I started thinking about how my husband is completely inept when it comes to anything electronic. He doesn’t know how to get a DVD set up to play. He hasn’t mastered even the most elementary key commands (Alt + Tab, for instance) on the computer. He hasn’t the foggiest idea how to read the intructions that come with those build-your-own-piece-of-furniture kits. He doesn’t know how to disable closed captions on any of our TVs. I do all of it.
On the other hand, he waters the plants. He does most of the cooking. He loves to do the grocery shopping. He takes care of organizing the bills and deciding which get paid at what time in the month. (I’m the one, however, who sits at the computer to pay them through our bank’s website.)
My wife handles all the finances including investments, taxes and the like. She used to be more athletic than me but we are approaching a common middle ground there. She is better with computers than me and she taught me how to drive a standard shift car.
I do almost all the cooking and most of the grocery shopping.
My wife does most of the cooking, but I do most of the washing of dishes, and just about all the cleaning of counters, vacuuming, swiffing the kitchen floor, cleaning the bathrooms, making the beds, and washing the sheets and towels.
She used to be a lot better with computers, and she’s still got the edge, but it’s a much closer thing than it was.
My sweetie cleans up after dinner (I cook) and he’ll gladly clean the bathrooms, my most hated chore. I do most of the yard work because he hates it so. I also tend to keep track of all required vehicle maintenance.
I was the primary bread winner for 5 out of the 13 years of our marriage. Now everything is supposed to be going back to “traditional” but I’m not very good at it yet. Hell, it’s only been a little over week. Maybe there’s still hope for me. :dubious:
My husband, bless his heart, is willing to wash the dishes and vacuum the carpets.
I am the entertainment guru, so I program the VCRs and the DVR. When we surf through the cable channels, I am generally in charge of the remote control. He, of course, can maintain a certain amount of mastery by telling me “Hey! Go back to that channel! I think I saw a girl in a miniskirt!”
Long ago, I assumed the cooking. It started because I was home each afternoon two hours before her. But let’s also face facts: the bus wife can not cook. When we sat with the builder of our new home, I literally threw her out of the room when we talked about the kitchen. MY ROOM, stay out, go decorate the family room or something…
Laundry - I wash and dry, she folds and puts away. I tend to vacumn more and feed the cats, but I allow her to deal with the litter box.
The only big one I can think of in our house is the laundry. He does just about all of the laundry, all of the time.
He does a load or two of laundry every day. I do a load or two every couple of months. If that.
He’s just better at it.
He’s also a better cook than I am, but I do more of the cooking. We’re probably split about 70/30 there, but he makes up for it since his 30% is always more ‘gourmet’ than most of my “I’m just cooking because we need to eat” meals.
Everything else is pretty standard ‘typical’ gender role stuff. We split the bills and we each pay our own.
He waters the plants, but since he’s had one in particular since before we met, it’s sort of his ‘baby.’
We usually go grocery shopping together (but that’s not really a chore, we enjoy it), though not always. If we don’t go together, it’s my husband that gets it done.
I provide our health coverage/life insurance/etc. Since he works for a relativley small, private Doctor’s office and I work for a somewhat large company with a good benefits package, it just works out cheaper for us to get them through my work. I only mention it because almost every time I go to a Dr./Dentist/Eye appt., they ask if my husband is the ‘insured party.’
I do the Lions share of the cooking and most of the grocery shopping. My wife is good at keeping and organizing the tools, including buying needed tools, although I do most of the fixing.
I’m the primary wage earner, and Mr. Wild is the primary homemaker, though he also works part-time from home. We share the cooking. Neither of us do outside work as we rent and the landlady takes care of that. Dad spent enough time as primary caregiver/homemaker that I don’t find this situation especially anomalous.
I earn more and work in a field that includes both men and women pretty equally. He works in a field that still employs mostly women. He takes care of most of our social duties–thank you notes, holiday greetings, staying in touch with distant friends, and so forth. He also shares at least equally in planning for the kids’ birthdays and other celebrations. He took care of our son more than half time when he was too young for daycare.
The rest of my household duties are pretty traditional, although I do put together all toys that require assembly.
My husband is an OTR truck driver. He’s gone for a week at a time, and only makes it home on weekends. He’s been doing this the entire 20 years of our marriage.
So, I knew I was REALLY a truck drivers wife, when I successfully changed the heating elements in our water heater. I now do everything he always used to do, plus everything the ‘traditional’ wife always does, too!
