How To Get Your Spouse To Do Housework

Today’s feature is from CanadianParents.com with How to Get a Man to do Housework:

Here’s the key: we men want to feel that we are doing housework either because we want to do a task (usually because we are good at), or because we simply want to please our women.

Men are much less likely to take on household tasks they prioritize as uninteresting and unimportant. In other words, men are unlikely to do a household task just for the good of the house.

The article is written by a man and his perspective is valuable, but I do have some quibbles with the tone of his message. Here’s a bit of my background:

I grew up in the 70’s & 80’s (born in the 60’s). I can’t think of one male figure in my childhood that did laundry, dishes or vacuuming (father, uncles, grandfathers, friends dads).

I married in the late 80’s and we hit the ground running as partners. I don’t recall any heated “discussions” about who does what around the house. It’s been a long time since our newlywed days, but I well remember spending Saturday afternoons scrubbing down the house together. It’s never been an issue, we both work hard in the home.

Some chores just aren’t appealing to him (toilets) and some aren’t appealing to me (bathtub/shower). It’s all about fitting duties/chores with personality and ability, we worked it out.

How do you get a man to do his share of the housework? If you are like most women you’ve faced this question the hard way: in an argument with your husband. Here’s a man’s take on this troublesome issue.

When I read that (bolding mine), I’m a bit offended. This is a stereotype of the past that we hold onto today and it needs to be left behind IMHO. The story is no longer about nagging, unhappy housewives and their lazy, good-for-nothing husbands who don’t do anything around the house.

Today many men work full-time careers, are hands on with the kids, take care of the vehicles, yard work and putter around with household chores too. Of course, we women have just as many important responsibilities and challenges!

Men are just as interested in their homes and families as women are, and in doing their part to take care of the home in a variety of ways. Men take pride in their homes too.

I changed the title of this post to read “Spouse” instead of “Man” because getting a partner to help with housework is not only a problem some women face, it’s a problem some men have to deal with too.

If you would like (or need) more hands-on help from your spouse, check out the article for some tips on how to approach him or her in a non-combative way. If you know you need to step it up a bit around the house, try reading this for some inspiration: 10 Secrets To Rewarding Homemaking.

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