While you are both working 60hr/week High Powered jobs? With probably an hour-each-way commute?
Riiiiiiiight......
So that's not viable. Reality doesn't care what you 'believe'. Now what?
Use some of those outstanding problem-solving skills that got you into a top-tier B-school: Who's gonna raise your kid(s)?
I'd hope that both parents (or the single parent) would cut back on work and perhaps move closer to their jobs (less of a commute).
This is a true and legitimate point. I know many women who work very hard and tell me they 'balance' personal life. I always ask for details - there are only so many hours in the day. If a person works 12 hours a day, commutes another two hours, and sleeps six hours, all that leaves is four hours a day.
I've asked many women how they 'balance' a clearly imbalanced dynamic - 12 hrs vs 4-5 hrs. What's the balance?
I've never got a satisfactory answer, just that it's a 'challenge' and that they do manage to 'balance' it.
Still sounds fishy to me. In fact, there is no real balance, only choices and sacrifices. I also ask these 'balancers' from time to time for 5 or 6 examples of when they sacrificed their family demands for a job demand. These flow freely - on the tip of their tongue. OK, now what are 5 or 6 comparable times where you sacrificed your job demands for a family demand.
Things get very quiet at that point. Didn't see that one coming.
I have no problem with men and women being honest about this dynamic. They made their choices and the consequences come - you choose your choices, you can only anticipate (or be in denial of) the consequences. We don;t get to choose consequences in many cases. I am turned off by attempts to rationalize them using a concept like 'balance' when no true balance exists.
I am sure plenty of people do execute this balance. I just haven't met many who have been able to articulate how it actually works. Absence of evidence, evidence of absence, and all that jazz.