When it comes to living together it is proper etiquette to equally share household responsibilities. It is best for people who live together to do the chores that they know how to do best. For instance, maybe one person is better at doing the dishes than another person, or one would rather take out the garbage than do the dishes. It’s about working together to get things done.
Apparently, some people didn’t get that memo. Case in point: the husband who took to Reddit to rant about his pregnant wife’s fury over him wanting an hour to himself so that he could play a video game. The problem was that the pregnant wife was already cooking dinner for everyone and asked him to watch his children until she was finished.
A husband got in deep water with his wife after complaining when she asked for help with the kids.
As a couple, it’s important to share the bulk of the household chores, but the reality is things are rarely 50/50. That being said, if your pregnant wife is cooking dinner and asks you to stop playing your video game and watch the kids so she can finish what she’s doing, you do it! The husband, who turned to Reddit for advice, chose not to, and to make matters worse, he opened up his mouth and literally made matters worse.
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But let’s back up a bit and start at the beginning. The man shared that he and his wife are lucky enough to be expecting their fourth child, but he didn’t mince words when talking about how much he hates when his wife is pregnant. “Every single pregnancy we’ve been through my wife has been a complete nightmare,” he wrote. “Some things I can deal with, like waking up to the sound of her puking her guts out every morning, but when she starts demanding I go to the store every day to get her snacks or set up her foot bath thingy because her feet are swollen, I get a little impatient.” Yeah, he’s not starting off strong.
The husband tried to defend just how much work he does around the house as justification for his reluctance to do more.
He went on to compare how his job as a plumber is much more physically taxing than her job as an engineer, which, in his mind, somehow evens out to the physical labor of being pregnant. He continued, “It’s not like I don’t help around the house, either. She does all the cooking and dishes, but I do laundry, take out garbage, and mow the lawn.”
So, he’s obviously a bit defensive about his role, which likely shows that he already knows he messed up, but here’s where things take a turn. He explained, “My wife screamed at me from the kitchen to get off my (expletive) and entertain our twins so she could focus on her meatloaf.”
Why he didn’t just get off the couch and entertain the twins is anybody’s guess, but he didn’t. He explained, “I made a dumb joke about how this is the third meatloaf we’ll be eating this week, and she. lost. her. (expletive). She told me how I have no sympathy for the fact that she’s pregnant, I should be taking on more of her chores since I can’t breastfeed, but then I reminded her that I still work a lot more hours than her, so I think we’re basically both pregnant.”
By the fourth pregnancy, he should have known better. No, working long hours and helping with basic household chores does not equal growing a whole other human.
Commenters were quick to come to the wife’s defense and explain to the husband that he needs to step up and do more.
When you choose to share your life with someone, you become a team that needs to work together. In fact, actively engaging in household chores without complaint reflects positively on the kids who are watching. Psychology Today noted that children who do chores with their parents generally perform better academically and have better social skills than kids who don’t.
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This husband clearly did not think things through before he spoke, and thankfully, commenters on Reddit were quick to set him straight. In fact, the top comment probably said it about as perfectly as it could be said: “You want to play video games instead of watch the kids? You’re irritated by what your wife is making dinner? You think that things like waking up in the middle of the night because she’s puking are analogous to waking up in the night to puke? You’re a huge major (expletive).”
This person was not quite done yet. “She’s creating a living creature inside of her and let me assure you that… is way harder than whatever you have to do.”
Women actually find men more attractive when they do housework.
Yes, women really find men more attractive when they vacuum the floor and take out the garbage. This isn’t even in the figurative sense. When men make an effort to do their fair share of the household chores, they are perceived as more attractive.
Research backs it up as well. A study from 2016 found a direct correlation between men who pull their weight and an increase in bedroom activities. Yup, doing chores improves marital intimacy.
What could be a better incentive?
Sylvia Ojeda is an author with a decade of experience writing novels and screenplays. She covers self-help, relationships, culture, and human interest topics.
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