TO DO OR NOT TO DO HOUSEHOLD CHORES?

A generation or two ago the roles were divided neatly along gender lines. Men were the bread winners and women the home makers.

However the lines have now become fuzzy. With education and social mobility, women are making a mark in the world outside home. They are entering what were earlier considered male bastions. However while women’s attitudes are rapidly changing, men are not changing as rapidly.

I am not surprised. Why would someone voluntarily give up their privileges?

However, I am going to give 5 reasons why sharing household chores is a good idea for men:

1. It improves your health.  What do you do instead of helping out? 9 times out of 10 sit in a couch in front of the TV. Housework will definitely consume more calories than watching TV and will help maintain your health.
2. It improves your standard of living. If two heads are better than 1 then 4 hands are better than 2.  Your wife is not super woman…..something will have to get off the plate. A ton of talented and erstwhile economically productive women give up their careers post children. It is not because they lack ambition but because they just can’t physically manage it. They do try and juggle it for a while. But then they realize that home and kids are their responsibility and so reprioritize their lives. This despite knowing that today more than ever you need two incomes to get ahead.
3. It is not just about the time it takes to do the household chores but the sheer drudgery of them, the total lack of appreciation or even acknowledgement for them. Contrast it with working outside of home…the money, the feeling of worth. Now that women have experienced that they are certainly not happy doing it.
4. It provides a role model for your children. Your wife is doing less for you than your mom did for your dad. And she is doing it far more grudgingly. What do you think will your sons’ wife do?
5. Love at the end of the day is about sharing and caring. A happy wife. Is doing some dishes worth it?

As a friend of mine remarked, isn’t it amazing that the newspaper is full of incidents of people being shot at the slightest pretext manning a toll plaza or parking in a particular spot, yet no husband has ever been shot for doing the dishes.

By Courtesy  : http://www.marryinaweek.com/category/blog/