My Father

My father is very cognizant of the fact that, because my mother does housework all day as a housekeeper, she is oftentimes not only very physically tired, but also tired of doing housework.  He tries to do a lot of cleaning in the house, because she knows that she has spent all day doing those things.

I’m just so thankful because Papa is not like other dads that don’t help in the house. Papa is… Oh, gosh, I’m just so blessed. We just help each other, anak.

In addition to cooking and cleaning, my father also takes charge with any manual outside work.

My Mother

At the same time, my mother is also very aware of how physically demanding my father’s work is.  Although she doesn’t love to cook, my mom will generally try to cook dinner when she gets home in the mid-afternoon so that dinner will be ready when my father gets home a couple of hours later.  

My mother also does a significant amount of cleaning within the house, as well as most of the childcare-related responsibilities.

Equality in the Household?

While my parents definitely fall into seemingly fairly “traditional” roles within the house, such as my mother cooking dinner and my father working outside, I think that the reasons why they do certain things, and especially the ways that my parents are very aware of each other and each other’s experiences, is very egalitarian.