what is it with my wife?!
Replies
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Okay, I wasn't going to, but I can't help myself.
Dude, you made a baby together. Presumably you decided that it would be best for said baby if your wife stayed home and took care of it. You likely calculated the cost of day care vs. the income your wife brought in and decided together as a couple that your wife would stay home.
At some point, you decided on a dwelling place for the family. You need to come to an agreement on how said dwelling place is tended. Not by either of you demanding or pouting or recriminating. Certainly not by taking things away, each from the other. You need to act like a married couple and talk about your expectations. And if they are reasonable. You need to listen to each other and respect each other and act like grown-ups. Holy moly. You wouldn't think this would be so hard.0 -
Well, I haven't read through this thread but I will offer some advice that has worked for my family and getting my husband more involved as we both work and I also go to college.
We got a dry erase board and put a "chore chart" on it for all of us, my young daughter included.
Just maybe ask her in a nice way how you two can divide chores equally and post them in a family space like the kitchen. It's a way of telling her you want to know what she expects from you as well. This way she won't feel like she is being attacked and something gets accomplished also.0 -
Tell her to do it or you'll take away all luxury.
Money, credit cards, CELL PHONE.
She has one job.
She can do it.
If not, don't reward bad behavior.
If she's going to act like a child, treat her like a child.
[sarcasm] Because that's certainly a reasonable way to behave with another adult person you claim to love. [/sarcasm]
If the actions have no consequences the behavior will not change.
Talk to her, say "Honey, the house needs to be cleaned today. If it is not done, I'm taking away luxuries. This is your fair warning."
Likely, she will not believe him, and he'll come home to a mess, and than take the cell, the wifi, the car keys.
The next day, talk to her "Honey, I will return your luxuries today if I come home to a clean house."
It'll work like magic.
Than she will know you're serious.0 -
Tell her to do it or you'll take away all luxury.
Money, credit cards, CELL PHONE.
She has one job.
She can do it.
If not, don't reward bad behavior.
If she's going to act like a child, treat her like a child.
[sarcasm] Because that's certainly a reasonable way to behave with another adult person you claim to love. [/sarcasm]
If the actions have no consequences the behavior will not change.
Talk to her, say "Honey, the house needs to be cleaned today. If it is not done, I'm taking away luxuries. This is your fair warning."
Likely, she will not believe him, and he'll come home to a mess, and than take the cell, the wifi, the car keys.
The next day, talk to her "Honey, I will return your luxuries today if I come home to a clean house."
It'll work like magic.
Than she will know you're serious.
To be honest, I could never be that disrespectful to my wife. This is not an ultimatum. My question for this entire topic is for suggestions on how to approach the subject without it becoming a fight.
I have seen a lot of responses on here with great suggestions that won't make it seem like I am attacking her - as she feels I have done in the past.
I can't treat her like a child, she is my wife and an adult...not my daughter. I wouldn't want to be treated like a child, I would want to be approached in a less degrading manner personally...I just suck at soft approaches, that's why I asked the question.0 -
I haven't the time to read each page of this thread BUT if you are still married... try this...
sit down with her.. and prepare a list of ALL the things that need to be done around the house... break them down to daily, weekly, monthly... set out a schedule that you can each follow... you accomplish 2 things... consensus and accountability... follow up with tracking the time it takes to do a task.. and revise the schedule... it will take some time to establish the rhythm...
ON her side of this.. it's a little hard to do things like vacuum and yard work while the kid is napping...
I had a blow out with my wife (of 15 years) not long ago... about this exact same thing... I get up at 4... walk the dogs, and am in the office before 7... my wife ... works about 10 minutes from the house and starts at 8... I leave the office at 4.. and the commute home can be anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on traffic and weather...
anyway... I TOO had been working some extended hours due to the size and scope of a project... and I get the old.. YOU don't do enough around here... and my response was quite simple... I said... Maybe YOU should focus a little more on WHAT I DO instead of what MORE you want me to do...0 -
Okay, I'll probably get some feedback on this but I say, she's a stay at home mom. That's her job. Take care of the kids and clean. I'm not saying she should do ALL of the housework. You live there too so you should contribute. But I think she needs to do the majority since she stays home. Just my opinion. I've always worked outside of the home so maybe I haven't walked in her shoes.
I agree with this. My house would be SPOTLESS if I could stay home. I have the opposite problem. Hubs and I both work 8 hours a day yet he seems to think the majority of housework/childcare is My job (cause I'm a woman?). He doesn't say that exactly, but doesn't do much either. When he does the dishes (rarely) He says "I did the dishes for you" Really? For me? Thanks
^^^ this is my life. When my husband does something around the house he acts like I need to get down on my knees. Yeeeaaahh. Not happenin'. :noway:0 -
I have to be blunt here. Being a stay at home mom is her job. Being a homemaker means you make the home what it is. It means not only do you take care of the children, you clean the house, do the laundry, go to the grocery, do the cooking, and make your home comfortable for the person who provides the income. You don't get to complain about how they don't clean enough or do enough. They are earning the money that allows you to do your job in comfort. I have been a homemaker for many years, and disabled for about half of them, I would never expect my husband to come home and clean the house or make his own dinner. He does however do the handyman jobs around the house, mostly because he likes to do them. If she doesn't like her job, maybe she should get a job to pay for someone to do it for her.
Preach!0 -
How about just realizing that this isn't forever. That a messy house with a baby is normal. I'm sure you're not cleaning bathrooms EVERY DAY. Maybe she feels like a "kept woman". I am not sure. Just sounds to me like she's not happy at all.
My husband got upset that the house was always a mess. We had a 7 month old and I was working full time. lol. Yea. I paid 1/2 the bills so his argument stopped there.
But talking to your wife may be difficult. Not many women want to admit that they don't like being a SAHM. I'll admit it...freely. I like to work. But our culture plays up that role to this amazing, blissful thing...and it's not. Perhaps your wife is going through something like that. I don't know. Talk to her. Just don't make the talk about the chores...she'll shut down...make it about HER and that you're worried she's unhappy.0 -
you need the right tone of her voice. When she asks you to do something, just say
"*****, please!"0 -
Check this...
I work full time AND my house is spotless.
;-)
ETA: I have 1 child, 10 years. She does take far less effort than a baby, but I think a baby takes far less time than the 45 hours straight (no naps?!) plus commute my full time job does.0 -
I'm a mother of two kids that works full-time, goes to college part-time and my husband lives in a different state atm. I cook, clean, mow, etc. - I DO IT ALL.
And his wife can't clean the house? :laugh:0 -
I think some people on this thread are not married and have no children. lol.
I'd also like to see some people be treated the way they want this man to treat his wife. Dang.0 -
But talking to your wife may be difficult. Not many women want to admit that they don't like being a SAHM. I'll admit it...freely. I like to work. But our culture plays up that role to this amazing, blissful thing...and it's not. Perhaps your wife is going through something like that. I don't know. Talk to her. Just don't make the talk about the chores...she'll shut down...make it about HER and that you're worried she's unhappy.
Everytime I ask her if she enjoys being a SAHM, she replies "I wouldn't change it for the world" ... So unless she is continually lying to my face, I do believe she is happy in that role watching our little girl grow and learn every day.
Thank you for the tip though - making the conversation about her may be quite helpful.0 -
This post bugs me. I'm a stay at home mom to 3 kids 5 and under. I'm also a full time student and workout usually an hour a day. Sometimes I just don't have the time to fold all the laundry, cook dinner, or whatever... why should she have to do it all?
My house is clean, but I really don't care if there's toys and clean, unfolded laundry in my living room.
Why can't you just notice something needs to be done and offer help? It'll save on the nagging. It'll make her happy.0 -
I am a SAHM to 3 kids, 10, 8 and 4, and have been since my job disappeared four years ago. I am now in nursing school as well....so I know staying home, raising kids and busy. But my husband requires a level of clean that is hard to maintain with three other people messing it up constantly. (He works away from home all week, returning on Fridays and leaving again Monday). To keep peace (I am a keeper, but not a housekeeper), he makes a to-do list in priority order, and we communicate through the week on how it's going. When he gets home, the things that bother him the most are done, and STAY done.
That said, when the kids were under a year, it was hard to juggle everything that needed to be done because breastfeeding and losing sleep and the increased monitoring and attention a baby requires rewires your brain for awhile so that all that really seems to get done is kid stuff. She probably can't even tell you where the day goes. But knowing it's a problem for you, she might want to start trying to focus a little more on it.
If you hired someone for a whole day (or asked a relative/friend for help) and the whole house got caught up, would she then be more willing/able to KEEP it caught up?
Just tell her you're tired too, and to keep everything good, you need her input and compromise on a more equitable division of labor.
I agree with CHRISTMRE......this is her job. Part of raising your child full-time IS keeping the environment around her clean, and daddy happy.0 -
But talking to your wife may be difficult. Not many women want to admit that they don't like being a SAHM. I'll admit it...freely. I like to work. But our culture plays up that role to this amazing, blissful thing...and it's not. Perhaps your wife is going through something like that. I don't know. Talk to her. Just don't make the talk about the chores...she'll shut down...make it about HER and that you're worried she's unhappy.
Everytime I ask her if she enjoys being a SAHM, she replies "I wouldn't change it for the world" ... So unless she is continually lying to my face, I do believe she is happy in that role watching our little girl grow and learn every day.
Thank you for the tip though - making the conversation about her may be quite helpful.
I say I love it when people ask. Reality? I hate it. I love beng with my kids and being the one raising them and teaching them, but stuck at home all the time? Yeah I'm over that. I don't know many sahms whi love it truly, at least not after a few years of it.0 -
Well, I'm a stay-at-home mom of a 12-mo old, so I can relate a bit to your wife.
My husband works long hours - he leaves the house before 6a some days and might not get home until 7.
My daughter will typically nap about an hour-and-a-half in the morning and maybe 45 mins to an hour in the afternoon. Sometimes I use this time to do some housework/chores, sometimes I try to catch a nap *with* her, and sometimes I play on facebook. Depends. I'm not a perfectionist about housework, but I try to stay reasonably on top of things.
I rock my daughter to sleep around 9p-9:30p most nights, so after she is down for sleep, I make a small to-do list for the next day. I never put more than about 3 things on it. I also have a few routines I try to stick to - example: I *usually* do laundry on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That includes changing our bed sheets and bathroom towels, and laundry for the three of us. Sometimes I skip one of those days, sometimes I do 3 loads in one day. Just depends. But having a loose schedule kind of helps keep me mentally organized.
I usually clean up the kitchen after my little one is down for sleep, before her first nighttime wake-up where she needs Mommy.
My husband will help me with the housework whenever I ask. He doesn't see himself as "above it" or anything. I do expect *him* to bag up the garbage each week, but that's really the only chore I've assigned to him.
I think - instead of a housekeeper - a Roomba was a great investment for us! The downstairs gets vacuumed every night! Seriously, look into it - I love not having to vacuum by hand much anymore!
I have some of those markers than can write on mirrors and wipe off clean - so I make my little "do" lists right on the bathroom mirror. :-P
Oh, and I'm not just a "brow beaten woman" - I did all the housework except the garbage even when I was working full-time outside the home. So no, we're not sexist here - I'm just capable. :-P0 -
Definitely think she should contribute way more than she does. I never understood my friends who chose to stay at home and watch after their kids. I work 10 hour days, then go working out and still come home and make dinner. Sometimes it's an option of whether I should make dinner or clean but why not both? I think she just got lazy and needs a reality check.0
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But talking to your wife may be difficult. Not many women want to admit that they don't like being a SAHM. I'll admit it...freely. I like to work. But our culture plays up that role to this amazing, blissful thing...and it's not. Perhaps your wife is going through something like that. I don't know. Talk to her. Just don't make the talk about the chores...she'll shut down...make it about HER and that you're worried she's unhappy.
Everytime I ask her if she enjoys being a SAHM, she replies "I wouldn't change it for the world" ... So unless she is continually lying to my face, I do believe she is happy in that role watching our little girl grow and learn every day.
Thank you for the tip though - making the conversation about her may be quite helpful.
I'd press it. Or maybe she doesn't understand she's a housewife...not just a SAHM. But again, this isn't forever. Kids grow. But I do think she's harboring some resentment. You get to go to work and leave the house, REGARDLESS of how hard your job may be or annoying, that is what she sees. You get to leave. You leave all day and her little world is that house. So when you get home, she wants to see YOU participate too. Because, "She's not a maid". Not logical, but could be how she is feeling.
Again, I ask, does she get time off to go out with friends? Do you two have date nights? So important.0 -
If you figure out how to succesfully approach it let me know. I'm in a similar situation, I work full time and my partner stays at home all day. We don't have children, he literally spends the whole day playing videogames/browsing reddit and "cleaning" I come home to a disaster every day despite the fact that he says he cleaned. I'm at my wits end, I'm about to hire a cleaner. I think men just don't understand the concept of clean sometimes.0
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If you both worked, you'd split chores 50%/50%. So she takes care of the child and house during the 10-12 hours you are working, then you split the rest during your off-time. You work all day, she works all day. Things should be evenly shared when you get home.
Think about this too: If cleaning takes longer than nap-time (which it almost certainly does) what is your child going to be doing while your wife is off cleaning? TV? Is it worth a cleaner house to plop the kid in front of the boob tube rather than having your wife spend that time engaged with her? Your wife's primary responsibility is that kiddo, the house should come second.0 -
Yeah, hire a housekeeper. Arguing about who does what is a waste of time, seriously invest in a housekeeper and you can thank me for saving your marriage later
Hire a housekeeper...WTF!?!?!?
Tell her do some damn work or she can switch places with you.
This. Yeah...if she's a 'stay at home mom,' in my opinion that includes housework.0 -
If the actions have no consequences the behavior will not change.
Talk to her, say "Honey, the house needs to be cleaned today. If it is not done, I'm taking away luxuries. This is your fair warning."
Likely, she will not believe him, and he'll come home to a mess, and than take the cell, the wifi, the car keys.
The next day, talk to her "Honey, I will return your luxuries today if I come home to a clean house."
It'll work like magic.
Than she will know you're serious.
If my husband ever spoke to me in such a manner, as a lesser being meant to follow his every order or direction, lest he take away my contact with the outside world, I would suggest that he should perhaps find an alternative way to communicate.
Marriage requires two adults, acting like adults.
I honestly think you must be a troll, because your recommendations are totally ridiculous.0 -
I'd press it. Or maybe she doesn't understand she's a housewife...not just a SAHM. But again, this isn't forever. Kids grow. But I do think she's harboring some resentment. You get to go to work and leave the house, REGARDLESS of how hard your job may be or annoying, that is what she sees. You get to leave. You leave all day and her little world is that house. So when you get home, she wants to see YOU participate too. Because, "She's not a maid". Not logical, but could be how she is feeling.
Again, I ask, does she get time off to go out with friends? Do you two have date nights? So important.
I do participate every night, but I get grumpy when she wants to lay on the couch while I do a ton of cleaning...I also try to get it done so she and I can have some cuddle time after the baby is asleep. I've also told her numerous times, I would gladly take over being a SAHD if she wanted to go out and make the money - she just doesn't want to leave our daughter yet...
She gets time to go out with friends a few days a week, sometimes with the baby, but most of the time without.
We just started doing date nights again - when our Anniversary rolled around last month, we've had 3 since that night....working to try to make it once a week eventually, but for now once every 2 weeks is a start.0 -
I never understood this about SAHMs. I was one for a couple of years and ALL I wanted when hubby got home was to take the baby so I could get housework done and get a break from a kid for a while.0
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As someone who has had the privilege of staying home for more that 23 years, I fully believe that I have the responsibility of the home!!! I've done most of the cooking and all the cleaning during this time! I not only had 2 small children but I continued on to homeschool them - a total of 16 years. But when my husband comes home the house is clean and neat!! It's not what he demands but if I can stay at home, it should reduce some of his responsibility after a long day! Or in our case, weeks away working on oil rigs!!!
I think women should think it's an honor to keep our homes very livable! Not only for our families but for ourselves!! I stay on top of things so it's never overwhelming at all!!
It's the least we can do!!
I do that too...just pick up before he gets home. However, on his days off and I'm at work, I come home to a mess. Yea. So now I just say "eff it" and don't bother. I work too.0 -
I didn't read the whole thread... but here goes. I'm a working mom to a one year old. When we get home from work, we spend time with our daughter, put her to bed, make dinner and then (sometimes) clean up before relaxing/going to bed. Why don't you try and motivate her like "ok let's clean up for 30 min and relax". My husband will usually do that, even though we're both tired, if I see him motivated then it will motivate me.
Your wife works hard during the day just like you do. Maybe harder than you because she's running around after a baby. If she wants to relax during the baby's nap, then let her.0 -
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: @ "Honey, I will return your luxuries today if I come home to a clean house."
Whoever takes this advice - RIP.0 -
If the actions have no consequences the behavior will not change.
Talk to her, say "Honey, the house needs to be cleaned today. If it is not done, I'm taking away luxuries. This is your fair warning."
Likely, she will not believe him, and he'll come home to a mess, and than take the cell, the wifi, the car keys.
The next day, talk to her "Honey, I will return your luxuries today if I come home to a clean house."
It'll work like magic.
Than she will know you're serious.
If my husband ever spoke to me in such a manner, as a lesser being meant to follow his every order or direction, lest he take away my contact with the outside world, I would suggest that he should perhaps find an alternative way to communicate.
Marriage requires two adults, acting like adults.
I honestly think you must be a troll, because your recommendations are totally ridiculous.
He's already going to use a different approach, so arguing about this a moot point.
Remember, it's her not doing her part, not the other way around.
Many women view marriage and baby as a retirement plan, and it sounds like she's cashing out the 401K.
It happens constantly and causes a lot of divorce and unhappy hubbys.
You can't have the benefits of traditional gender roles without both parties putting in the hard work that goes along with it.
As a lot of women have explained, a lot of work can go into being a stay at home mom, if you actually do the job.
Marriage and children are not retirement, they are the start of a very long committed amount of hard work.
But I gave my advice and OP doesn't like that style, so that's fine.
I wish them both the best with which ever path they go down.
:happy:0 -
She sounds depressed to me.
I understand your frustration. I've been on both sides of it. Her side, your side. It is one big ball of frustration and resentment.
What I've learned: It doesn't matter.
If the house isn't cleaned, don't clean it. Tell her you'd like to just relax after the baby is down. Cook together. Don't clean. I dunno....bathrooms get cleaned 2 times a week here but for a while it was once a week.0
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