MCViewPoint

All Big Brother needs to know is the number of people in the household.

I might follow Jesse Ventura’s lead and enter “Human” for race.

The question you need to ask is who is Number 6?

http://erietimes.pa.newsmemory.com/?publink=2af22f958

Who is No. 1? Filling out the Census

ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s a question spouses, domestic partners and roommates are going to be forced to confront in the next few weeks as they fill out their 2020 Census forms: Who gets to be the primary person in the household?

Everyone else who lives in the home has to be identified on the form by how they are related to so-called “Person 1.” It’s a question that even the most egalitarian homes are going to have to figure out — though it’s sure to spark some intriguing conversations.

For married couple Debbie Kleinberg and Frankie Huff, it’s a no-brainer.

“Me, because anytime Frankie has paperwork, I do it,” said Kleinberg, a credit administrator, who lives with her college-professor wife in an Orlando suburb.

Kleinberg says the 2020 Census-answering process in their home will follow a familiar pattern.

“The notice will come in the mail. It will sit on the kitchen table for a couple of days, or weeks. It may even get lost, and we will find it after sorting through a pile of bills later,” Kleinberg said.

But she will eventually fill it out.

“Being introverts, we don’t want anyone knocking on our door,” she said.

Deciding who fills out the questionnaire may force spouses or domestic partners to talk about power dynamics they might not have discussed for 10 years, since the last time there was a decennial census, said Diana Betz, an assistant professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland. In some households, she added, the topic might never have come up.

That could mean contemplating whether having a bigger salary or a more important job title trumps the traditional gender norms a couple may have settled into, or if doing more for a household through domestic chores or child-raising gives someone the claim, Betz said.

“You might be saying stuff that was previously left unspoken,” Betz said.

Be seeing you

Number 6