Increase the joy, decrease the resentment when balancing work and family with Kate Mangino

What happens when one parent carries most of the flexibility in a family’s work-life arrangement and that balance starts to feel unsustainable? In this episode of Taking Your Third Path, Jessica talks with Kate Mangino, author of Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equity at Home and co-host of the Equalish podcast, about one-parent-flex families, resentment, greedy jobs, and how couples can build a more sustainable approach to work and family. They dig into the realities of flexibility, capacity, and communication, along with practical ways to protect family time, set boundaries at work, and make room for a more intentional, integrated life. The conversation also highlights how workplaces and managers can either support or undermine that balance. Chapters 00:03:24 – Greedy jobs and workplace pressure 00:09:25 – Flexibility, capacity, and family stress 00:13:16 – Communication, delegation, and teamwork 00:17:06 – Work-life integration and pushing back on overload 00:21:01 – Shared care, workplace change, and final takeaways 00:29:59 – Therapy tools for couples under stress 00:45:14 – Key takeaways from Kate and Amy Check out our Free Resource: https://thirdpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Work-family-and-careers-mobile.pdf Find out more at: https://thirdpath.org/ Join our Facebook ThirdPath Collective Group to continue the conversation with like-minded leaders, parents, and others: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thirdpathinst If you’re feeling inspired by our work, please consider donating to ThirdPath today! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and we rely on donations from supporters like you to make our programming happen. You can donate here: https://argentasoftware.com/interfaces/tpath/frmDonationForm.aspx Subscribe to our Newsletter here: https://thirdpath.org/subscribe/