier/faster to do it yourself and get it over with.

By: colonel density

colonel density — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:45:47 +0000

Sounds like a good plan. But I agree with OW, I’d delegate some of this. Isn’t this the typical household division of labor: wife has to deal with all the logistics of finding help? I understand that your husband works a lot, but I can’t imagine that you’re putting in less than 70-80 hrs yourself between your full time job and childcare.

By: olderwoman

olderwoman — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:10:13 +0000

There you go. You are right on. But try to delegate to someone else the task of finding a virtual assistant. And maybe the tasks of finding dog walkers, cleaning & delivery services, etc.