Hello. My name is Erin and I am a student at Notre Dame. One of my projects this semester is to interview a single mother and a single father concerning their relationship between work and family. Please, can someone answer a few of my questions via e-mail? It would be greatly appreciated!

OK, here's the questions:

How many children do you have? How old are they?

For how long have you been a single parent?

Please give a summary of your work experience, including your current position.

How many hours do you typically work in one week?

Have you advanced in your career since you became a single parent? Do you think that your status as a single parent has had an effect on your career advancement? If yes, please explain.

Have you experienced any voluntary or involuntary employment disruption since you became a single parent?

At the present time, how successful are you at managing your work responsibilities? And how successful are you at managing your family responsibilities?
(Please rank yourself from 1-7 on each, with 1 meaning not at all successful and 7 meaning extremely successful.) Please explain your rankings.

Do you tend to separate your business and family “selves”? (For example, do you attempt to focus only on work while you are at work, avoid talking about work while at home, etc.)

How are housework responsibilities (cooking, cleaning, outdoor work, shopping, paying bills, driving, etc.) divided in your household: who is expected to do which jobs?

Have you ever experienced any symptoms of depression since you became a single parent? If so, would you contribute them to any work/family situation?

Do you feel that your roles as parent and worker conflict with each other, compliment each other, or have some other type of relationship? Please explain.

Thanks

You could always post your questions here... might make for good conversation.

Just a thought.

Yes, ask away...right here on the board.