Inspired by you, Denise
I'm coming to realize that my dad set a very high standard for every man I will ever live with when it comes to contributing to work around the house. I worry that I'll never find someone that could match it. Lately I've been hearing so many stories of women that work full time jobs, just like their husbands, yet still do the majority of the child care and housework.
My dad and his wife have a division of labor split smack down the middle when it comes to housework. She likes to cook, he cleans the kitchen. He likes to build decks and fences, she likes to garden. He takes care of the lawn, she does the laundry. BOTH OF THEM CLEAN THE BATHROOM!!! I really think the balance they have is the secret to their happy relationship. I've never heard one nag the other about a household chore that needed to be done. They have a house where everything is in it's place, clean, comfortable and taken care of. And it appears effortless. I just wonder how this dance got started, where the understanding began, how my dad learned to be an equal partner in labor when so many men still think that the one time they clean the bathroom per year is cause for celebration.
I'm not the cleanest person in the world but am becoming more so as I get older. And I find that when I live with someone less clean and less willing to do housework than I am that I become resentful and have even less motivation to do housework, to the point of rebellion. I'm starting to desire a bathroom that is cleaned once a week, floors that aren't covered in dog hair and always-empty kitchen sinks. But I'm not willing to put all the work into something that somebody else gets the benefit of but is not giving an equal amount.
I envy women that are content pulling 80% of the household labor load. The second-wave feminist and traditional domestic caretaker of the home in me don't get along very well. I don't think I'll be happy with anything less than the example of a man that my dad gave me. I worry because I think that if I'm not willing to learn to live with less I'll be very unhappy.
Maybe the answer is just making enough money so that I can hire people to do it all for me.
My dad and his wife have a division of labor split smack down the middle when it comes to housework. She likes to cook, he cleans the kitchen. He likes to build decks and fences, she likes to garden. He takes care of the lawn, she does the laundry. BOTH OF THEM CLEAN THE BATHROOM!!! I really think the balance they have is the secret to their happy relationship. I've never heard one nag the other about a household chore that needed to be done. They have a house where everything is in it's place, clean, comfortable and taken care of. And it appears effortless. I just wonder how this dance got started, where the understanding began, how my dad learned to be an equal partner in labor when so many men still think that the one time they clean the bathroom per year is cause for celebration.
I'm not the cleanest person in the world but am becoming more so as I get older. And I find that when I live with someone less clean and less willing to do housework than I am that I become resentful and have even less motivation to do housework, to the point of rebellion. I'm starting to desire a bathroom that is cleaned once a week, floors that aren't covered in dog hair and always-empty kitchen sinks. But I'm not willing to put all the work into something that somebody else gets the benefit of but is not giving an equal amount.
I envy women that are content pulling 80% of the household labor load. The second-wave feminist and traditional domestic caretaker of the home in me don't get along very well. I don't think I'll be happy with anything less than the example of a man that my dad gave me. I worry because I think that if I'm not willing to learn to live with less I'll be very unhappy.
Maybe the answer is just making enough money so that I can hire people to do it all for me.