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A new study, "The Gendered Division of Housework and Couples' Sexual Relationships: A Reexamination" looks at the sex lives of three types of heterosexual couples: conventional (the woman does 65 percent or more of the housework), egalitarian (the male partner performs 35-65 percent of the housework) and counterconventional (the man performs 65 percent or more of the housework). No more. Today we enjoy "an eroticism of fairness," meaning an equitable arrangement no longer puts a damper on a couple's sex life and, in fact, boosts it slightly. Egalitarian couples had sex an average of 6.8 times per month, the study...

Teaching children responsibility is a primary task for parents. The question of whether or not an allowance should be paid for completing chores requires parents to consider training in two areas simultaneously: responsibility for work and responsibility for money. I don't think that there's necessarily one right answer to the question of whether completion of chores should be tied to monetary reward or not, but I can tell you how we handled the issue and why. We decided not to tie allowance to chores. We set clear expectations for what the kids were responsible for (unloading the dishwasher, doing their...

Well, this is a law every grown-up in the world may be willing to back. The Spanish parliament is considering a law requiring children to do their chores. The measure is part of a larger Child Protection Bill in Spain, and if it gets passed, children under 18 will be legally bound to do housework “in accordance with their age and regardless of their gender.” And it doesn’t stop there. Under the law, children in Spain will also have to “respect their teachers and fellow students,” “participate in family life” and “respect their parents and siblings.” …

NEW YORK — Second-graders who can’t tie shoes or zip jackets. Four-year-olds in Pull-Ups diapers. Five-year-olds in strollers. Teens and preteens befuddled by can openers and ice-cube trays. College kids who have never done laundry, taken a bus alone or addressed an envelope. Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics? Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know...

When I was growing up, I spent many summer days struggling to shove a bulky Toro mower through the thick mat of grass that was my yard. That was my main weekly chore. I pushed that same mower around the neighborhood with my buddy, Mike, hawking lawn-cutting services for $10 a yard. I've noticed something peculiar while driving around town in recent weeks: Though it's summer, I've yet to see a single kid out mowing a lawn. I don't see any kid-produced signs offering mowing services. I see teams of lawn-maintenance workers neatly tending yards...but no kids.

A Spanish researcher has come up with a washing machine that does not allow the same person to use it twice in a row, aimed at providing the perfect solution to those women who feel frustrated at having to do all the household chores. According to the BBC, the washing machine called "Your Turn" uses fingerprint technology to differentiate between users so that one person does not operate or load the machine twice in a row. Pep Torres, who was approached by a Spanish white goods manufacturer to come up with an innovative Father's Day gift said, that his invention...

MARYSVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Don Cullman counted out the hard-earned cash with his black-stained fingers and placed it in the boy's open hand. Six-year-old Morgan Kessler smiled proudly at his reward for picking up the mess that had fallen from the black-walnut trees in his parents' pastures. "You have 58 pounds at 11 cents a pound," Cullman said. "That's $6.38 in walnuts." ~~~SNIP~~~ "Most people bring them from their yards," Cullman said. "I got into this mainly to give people an outlet for the nuts." Most of the year, Cullman tends to hundreds of trees on his 60 acres near...

The evidence is pouring in from all over the world: Men are going the way of the handwritten letter or the landline phone -- nice things to have perhaps, but in today's world, not essential. In Finland, for instance, a fellow named Petteri Ikonen has a thriving business as a rent-a-husband. Reuters reports that he charges about $25 an hour for his services. No, not those kind of services. He performs the kind of tasks women apparently really need from men -- putting in lightbulbs, hanging pictures, changing tires, that sort of thing. And, as an added service, he never...