Back to Work & The Family Team

Team Rocchio.

What does that mean exactly? It means we help each other, we love on each other, and we do our best to be kind, especially when we don’t feel like it.

These are our own form of team norms, if you will. Commitments to each other, rooted in our values, but a practice. We won’t and don’t succeed at them often, but we get back on the saddle when we fall and keep on trying to be better with each other. For each other.

(Side note: Isn’t it amazing how children force you to face and transform those parts of yourself lurking in the shadows, the rough edges and hurt places that don’t always generate our best selves?)

I found this new post in HBR really intriguing: "How Dual-Career Couples Make It Work." It beautifully describes the heat of this life transition for couples like my husband and I through three known stages of career/life transitions.

Reading through these stages was immensely affirming. It reminded me that we are not alone and that there is a larger context at play than our particular quirks. If you find yourself in one of these stages, too, I hope this resource offers you some insight and self-compassion.

The bottom line on modern family life for career-minded couples?

“Although the 50/50 marriage- in which housework and childcare are divided equally between the partners, and their careers are perfectly synched- may seem like a noble ideal, my research suggests that instead of obsessively trying to maintain an even ‘score’, dual career couples are better off being relentlessly curious, communicative, and proactive in making choices about combining their lives.”  -Jennifer Petriglieri