by miraclesinprogress

Created on: September 25, 2008

I am going to list some reasons why husbands should do housework, and I will certainly try to give an accurate perspective without being overly verbose.

To begin with, many people are starting to acknowledge that, whether two people work OUTSIDE the home or not, the work does NOT end when you both come home. If it DOES end, it generally ends only for the male.

Someone has to scrub the toilets, "Comet" the sinks, scrape the dishes, throw in laundry, iron shirts, dresses, and slacks, not to mention microwave the dinner (or at least order it!), pick up the wet towels, tuck the children in, carpool the children to and fro...need I say more?

I think, simplistically speaking, one reason husbands should do housework is similar to why housewives do housework: IT NEEDS TO BE DONE, and it will NOT do itself! As adults, we need to cook in order to eat, we need to work in order to garner an income, we need to guide our children in order for them to "grow"; thus, it becomes obvious that everything and everyone needs some form of maintenance.

However, the responsibility to MAINTAIN equilibrium in any given area is not automatically assigned to women. I agree that a woman, if she is happy, is generally very willing to do most of the housework and other accompanying tasks IF the husband is the primary income earner. Then they both are sharing an eight-hour day. However, a woman's eight hour day certainly does not end when her husband walks in the door. Rather, this is often the time of day when her work really gets underway.

Children have arrived home from various extracurricular activities, dinner needs to be cooked, dishes will need to be done, and all members of the family will (normally) want some kind of interaction. This can be a very delightful, and functional, arrangement, as long as every member of the family (within reason, depending on the children's ages) is willing to participate in chores, as well as communicate when breaks are needed.

One of the main reasons why husbands should participate is that the work just will not do itself, and most women are not really "whiners" (that is why we can withstand childbirth); therefore, some might not communicate their dissatisfaction until it is too late. Think of the old standby: MAN says: "Honey, what's wrong?" WOMAN says: "Nothing!" Man sighs. Woman retreats into herself. Frustation begins. This might end up a pattern!

Another reason they should help is because a woman should not HAVE to ask a grown adult to assist her with daily tasks; especially when the workload has been generated by two adults, and often children, too.

Another reason they should help is that the shared intimacy in these seemingly "mundane" tasks (remember, they might seem equally or MORE mundane to a woman doing them all alone...) is VERY healthy for a relationship. Better to share mundane tasks than to frustrate a woman! We can be very pleasant types to be around when we are treated respectfully and fairly, after all...It is much better to share these tasks than see a woman gradually distance herself from a partner!

Here is a most ENTICING byproduct of a shared workload: most men that pitch in with housework and/or childcare have found that a woman's sex drive will "magically" begin to reappear and sometimes even SOAR. DO TELL! The encouragement she is given, and the energy that she has saved, will both contribute to this exciting phenomenon. If this, added to the above reasons, is not enough impetus to encourage husbands, I would be baffled.

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