How To Get Men More Involved in Household Chores and Parenting Duties


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Ladies, are you tired of your man not doing his share of the household chores or parenting duties? Anne-Marie Slaughter of The Atlantic has an advice for you:

I am insisting that if we women truly want equal partners in the home, then we can't ask our husbands to be "equal" on our terms. They get equal say, even if we disagree. And indeed, if we can discover the joys and satisfactions of professional success, why shouldn't men be able to enjoy the rewards and satisfactions of parenting and homemaking? For years, mothers have gotten that special rush when a child reaches for his mommy and says no one else will do; do we really think a father doesn't get the same wonderful sense of being needed and valued when a child insists on his daddy?

Lisa Miller quotes therapist Barbara Kass in a blunt assessment of the problem. According to Kass, "So many women want to control their husbands' parenting. 'Oh, do you have the this? Did you do the that? Don't forget that she needs this. And make sure she naps.' Sexism is internalized." If women assume that we can do anything men can do (backwards and in heels, a la Ginger Rogers versus Fred Astaire,) and that we are superior in the home, we will never actually value men enough for them to experience the rewards of being fully equally partners. As my teenage sons frequently remind me, sexism cuts both ways.

Read more over at The Atlantic: Link


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I do most of the cleaning/chores at home and my wife DOES stay at home. Stuff doesnt get done daily and daddy has to pick up the slack when he gets home from work. Kids are still alive when i get home so i guess thats something. By the time i get home i have to 'relieve' the mommy so she can take a break.... Aaaannnd Venting is completed.
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Having stepchildren in a blended family gives you a big lesson in giving up control in parenting. But my husband and I always back each other up, as we agreed to before we took that leap.
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Doing extra chores is one way I tell my wife I love her. Sometimes, after she goes to bed, I'll clean the kitchen without telling her so that when she wakes up, she's pleasantly surprised.
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