# Partnership model

**How should we divide paid work and childcare between us?**

How you divide work and care overall: one parent earning and one caring, a lead and a supporting parent, both working with outside help, or sharing equally.

In short: Parents choose between 5 main approaches: Caregiver plus breadwinner; Lead parent plus supporting parent; Dual career with outsourcing; Equally shared parenting; Stay-at-home father. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: during pregnancy.

- Area: Roles, work and the couple
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: During pregnancy
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/roles-work-and-the-couple--partnership-model

## Partnership model: what are the options?

1. **Caregiver plus breadwinner**: One parent earns the income and the other does most of the childcare.
2. **Lead parent plus supporting parent**: One parent is mainly in charge of the children and the other helps.
3. **Dual career with outsourcing**: Both of you work, and you pay for childcare and household help.
4. **Equally shared parenting**: You split paid work, childcare and housework as evenly as you can.
5. **Stay-at-home father**: The father stays home with the children while the mother works.

## Partnership model: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

Equal sharing goes with much higher satisfaction for both parents

Sources:

- [Pew](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2026/06/16/how-working-parents-divide-family-responsibilities/)

## What else is worth knowing?

This is the overall shape of who earns and who cares. It affects income, careers, and how each of you feels about your days. Many couples drift into a model without choosing it, so it helps to say out loud what you each want and whether it can change later.

## Questions to ask each other

- What does an ideal week of work and care look like for each of us?
- How do we each feel about the way our own parents split the work?
- What would make this split feel fair to both of us in two years?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=roles-work-and-the-couple&topic=roles-work-and-the-couple--partnership-model