I found that the stress was absolutely maximal when we had children living with us in the house and they were smaller because that's when they need more intensive supervision. So it's at that point that it becomes more complex.

Now I happened to have a situation in which at the time my children were smaller, up until the time they got into junior high and high school, they were actually supervised by their mother because she wanted to be at home with them. So that was a very unique kind of situation in this day and age because most of the time that does not happen.

And by the time that they moved onto their high school years, etc. especially the younger ones, my wife was interested then in going back to the world of work and getting back into her own professional development. So, in terms of timing, it worked well, but it definitely was the point of maximum stress, though, because you had all these guilt feelings because you're away from home. I mean, in the old days we used to have to do a lot of site visits on NIH review committees.

So you were just perpetually under stress in all directions in those days and at that period of life. I think that's when it is the toughest. Once the kids get older, they have their own direction as we all know, and they're peer-oriented, well you have a lot more time availability at that point, more flexibility at that point.

But it's individual, and I know a lot of couples these days deem not to have children or to have very few of them to avoid that problem. And I can understand their thinking. It just depends on your orientation and what you can cope with.