(05.14.10): "Men who help with housework have happier marriages" (F. McCrae, Daily Mail)

[Laura Cereta]

Forget boxes of chocolates and romantic weekends away.

The secret to a happy marriage is to roll up your sleeves and help your wife with the housework.

Research shows that unions in which the men muck in with the chores and childcare are more likely to last the course.

And the more elbow grease a man puts in, the lower the odds of him heading to the divorce courts.

The results of the study of thousands of British couples will be music to the ears of millions of women.

Men, however, are likely to be a little less keen on the idea that they should be taking on their share of 'women's work'.

Researchers from the renowned London School of Economics, normally used to dealing with more weighty academic affairs, have turned their minds to the hoovering and washing up.

They tracked the fortunes of 3,500 married couples who had their first child during one week in 1970 - an age when most women with young children stayed at home.

When the children were five years old, the women were asked about how much their husbands did around the house, including helping with housework, childcare and shopping.

Just over half didn't help at all - or only assisted with one task.

A quarter carried out two tasks, and the remaining quarter did three or four, the journal Feminist Economics reports.

Around 7 per cent of the couples had divorced by the time the child was ten, rising to 20 per cent by the youngster's 16th birthday.

When the two pieces of information were crunched together it became clear that the more a man helped out, the more stable his marriage was.

It showed that although divorce became more common when the mother went out to work, this increase could be kept to a minimum by the father pulling his weight around the house.

Researcher Wendy Sigle-Rushton said: 'The results suggest the risk of divorce among working mothers, while greater, is substantially reduced when fathers contribute more to housework and childcare.'

Marriages in which the father stayed at home and took responsibility for the childcare and chores were as stable as those which followed traditional gender roles. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278137/Divorce-likely-husband-helps-housework.html#ixzz0nyQYjuJO (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278137/Divorce-likely-husband-helps-housework.html#ixzz0nyQYjuJO)

[spikeytx86]

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278137/Divorce-likely-husband-helps-housework.html#ixzz0nyQYjuJO (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278137/Divorce-likely-husband-helps-housework.html#ixzz0nyQYjuJO)
Anything that makes your wife happier will make your marriage happier. ;)

[sojourner]

It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, although there are somethings my wife will not allow me to do. I can't decide if I should be happy about it or upset with her lack of trust.

[spikeytx86]

although there are somethings my wife will not allow me to do. I can't decide if I should be happy about it or upset with her lack of trust.

If they are things you don't care to do I would just leave it alone. :D

[Aria]

Anything that makes your wife happier will make your marriage happier. ;)

Sounds like my husband - he always says, "If you're happy, I'm happy!" Smart men!

[Aria]

It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, although there are somethings my wife will not allow me to do. I can't decide if I should be happy about it or upset with her lack of trust.

if you need something to do.....I'm having a party tomorrow for 40 people and am exhausted already!

Seriously though - when my husband got into helping more, he first accepted my methods pretty well. Now he thinks he's the expert, and he does well at many things, but sometimes he insists on his own way and I have learned to adjust my thinking (dare I say standards? ;))to some degree. Better to let him do it than not do it at all!

[LucyTN]

My husband has always been really good about helping but some things he prefers not to do, and that's fine with me. He doesn't do laundry and he doesn't cook. He usually does the floors and I do everything above the floor. When one of us sees that a bathroom needs cleaning, we clean it. When he worked I did the mowing and he did the trimming, but now he does all the outside work. He does far more than his share now that I don't get around well but he never complains about it.

[foxyladi]

if MAMA ain't happy ain't nobody happy:D
wash those dishes and clean up that mess Dad:laughing:

[LadyLazarus]

Yup, my man does all of the cooking and a lot of the cleaning and he also fixes what breaks in the house. We're pretty darn happy :D

My friend's partner actually cleaned the house for her for mother's day because he's such a slob and total pig that this was actually the best present he could have given her. They fight almost incessantly over the fact that he is like an overgrown child whom she has to take care of. She already has two kids, why does he think she wants one more?

[CGP]

he's such a slob and total pig

:rotfl:

Please elaborate!!

[LadyLazarus]

:rotfl:

Please elaborate!!

Really? You want me to elaborate? Okay, imagine a 6'4" dude who doesn't like to shower and refuses to wear socks, who takes off his clothes when he walks in the door and drops them wherever he's standing, who allows bowls of crusted cereal and other food to stay in the kitchen sink and counter for days and days rotting, who refuses to clean the cat litter box or change his son's diaper, and whose personal bathroom is sooooo frickin' disgusting with sedimented urine and scum that I refuse to ever even use it when I'm over there. I would rather not go to the bathroom than walk in there.

Then imagine the house in various states of disrepair and decay from projects he's started, but never finished. He tore off the cupboard doors in the kitchen saying he was going to "sand and repaint them" but just never got around to it. The whole kitchen has stayed "gutted" like that for over a year. He tore down half of their yard fence and then just left it like that. He started to build two massive gardening boxes for my friend, but left those also sitting unfinished, upside down in the yard. On and on it goes.

And all they ever do is fight over the fact that he cannot clean up after himself, let alone help with the kids. So my friend was literally amazed when she woke up on Mother's day and he had cleaned the whole house from top to bottom and had actually put the cupboard doors back on their hinges! :eek:

[sojourner]

:rotfl:

Please elaborate!! Sorry you asked?

[sojourner]

I know we are a pain in the butt sometimes, but admit it, you would miss us if we were gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-5Hb85DYPE

[Laura Cereta]

Sorry you asked?

I'm sorry he asked! Gross!! :eek:

[LucyTN]

You know another thing that burns me up is for a man to be "babysitting" for his own kids. I don't know how many times women would come into my shop and mention that their husband was at home babysitting for them. What the heck is THAT all about?

[foxyladi]

my hubby was very good about helping.but i was the best house keeper.:D
i got divorced three times and every time i kept the house:rotfl::rotfl:

[Brooke]

Babysitting their kids? I thought that was called PARENTING..lol.

I can't speak on this myself since I'm not married, but my dad's retired and he doesn't do a whole lot around the house like he should. But my parents have been pretty happy.

[sojourner]

You know another thing that burns me up is for a man to be "babysitting" for his own kids. I don't know how many times women would come into my shop and mention that their husband was at home babysitting for them. What the heck is THAT all about?

I wouldn't attach too much meaning to it. I think it is commonly used, especially by stay-at-home mothers, when husbands are watching the kids at times when they are not normally at home.

[Aria]

my hubby was very good about helping.but i was the best house keeper.:D
i got divorced three times and every time i kept the house:rotfl::rotfl:

Good one, Foxy! My laugh of the day!

[Laura Cereta]

They love their men in an apron! New York women think it's hot when their guy does housework (http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/05/30/2010-05-30_sex__the_swiffer_city_gals_agree_its_hot_when_t heir_men_clean.html)
30 May 2010, NYDaily

What works better than sultry music to put a woman in the mood? The purr of a DustBuster.

New York women swear the secret to a long-lasting relationship is getting their guy in an apron - the same thing a new study by the London School of Economics found.

The report, which surveyed 3,500 British couples, reveals that divorce rates are lower when husbands help out with housework, shopping and childcare.
Kimberly Howard, a 26-year-old art director from Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, finds her man irresistible when he chips in with chores.

"My boyfriend is a super cleaner," she gushes. "Not only does he clean, but he cooks. Am I turned on by it? Of course. He's taking charge, he's taking responsibility. And that's hot."

Howard's boyfriend, 25-year-old business manager John Thomassen, loves to sweep and do dishes. He also does most of the cooking, which the couple chronicles on their blog, hecookssheclicks.com.

"It's him taking care of me," Howard explains. "This is sexy, and special."
Stefanie Shuman of Astoria agrees. The 26-year-old, who works at a Manhattan ad agency, recently moved in with boyfriend Jordan Schwartz, 27.

"The other day I asked him to clean while I was at work," Shuman says. "He texted me later that afternoon to say he actually enjoyed Swiffering. I swooned. Another day, he grocery-shopped. I have high hopes for our relationship."

Shuman says her guy will do any domestic task she asks him to. "It's really reassuring that he enjoys taking care of our home," she says. "I was elated. You get that smile, then a sigh that comes with it."

Stephanie Thorburn, a 31-year-old from Manhattan who works for the NBA, and her husband have been married for just over a year, but they say the he-man housework thing works great.

"The fact that he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty is fantastic," she says. "Whether it's laundry, vacuuming or cleaning the toilet, James does it all. Knowing I don't have to do all the work myself makes me a very, very happy lady!"

[Valin]

Behind every great man stands a woman...with a look of amazement on her face.

[sojourner]

Behind every great man stands a woman...with a look of amazement on her face.

So that explains those looks on my wife's face.

[LadyLazarus]

They love their men in an apron! New York women think it's hot when their guy does housework (http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/05/30/2010-05-30_sex__the_swiffer_city_gals_agree_its_hot_when_t heir_men_clean.html)
30 May 2010, NYDaily






Yup.

[Aria]

So that explains those looks on my wife's face.

Cute! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[foxyladi]

guess Al didn't know this:eek: