by Ron Lester

Created on: September 19, 2007

Couples who truly care about one another realize they have to work together to make their relationships work. With "work" being the pivotal point. There are numerous elements to a working relationship: intimacy, employment, children, bills, chores, etc.

I want to delve into the importance of sharing in chores, obviously some chores are more gender based, but there are chores that can be shared and reasons to share in them. For example, there are days when you come home from work and don't feel like doing a thing. Maybe you had a bad day and just want to relax when you get home. Everyone has days like these, so it is important for couples to understand this aspect.

Personally, I do most of the cooking, which is not to say my wife is a bad cook; she is not. I love the challenge of preparing the meals, however my wife does do the baking. She loves to bake, while I love to cook. While she is baking, I stay out of her way and vice versa.

For the most part, I take care of mowing the lawn and taking out the trash. She does the gardening, because she loves working in the garden. I could never stand gardening, but I do help her with it. I do the hedge trimming.

We share equally in the laundry and all other housework.

This is where it is important to understand your partner. Everyone has certain things they like to do, so you have to try and accommodate the situation. Couples learn to read the signs their partners emit. Without knowing when you partner has had a bad day, you could end up making things much worse than they need to be.

That is what makes sharing in housework so important to a successful marriage. Housework is a great way to know and understand your partner and sharing leads to strength in comprehension between husband and wife. Your living space is the foundation to every relationship. A cluttered home can lead to sleepless nights and a lack of libido. Therefore it is important to work together to get these tasks accomplished.

Have you ever seen a person try and take care of their home by themselves? It is amazing how exhausting those daily household chores can be. If chores are shared you can greatly reduce stress levels within the household. If your partner is exhausted from these daily chores, your intimacy could become threatened. Lack of intimacy could turn into a lack of communication. In essence, this creates a snowball effect. The outcome could be catastrophic from a marital point of view.

So remember! Share and share alike, then reap the rewards!

Learn more about this author, Ron Lester.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.