Search Results for: blog marriage and household roles

Finding Your Identity in Your Marriage

I never thought much about my life growing up. At times in my adult life when I’ve considered getting married, having kids, I didn’t have anything but my own thoughts at that time to rely on. It’s strange because I’m an obsessive planner for short-term details, but I can’t think of any point in my life when I’ve had a vision for the future. As a kid I always had dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up: veterinarian, zoologist, reporter for National Geographic Magazine, but those were always just fleeting childhood whimsies. I never pictured myself … Continue reading →

How Premarital Counseling Might Help Marriages

What comes next? The other week one of the local radio station’s morning talk program held a discussion on marriage. A young engaged woman called in. She said that she signed herself and her fiance up for premarital counseling. She did so, she claimed, because her husband-to-be doesn’t know anything about what a modern marriage ought to be like. Her beloved was raised by his socially conservative grandmother. Now that they’re approaching their married life it came out that he believes she will do all of the work around the house and take care of the kids. We’ve looked at … Continue reading →

What You Should Talk About in Your Marriage

If you haven’t discussed the following topics before you got married then you should do so soon. You want to make sure that there are certain things you both understand, if you want to have a long and happy marriage. Sex Most couples, even close couples, don’t like talking about sex. But sex can get you in to all sorts of trouble. You should confront and discuss different aspects of sex, such as how much and how often. You should also establish a way to gently communicate when one of you just isn’t up for sex, and how each of … Continue reading →

When You Don’t Love Your Husband

A friend of mine recently confessed to me that she just doesn’t love her husband. She is considering leaving him, although she is unsure of the decision since this man is a wonderful husband and father. He has always been loyal, faithful, kind, and a good friend. What do you think she should do? The first question I had for her was whether or not she ever loved her husband. Many people feel as through the first flush of love and romance is gone, especially after kids. Most couples go on to develop a longer-lasting deeper love and fall in … Continue reading →

Marriage and Household Roles

Having “assigned roles” in the household can make for fewer arguments in a marriage. Knowing exactly who is responsible for what can help the tasks get done and cut down on arguments. Here is how. Assigning roles In my marriage, we seem to have naturally fallen into responsibilities, although some things are done as a team, and other things seem to be done by whomever gets inspired (or tired) when a task is left undone. Most of the time, we fall into the typical gender roles that you might have expected from the 1950s. Part of the reason for this … Continue reading →

Celebrities And Their Babies—The Newest Additions

Paging “Dr. McDreamy” fans… yesterday your favorite “Grey’s Anatomy” star donned scrubs in real life to welcome his family’s newest additions—twin boys. According to news reports, actor Patrick Dempsey and wife Jillian are now the proud parents of twins, named Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick. The boys join 4-year-old sister Talula in the Dempsey household. Did you happen to see Dempsey on the cover of LIFE Magazine a few weeks back? He posed with his head resting on his wife’s pregnant belly. I looked at the shot and couldn’t believe that she was carrying TWO babies. In the LIFE article … Continue reading →

Sorting Out the Gender Roles In Marriage

Less than two generations ago, the gender roles in a marriage and in parenting were pretty clearly defined. Dads went to work. Moms stayed at home. Wives may have worked prior to marriage, but typically they stayed home when children came. They spent a great deal of time in volunteer work and parent chaperoning. Today’s married couples and gender roles are less defined and while that lack of definition provides an immutable freedom in choices and options. This potpourri of roles and options is the catalyst for many problems, but it can also provide the solutions to those very problems. … Continue reading →

Fun Marriage Traditions (From Past To Present)

It’s Friday. Today, my husband and I are doing what many married couples before us and after us will do for friends and family. We are going to help my mother move. She’s finally bought her own place. It’s a great experience for her. She’s finally invested in personal property and for the first time in her life, she will own the place she is going to live. She’s very excited about it and my husband, bless him, didn’t miss a beat in the last three months as my mother looked for a new place. So in honor of this, … Continue reading →

How to Spare Your Child the Pain of Divorce

Norwegian researchers believe they know how to prevent the pains of divorce from being inflicted on innocent children. According to a new study entitled “Equality in the Home,” parents who share housework duties are 50 percent more likely to get divorced than couples where the woman does most of the chores. In other words, the more housework the man does, the higher the divorce rate. A part of me died typing that sentence. The rest of me is trying to swallow the vomit that’s pooled in my mouth. Basically, the study is saying that if you are a stressed out … Continue reading →

When to Ask the Big Questions

Last time I examined whether or not premarital counseling ought to be a considered option for couples before they marry. Today I’ll look at another part of the question: how much couples should know about each other before they approach the altar. The main reason why premarital counseling might be a good idea is because sometimes people don’t know the sorts of things they ought to know about each other before they get married. The idea was sparked by a girl who called into my local radio station to say that she’d signed herself and her fiance up for counseling. … Continue reading →