事业家庭一肩挑，现代爸爸压力大
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自古以来，父母之间的劳动分工非常明确。父亲负责养家糊口，母亲则主要负责照顾小孩。如果孩子生病需要看医生或者学校召开家长会，往往都是母亲请假去处理这些事情。 时代不同了。五月底一项全国调查显示，超过半数的职场父亲（56%）称他们经常请假去处理子女的事。与此相比，只有超过40%的职场母亲表明会做类似的事情 雇主们对此似乎还不能够完全理解。大约三分之二的职场父亲（68%）表示，因为工作与孩子之间的冲突，他们都曾与老板们发生过“不愉快或其他问题”。其中的57%职场父亲们说类似事件已“多次”发生。 位于美国北卡罗来纳州首府罗利市，从事员工培训的咨询公司Workplace Options（WPO）开展了这项调查。该公司的首席执行官丁• 戴伯南说：“现在美国的劳动力就算跟5年前比起来也有很大不同”。 他指出，原因之一是据人口普查局（Census Bureau）统计，目前有230万户美国家庭由父亲独自抚养子女。此外，大多数美国家庭中，父母双方均从事全职工作。“父亲既要在事业上取得成功，又要兼顾家庭，他们所承受的压力空前沉重。” 这一转变不只限于美国。今年二月，Workplace Options公司和WFD顾问公司（WFD Consulting）在全球范围内就男性协调工作和家庭问题开展的联合研究表明：在几乎所有的发达国家，父亲们最关心的问题都是“腾出时间陪伴家人”。 子女的需求不一定总是可以提前预知――这一点是众多父母的切身体会，但大部分雇主们却很不情愿接受。如今的父亲们越来越需要面临父辈所未曾体会过的艰难决择。戴伯南发现，为人父母“不可能按部就班”，而在职场打拼的同时还要亲自抚养小孩真的很“需要创意”。 戴伯南对此深有体会，因为他自己就是5个孩子的父亲。 |
For generations, the division of labor was clear-cut. Fathers were breadwinners, mothers were chiefly in charge of the children, and if anyone had to leave work to take Junior to a doctor's appointment or attend a parent-teacher conference, it wasn't likely to be Dad. Times change. A nationwide survey in late May found that more than half (56%) of employed fathers say they frequently take time off for child-related tasks --markedly more than the 40% of mothers who report doing likewise. Employers haven't quite caught on yet, it seems. About two-thirds (68%) of dads with jobs say they've experienced "negativity or problems" with bosses over conflicts between work and children. Of those, 57% say this has happened "multiple times." "The American workforce is different than it was even five years ago," observes Dean Debnam, CEO of Workplace Options, an employee training consultancy based in Raleigh, N.C., which conducted the poll. For one thing, he notes, the Census Bureau counts 2.3 million U.S. households where fathers are raising kids alone. Added to the majority of families where both parents work full-time, "the pressure for fathers to succeed both as professionals and as parents is greater than ever." Nor is this shift confined to the U.S. A global study on men and work-life balance in February, cosponsored by Workplace Options and WFD Consulting, found that "finding time to spend with family" was the top concern voiced by fathers in almost every developed nation. As dads and moms know firsthand -- and most employers accept with some reluctance -- kids' needs are not always predictable in advance. Increasingly, fathers are making tough choices that their own fathers rarely faced. Being a parent "doesn't happen on a set schedule," observes Debnam, adding that combining hands-on fatherhood with a career "takes creativity." Debnam should know: He has five kids himself. |
