First, you’re two individuals. Then you become a couple. Then you become parents. With each step, there are greater complications. And I think with each step, there’s a greater chance that one of these things falls by the wayside.

So both individuals have to still be independent and take care of themselves. They have to take care of one another equally as a couple should. And they have to share parenting duties, all at the same time.

I don’t think one sex is more disposed toward nurture or independence than the other. But if you’re in a marriage and you forget can’t balance all three of these, chances are, you’re not going to be happy.

It would seem this (seriously lame) t.v. show is just trying to reach its “target” audience…the one sitting home watching t.v. while their husbands escape, I mean, go to work. That aside, I thought I read a study a couple of years ago that said men/husbands are generally happier in marriage because they expected less whereas women/wives were more likely to be disappointed with the state of marriage. And if the doctors on the Mike and Juliet show are right and women need to stay home and coddle their husbands “ad nauseam” in order to achieve matrimonial nirvana then that would explain why the men/husbands are happier. I sure am happier when my spouse cooks dinner, does some (any) laundry and makes the coffee in the morning. But, seriously, I think any happy relationship involves give and take…so, if you are picking up his smelly socks then he better be taking out the garbage!

Gee this is so opposite to my experience! In my experience of three families (my own parents, my in-laws, and my own little family) if the MOM is happy, the everyone is happy. But if the MOM is unhappy…. watch out!!

I do find it exceedingly unfair that I work more hours AND earn more money than my husband, yet it is still ME hanging out little T-shirts and socks on the line at midnight (the only time I have to do laundry) and schlepping off to the grocery store after the baby has gone to sleep, so that he can have some nutritious food the next day. (Then hubby eats the baby’s food and I get really mad).
I’m working on my own insidious form of rebellion though. I do baby’s laundry and mine, but hubby’s clothes haven’t been washed for about 3 weeks now. Wonder when he will notice?

Y’know, BBBGMOM, I definitely bitch about these things in my husband too, as we both work the same hours and make the same amount of money and yet I’m still the #1 go-to parent at home. However, I sometimes think that the differences at heart come down to one thing; women are, by nature or nurture, more likely to do what others want of them. I’ve noticed that when I’m physically absent, my husband can make dinner, do laundry, wipe noses, and all the other stuff I’m the one generally stuck with when I’m home. At work, his multitasking skills seem to work just fine. And, really, if women were the champs at multitasking, they would hold all the air traffic control jobs, and high-powered chef positions, and military command posts, and… and yet not so much. I think it comes down to the fact that these household tasks are somewhat boring and repetitive and men feel entitled to wriggle out of them when they can, and women don’t. Now, it’s certainly possible that they’d be happier if they got a free pass to skip all this stuff and only do the fun parts of parenting and having a household, but then, so would I.

What struck me the most is the idea that the happy marriage can only happen if the woman makes the MAN happy… What about her own needs and happiness?