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Picking up the Slack

Marriage is about working together and being there for each other. While it might be good to set up some guidelines initially about how your marriage will work and who will do what jobs, sometimes these guidelines should be only that – guidelines. At times they many need updating or changing as circumstances change. It may mean for a time one person is left carrying more of the load. This can happen when your spouse is sick or injured, as when I broke my arm, Mick was left to pick up a lot of the slack and take on jobs … Continue reading →

The Baby Blog Week in Review – Tally for the End of November

We’ve been a little crazed here in the Baby Blog and we’ve been short on articles and for that you have my apologies. We’ll be picking the slack back up this month, but in the meanwhile, I wanted to give you a rundown of the last few days to cover some of the articles that you may have missed. In What if I Don’t Get a Baby Shower? we offered some suggestions in how to hostess your own or let your family and friends participate in getting you what you need for your new baby if you don’t get a … Continue reading →

Teamwork

Marriage is all about teamwork, whether that is in raising children, or doing household chores. This morning Mick and I were hanging the washing out. Obviously this used to only occur on weekends until after he retired. Now it is quite common to see us pegging out the washing together. Of course initially when he tried to help we had a few things hung up in strange ways, or at least ways strange to me. Most things I didn’t care about. But I did care if I ended up with peg marks on the shoulders of T shirts, or blouses … Continue reading →

Be a Model

‘Children need models not critics.’ These were the words I saw recently outside a school. They struck me as very true. Today we hear a lot from some older people about the younger generation and how they are not as well behaved, obedient, compliant, well mannered, or respectful as previous generations. Can I suggest that maybe there is a reason for that? It is far easier to criticize than it is to model a lifestyle. Instead of being critics maybe what is needed is modeling a positive loving marriage. What young people to see is cooperation, courtesy, kindness, respect for … Continue reading →

Less Chance of Divorce

It’s official, men who help their wives with housework, shopping and caring for children are less likely to have their marriages end in divorce, according to a study in the United Kingdom. There could be several reasons for this. One is that when the wife is working outside the home she is under a lot of stress trying to combine work as wife, mother, lover and woman in the work force. Therefore she’s less likely to have time to pay attention to her husband’s needs and more likely to feel hard done by when he does not help out. This … Continue reading →

Helpless Husbands – Part 2

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I’ve also heard women smugly say about their husbands and household chores. ‘He wouldn’t know what to do.’ Ladies, to me it’s not something to be proud of. Then there’s this one, ‘I couldn’t trust him to do it properly. So what’s the point?’ The point is maybe they’ve never let them do it. Maybe their standards are too high? Maybe they should be thankful for what he does and if it’s not up to their standard, either just accept it or go and quietly fix it or touch it up when he is not around. It’s this sort of … Continue reading →

Ways to Save Money Living On One Income

Time to work on you marriage and spend with children, are not the only benefits of living on a single income. Living on one income can help you become more careful with money. How? Read on. When it came to groceries Mick and I figured out early on that the fewer times we went near the supermarket the better off we were. Grocery shopping was once a month. It means making a list and ensuring you are not going to run out of necessary items. If you do, then go without till the next shop, unless it is absolutely essential. … Continue reading →

Love Is All You Need?

The obvious L word for a marriage is love. But there are two aspects to love, loving and being lovable. I’ve seen several posts on the discussion forums recently where people have been hurt by what their loved one has done. In each case the person has shown little regard for the feelings of their partner, because they are so totally focused on getting what they want regardless of who is hurt in the process. Loving Love is about giving and putting yourself out for the other person. It’s not about always wanting your own way in a relationship. Sadly, … Continue reading →

Attitudes Toward Marriage

Everybody has something to say about marriage. Some of it is positive, some extremely cynical. I’m inclined to think a lot of a person’s ideas about marriage and response to marriage come from their experiences of marriage. This means the model they saw in their parent’s marriage and sometimes in the marriages of friend’s parents. Good reason for parents to be careful about the sort of messages they are sending their children about marriage. It will shape a person’s own expectations of and attitude towards marriage. It is also shaped by their own experience of love and marriage and what … Continue reading →

Would You Let Your Husband Iron His Own Shirt?

Would you let your husband iron his own shirt? Even as I write those words I can hear some woman, particularly of the older generations, reel in shock at the mere suggestion of such a thing. I have a friend around my age, who has the theory if it needs to be ironed it doesn’t get bought. She only buys clothes which can be washed and hung up and then put on or put away in the closet. Okay, I admit I don’t go quite that far. But I am a big fan of skirts that only need washing, twisting … Continue reading →