Have you ever felt, much like Jennifer Aniston’s character in The Breakup, that you didn’t just want your partner to do the dishes; you wanted them to want to do the dishes?
We use the term “emotional labor” to distinguish between the physical effort of doing these things and the emotional burden of taking responsibility for them.
One effective way to illustrate emotional labor is with the Conceptualization, Planning, and Execution (CPE) model, which Eve Rodsky coined in her book, Fair Play.
Talk About It
As with all things family, parenting, and relationships, open and healthy discussions are an essential tool to cope with and prevent emotional conflict.
There’s no one-size solution for dividing household C, P, and E, but simply knowing that all three exist and can be separated greatly benefits household emotional wellbeing.