Parenting is a Team Sport

I oftentimes get questions about how Josh and I split the duties of parenthood, so I figured I would address them.  We don't necessarily do anything crazy inventive or anything.  But Josh and I do wholeheartedly prescribe to the "one and done" philosophy (that's what I like to call it anyway).  Basically, we both lean towards practicality over sentimentality...it only takes one person to accomplish most parenting tasks, so why double up?  Right, it would be sweet my for my husband to sit up with me as I feed Levi in the middle of night, but then we're both tired and having to wake up again in just a few hours.  Why make it harder on ourselves?

Another  key element of our division is that I am a stay-at-home mom, while Josh usually leaves the house about 6:30 AM and returns around 6PM.  That's a long work day, and while my days can be challenging as well, I do so appreciate my opportunity to stay home with my boys and really relish the fact that it is my job.  Because of that, I work hard to ensure that Josh has as little to do when he gets home as possible.  With that being said, the title of this post implies that parenting requires both of us, and I firmly believe that Josh should do some of the work once he gets home, both for my sake and for the boys.

So with all that, here is the Monday-Friday daily breakdown of duties.  For simplicity sake, we are only talking about the things that are done between the hours that we are both home (roughly 6PM-6AM):

On weekends, we pretty much maintain our duties, but in a less rigid way.  Josh will generally chip in and help out with some of Levi's daytime feedings or help me out by making Colton's lunch or changing a diaper or something.  

One thing we do, though, that may be more unique is that we each take a weekend morning to sleep in while the other person gets up and tends to the boys.  Like I said earlier, Josh and I have always believed it doesn't really do us much good to both be sleep-deprived and cranky, and this little arrangement has worked really well for us.  It gives us a morning to just relax, sleep, and emerge ready to take on the week!

So there you have it: our basic approach to parenting.  And just in case, I should definitely issue the obvious disclaimer that I am in no way a parenting and/or marriage expert.  This is just what works for us!

Anybody else have some co-parenting tips to share?  How do you divide the work in your household?