I’m a city boy, but I think life on farms slows down after harvest time. When America was founded, 98% of us were farmers…maybe it’s more natural for humans to have a long stretch of time each year to pursue things different from their normal type of work.

Congress certainly understands this. In addition to many scheduled weeks off, they take October, November and December off, too. Despite the fact that they pay themselves well over $100,000/year.

I concur with Wil that I would spend “liesure time” doing “intrinsically satisfying labor” that would look to most other people like boring work. However, I dont reach optimal productivity in my intrinsically satisfying labor until I’ve had several days to wind down from work and catch up with all the self imposed janitorial work inherited with owning a home. More importantly, the bigger payoff of the European practice, in my opinion, is that they give high priority to their vacation time, it’s a part of the annual life cycle (regularity), and they have the chance to reinforce family bonds in a way that cant be accomplished with a long weekend here and there.

I may not express the idea the way McGrath does, but I do feel that Americans seem to put more emphasis on career work than on personal aspirations and quality of family life. I think this is most evident in the professions, where people have greater means and greater freedom to make choices about taking time away from work, but they dont.

The majority of Americans are in jobs where they arent given the choice and dont have earnings that permit even contemplating an annual multi-week break with the spouse and kids at the ancestral bungalow on the coast.

The absence of any political initiative for change gives every appearance that Americans (or at least those who might have opportunity of working to bring about change) are content to maintain the status quo.

So I cant agree with the criticism on the basis of which direction the average work week is headed. Our work habits (and the expectations projected by employers, supervisors and in many cases, co-workers) are unhealthy. Our culture places greater value in capitalism than in the quality of life of the individual. If there’s any doubt about this, one need look no further than the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision.

I concur with Wil that I would spend “liesure time” doing “intrinsically satisfying labor” that would look to most other people like boring work. However, I dont reach optimal productivity in my intrinsically satisfying labor until I’ve had several days to wind down from work and catch up with all the self imposed janitorial work inherited with owning a home. More importantly, the bigger payoff of the European practice, in my opinion, is that they give high priority to their vacation time, it’s a part of the annual life cycle (regularity), and they have the chance to reinforce family bonds in a way that cant be accomplished with a long weekend here and there.

I may not express the idea the way McGrath does, but I do feel that Americans seem to put more emphasis on career work than on personal aspirations and quality of family life. I think this is most evident in the professions, where people have greater means and greater freedom to make choices about taking time away from work, but they dont.

The majority of Americans are in jobs where they arent given the choice and dont have earnings that permit even contemplating an annual multi-week break with the spouse and kids at the ancestral bungalow on the coast.

The absence of any political initiative for change gives every appearance that Americans (or at least those who might have opportunity of working to bring about change) are content to maintain the status quo.

So I cant agree with the criticism on the basis of which direction the average work week is headed. Our work habits (and the expectations projected by employers, supervisors and in many cases, co-workers) are unhealthy. Our culture places greater value in capitalism than in the quality of life of the individual. If there’s any doubt about this, one need look no further than the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision.

I’m a city boy, but I think life on farms slows down after harvest time. When America was founded, 98% of us were farmers…maybe it’s more natural for humans to have a long stretch of time each year to pursue things different from their normal type of work.

Congress certainly understands this. In addition to many scheduled weeks off, they take October, November and December off, too. Despite the fact that they pay themselves well over $100,000/year.

Three ways to reduce the stress and relax while away from home
It takes a special person to travel with kids – a parent. Children have their own needs. Their idea of a vacation is more “adventurous” than a parent’s. They need cons…