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Economic Downturn Takes Toll On Family Time

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The Wall Street Journal

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2008

Amid the hits to families' budgets lately, many people are taking an added blow to something they value almost as much: Control over their time.

Although most people are feeling too much pain in the pocketbook to talk about it, the economic downturn is forcing many to defer dreams of striking a better work-life balance. As past recessions have shown, downturns tend to quash such luxuries as cutting back to part-time work hours by choice, dropping out voluntarily for a while to stay home with the kids, or taking a sabbatical. Instead, families have to find other ways to sustain closeness.

At-home moms are already marching back to work. Jennifer Mathis of Wilmington, N.C., had planned to drop out of the paid work force indefinitely after the birth last summer of her second baby. But now, "guess who's working" again?, she says. She admits to feeling "a tug" of anguish when her work as a part-time marketing specialist keeps her away from her children, ages 2 years and 5 months. But easing the strain on her husband, a real-estate attorney whose business has declined, is worth it, she says.

Many parents are likely to find themselves in the same boat this time around - at home, but not by choice.

To offset such stresses, many parents consciously schedule down time together, making it a calendar item. Becca Priddy, owner of a Bartlett, Tenn., pumpkin patch, has noticed a sharp rise in business since the stock market crashed, from families wanting to make scarecrows or take hayrides, she says.

"Maybe," Brundage says, "this will help us all have a simpler life. One can hope."

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