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Who lives the equal sharing
lifestyle? Plenty of us! Most equally sharing couples look
a lot like ‘normal’ people on the outside, but if you step into our
daily lives you will realize that we are a bit unique. Equally
shared parenting happens in many different ways and in many different
types of families. Some people struggle hard to attain it and
others simply fall into it. Most of us consciously work to keep
it alive over time.
We'd like to introduce you to real couples who practice what we
describe. You can read a bit about your website hosts in About Marc and
Amy, but below are others’ stories. Each couple has written
their own story, in their own format and words. Each story
symbolizes one or more variations on the theme of equally shared
parenting. You may find yourself in one story and not
another. We urge you to explore them all.
Do you have a story to share? If you and your partner have
children and feel that you exemplify equally shared parenting, we would
love to hear from you. Please send us an email to info@equallysharedparenting.com
with ‘real life story’ in the subject, and tell us a bit about
yourself, your partner and your family situation. We will provide
brief guidelines for story submission as applicable.
Enjoy!
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Judy and Gerry - An PhD candidate
and a home-based IT professional share raising
their 5-year old daughter in Australia. To them, equally shared
parenting means a balanced life and family connectedness.
Learn more about Judy's PhD project and musings on work/life/family
balance at her blog, WoLFi TaLEs.
Michelle and Jim - A
freelance
writer/communication coach and a small business owner share raising
their three young daughters and caring for their home - and find
peace in their transition from a traditional marriage to ESP.
Learn more about them both at Eloquence Communication.
Carl and Debby -
Two Canadian
psychologists who
believed in ESP
so much that they were willing to sacrifice Carl's tenure as a
university professor to each work part
time. Read more in Carl's article on his ESP experience in Canadian Family Physician.
Annie and John - Two doctoral students and believers in
attachment parenting are dedicated to living a balanced life.
Both Annie and John offer their insights in pursuit of ESP both here
and occasionally in their SprogBlog.
Ben and Alicia - Two
lawyers work slightly reduced hours in corporate America, equally
sharing the raising of their three boys. As told from Ben's
point-of-view, their lifestyle has changed his perspective of what
'having it all' can mean.
Gail and Lyn - A lesbian
couple equally parents their 15 month old daughter, and illustrate that
even same-sex parents need to nurture and protect an equally sharing
arrangement. Both in academic positions, they describe how
swapping roles by semester led them to a more daily sharing of all
roles within the family.
Melissa and Richard
- A software QA director and pianist both work part-time in careers
they love, while sharing in the raising of their two daughters - ages 7
and 4. Melissa describes how part-time work can be the key to
zero outside childcare and a
balanced and fulfilling life for both parents in this essay, adapted
from one she
wrote recently for Parents to Parents magazine. Check out
Melissa's other passion at her website, www.effective-parenting.org.
Jane and
Jimmy - Two
writers raise three children, and introduce us to 'emotional equality'
as the heart of equally shared parenting. Read more from Jane at
her blog, leafstitchword.
Sharon
and Rob - A project manager and a physical therapist/soccer
coach with a two-year old son unconsciously create an equal sharing
family because it fits their needs, and realize they wouldn’t want to
turn back.
Marci and David -
An architect and web designer show us that part-time tag-team work out
of the same office can mesh with lots of time with their two-year old
daughter, couple togetherness, and an equality that comes
naturally. See their cool baby product recommendations that are
actually asthetic at architectbabies.com.
WorkingWritingWailingMama
and Pa - A PhD candidate/part-time English instructor and
her full-time
landscaper husband share care of their 2-year old daughter
and navigate
ESP in a purposeful way as their schedules
change seasonally. For more
from wwwmama, read her
blog at wwwmama.typepad.com.
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