An interesting dispatch from the annals of sociology: dual-earner, one-child couples in which the husband does at least half the housework are significantly more likely to have kid number two than families in which tasks are split less evenly (though the number rise again when mom does nearly all of the housework), according to some researchers at Brown.

The release makes an interesting point: simply having an egalitarian outlook doesn't effect the chance of having a second ... only when the duties are split in fact does the effect kick in.

There's a downside to all this -- if we assume that having a second kid is a measure of satisfaction with parenthood, then it's not the helpful husbands or the completely do-nothing husbands who seem to be the least satisfied. It's the husbands that are testing the domestic waters, doing just some of the housework, that are the least likely to opt for child number 2. It suggests that involved husbands need to jump in all the way -- if you want family harmony, you gotta commit.