The New-Economy Family
[For a growing number of affluent families, Dad now earns so much that it doesn't pay for Mom to work. But as Nancy Ann Jeffrey finds, this return to traditionalism comes with some very modern stresses.]</br></br>David and Lisa Keyko were the classic high-powered two-career couple. He was a commercial litigator. She was a director at a design firm. They split the grocery-shopping and cleaning, left their kids with a babysitter and came home exhausted almost every night.</br></br>But take a look at the Keyko family today: Mr. Keyko is still a lawyer, but his income has doubled, allowing his wife to take up a whole new profession: housewife. Most weekdays, he's at the office until 9 p.m., while she carts the kids around, volunteers at school and tries to have dinner waiting when her husband comes home. "It's ended up being sort of traditional," says Mr. Keyko.</br></br>Make way for "Leave It to Beaver -- 2000." For a surprising number of couples, the New Economy has meant a return to the Old Family, with Dad as sole breadwinner. It's one of the most peculiar twists to the decade-long boom: Couples who used to be economic equals have found that one partner's income -- usually the man's -- has soared so much that it hardly makes sense for both spouses to work. Indeed, while the percentage of single-income households has remained steady for Americans overall, it has moved up considerably for affluent families who earn $250,000 or more a year.</br></br>But the change has also introduced some frictions that Beaver Cleaver's family couldn't have imagined. Besides the usual struggle over sacrificing career goals, some of these moms say they're astonished by just how traditional their roles have become, not just focusing on children but in some ways living vicariously through their husband's careers.