nda, a nonpartisan polling agency based in New York, released an survey last September showing parents preferring, by 70 percent to 6 percent, one parent at home to a "quality" daycare center as the best arrangement for children under five years of age; 71 percent agreed with the statement that "parents should only rely on a daycare center when they have no other option” (Necessary Compromises, 2000). Additionally, a nationwide survey published by Parents magazine and the I Am Your Child Foundation in May of 2000 showed that 77 percent of mothers wish they could stay home full-time to rear their children, a dramatic increase from 29 percent in a similar poll conducted just four years ago (The Parent Trap, 2000).A detailed Los Angeles Times poll in June 1999 revealed that 68 percent of California fathers and 69 percent of mothers agree that "it is much better for the family if the father works outside the home and the mother tends to the children." The same poll showed that 50 percent of all fathers and 81 percent of mothers said that, if circumstances allowed, they would rather stay home with their children than work. When asked to identify the greatest difficulty facing parents, the highest percentage responded that it was a lack of time for their children (Finding Quality Childcare, 1999).To keep our family and careers in balance my wife and I set priorities about family goals, keep family and work separate, organize and share domestic responsibilities and plan a family and a “just us” outing twice a month on alternating weekends. These small, but important steps helps us insure that our can continue to cope with the stresses of being a dual-income family....
