Do moms really multitask better than dads?

BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT’S FUNNY

Well, you’ve heard this before. Working moms are busier and more pressured than working dads.

So says a study that has been published in the December issue of the American Sociological Review. The data came from a sample of 369 mothers and 241 fathers in dual-earner families across the U.S.

I’m a little suspect of this study. First, they surveyed 100 more mothers than fathers. Do you think that might have had something to do with their outcome? Second, the study focused on multi-tasking, specifically who was multi-tasking more than the other and what types of tasks were being done. The study felt that women tended to take on more stressful, burdensome tasks than do men. Men referred to having a three-way conversation as multi-tasking. Another of their multi-tasks included “engaging in self-care”.

Seriously?

Is that supposed to mean the guy is shaving … or something else? And if that’s part of multi-tasking, what are the other tasks being attempted alongside the “self-care”? Running a defrag on the computer? Mulching the peonies? Help.

The study also showed women found multi-tasking a lot more unpleasant than the dads do. No kidding! Maybe we need to try some self-care.

I don’t know about studies … all I can do is tell you what it’s like in this house. At one point on Sunday, my husband was checking his Blackberry, tweeting, talking to one son about his homework, talking to the other son about guitar chords, giving the dog his eyedrops, basting chicken wings, mixing me a vodka gimlet and loading the dishwasher.

At a given point on the same evening, I might have been running the washing machine, running the dryer, arranging carpool rides, finding a lost hoodie, responding to e-mail, nagging the kids to get in the shower, checking the weather so I knew what to wear this week, paying a few bills, yelling at the kids to stop shooting Nerf in the living room, drinking a vodka gimlet, cleaning the powder room.

And dammit, both of us forgot to call the guy about the car.

We don’t need another study to tell us all how overwhelmed we are. We need a new study that tells us how we can all afford a maid. That’s what I’d call some self-care.

Pam Lobley writes the “Now That’s Funny” column. Follow her on Twitter @plobley.