When you look at your friends with kids, it can seem like you and your partner must have cracked the code on equality. There’s no diaper schedule, no daycare pickup crisis, and no default parent quietly carrying the mental load. For two-earner pairs, it’s tempting to believe that two paychecks automatically mean balanced power, fair chores, and shared decisions. But money and time don’t divide themselves just because both partners work. If you zoom in on how you split bills, routine tasks, and long-term goals, you might discover that your setup looks a lot more like your parenting peers than you realized.
