Adapted from an online discussion.
Dear Carolyn: My husband and I have two kids under 5. We have negotiated giving each other one day “off” per week, which means a total of about 24 hours to ourselves while the other covers the house and kids. The original agreement was for us to develop areas that needed attention: I wanted to finish a graduate class online, and he wanted to work with a volunteer organization that would help his career; we both wanted more time to exercise.
I have spent my days off the way I said I would, but my husband usually uses his watching TV or playing video games, then announcing he’s too tired to do the other things he intended.