Fair Play with Eve Rodsky

You know all the work it takes to stay on top of laundry, not let the insurance policy lapse, and keep track of school meetings and doctor’s appointments? All that often-invisible labor was exhausting Eve Rodsky. So she did something about it—for her family, and for all of us.

That something is a brand-new book: Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much To Do and More Life to Live. It’s also a game you can play with your partner, a way for moms to stop being the “she-fault” parent, and—if Eve has her way—a tool for changing the dynamic of practically any relationship.

We were doing everything so fairly. He helped me secure my dream job in philanthropy. I marked up his operating agreements, because I'm a lawyer by trade, as he grew a new business. We took turns doing the dishes. We took turns making each other dinner. Well, cut to two kids later. And I find myself literally sobbing on the side of the road over a text my husband sent me, and that text said, "I'm surprised you didn't get blueberries.”
—Eve Rodksy, author, Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much To Do and More Life to Live

We talk about:

• How Eve created the “Shit I Do” list—a massive, viral spreadsheet that made all her invisible labor extremely visible. “How can we value what we don't see?”
• How that spreadsheet evolved into the Fair Play method (and what her husband thought when she showed it to him).
• What it was like to talk with and test Fair Play with 500 couples from across the country.
• Why the smallest details often cause the biggest fights—like the COO of a publicly traded company locked out of his house over a glue stick.
• Why a 50/50 split often isn’t the answer—but honest conversation is. “this is not about scorekeeping. It's about ownership.”

Plus: fish sticks and frozen veggies for dinner, the pros and cons of being a latchkey kid, and why ownership is such a crucial concept.

Photo credit: © Avia Rosen 2019