Many years ago, I read a cute little story about a mother with several children. Whenever cake was to be served, she would cut equal slices for each child. But inevitably, the kids would complain that their slice was slightly smaller or somehow slight worse than someone else's. No one was happy with their slice.

So, she had an idea. She had the oldest boy slice the cake first. But he had to finish slicing before any cake was served. Only after it was all sliced, she let the youngest kids pick their slice from all the choices.

It's a cute story, and of course, the idea is to eliminate the motivation to cheat. In this case, there is no incentive to cheat. The best possible solution for the individual (as well as the group) is make things as fair as possible.

Against my better judgment, I admit that sometimes read about the divorce experience from the female perspective. It boils my blood to see them convince themselves that bias against men in Family Court is a myth. They can explain all of our complaints away, e.g.: you didn't get 50/50 custody because you didn't ask for it, you idiot man. Then they laugh and call you an MRA incel if you do actually fight for custody.

Something else I noticed: women like say they'll get half of "everything" (specifically using that word). But men always say she'll get half of "mine". Very telling. It shows you who contributes, and who's the parasite.

Anyway, I had this idea. Now, I know this is an unworkable fantasy. It's just a "thought experiment" to combine these two stories.

Suppose that, when a couple gets divorced, the judge comes up with a plan for Parent 1, and a plan for Parent 2. For example: Parent 1 needs to work full-time and earn as much as they can, and give 50% of their earnings to the other parent. And Parent 2 gets to stay home all day with the kids and make all the big decisions about the kids. Parent 1 will be forced to work and earn, at gunpoint. But Parent 2 can pretty much do whatever they want.

So, let the judge come up with two slices of cake. And, hey, they're equal, right? I mean, there is no bias, right?

And let the man pick the first slice. What could be more fair than that?