“祝你工作顺利，妈妈，”我刚学会走路的女儿对我说，我打开电脑，坐在家里的办公室里。My heart breaks a little,看着她和我妻子去游泳，leaving me behind with my piles of work.
I feel that I'm missing out.我知道这是许多有工作的父母的哀悼，即使是那些没有孩子，但可能希望有更多时间和朋友或亲戚在一起的人，or relaxing taking in culture,or volunteering.We're all missing out.没有人有足够的时间。
但既然这是一个影响我们所有人的问题，我想知道为什么社会没有变化。Why are people still expected to work 8+ hours a day,five days a week?Why can't employers be more flexible?为什么经理们不能认识到，如果员工更快乐、更休息，他们的工作会更好呢？
And while I'm at it,why are school days so long?Who decided that children should be in school for 6-8 hours a day,5 days a week?学习很重要，obviously,but there are lots of ways to learn.So many young people look utterly exhausted by mid-afternoon,然后他们被送回家做更多的家庭作业。
What happened to playing and just being?我担心我女儿4岁时开始接受全日制教育，因为尽管她会觉得很刺激，我担心她没有足够的时间四处奔波和自我指导。Little kids aren't meant to sit still,memorizing facts.
Shorter hours at work and/or school,and fewer days a week at a desk would,我相信，make most people feel better mentally and physically.We'd be more energized when it was time to work.We'd get more time with our loved ones.两天的周末过得很快，虽然我们主要想做些有趣的活动，there are also all those practical chores that simply don't get done during the week.
瑞典的一些公司和机构最近进行了一项实验，员工每天工作6小时。They got the same salaries,and they found that they had more time for their friends,family,和爱好，and were therefore more enthusiastic and harder-working when at their jobs.与此同时，经常不得不雇用额外的工作人员来承担额外的工作，这意味着有更多的人被雇用。While not all these places are continuing with shorter hours–generally due to financial reasons–there's a lesson to learn here.
Just as we look back at previous generations and feel shocked by some of those old-school parenting practices (spanking,sending kids to work,给婴儿喂酒，etc.),我怀疑我们的孩子会看着我们，想知道为什么我们把工作优先于家庭和我们自己。Work can be fulfilling and it's necessary to keep society functioning,but having a child has made me realize that it isn't everything.
But since the workday isn't really changing at the moment,I'm having to change myself.Sometimes I'm lucky to be flexible enough to attend my daughter's swimming class during the day,but then that means I have to make up that work,usually by getting up in the middle of the night (sure,I'm exhausted,但你能在短短的几个小时内完成多少任务真是太不可思议了，when no one is replying to emails or knocking on your office door).
Sometimes I have to be strict with myself and when I've put in a solid workday,I just stop what I'm doing and shut my computer down,though pre-child I would have continued working through the evening and night.Sometimes I ask others for advice,but often they seem as confused and busy and guilty as I do.
We all do the best we can,but so many of us feel like we're losing precious time with our children,我们的父母，our friends,and with ourselves.Surely we need a drastic change of some kind.Just imagine what our lives would be like with three-day weekends every other weekend,or shorter days,and it's enough to make your heart ache with longing.
My daughter sees me typing and says,“妈妈在工作！”我确实必须工作。但有时我学会了说，“不,I'm done working for the day.现在我们可以一起玩了。”
我只希望有更多的时间。
