Sunday, June 27, 2010

Division of Labor

A few days ago I posted an innocent remark about my wife's housework duties. Since then, there has been a deluge of responses from overly-sensitive women (well, okay, only one comment, and it was relatively reasonable). But I thought I should clear the air regarding the division of labor around here.

It's pretty traditional. I do everything outside that requires power tools or heavy manual labor - mowing, edging, chopping down trees, digging holes, etc. The Mrs. is responsible for the more refined tasks - pruning, watering, fertilizing, that sort of thing. This is not sexist. She has a green thumb, I have a black one. Plants left under my care tend to wither and die.

Inside, it's much the same. My pet peeve is clutter, so I pick things up. Her pet peeve is dirt, so she gets to indulge her unnatural fetish for vacuuming and dusting. To facilitate this, I go in another room and watch TV.

That leaves cooking. Our kids are old enough to fend for themselves, so they're responsible for their own breakfasts. On weekends we tend to have large late breakfasts, usually the standards - pancakes, omelets, bacon and eggs, etc. Since our schedules vary, lunches are pretty much every man for himself. My wife and I generally take turns fixing dinner. Whoever cooks, the other cleans up. On weekends we usually work together, cranking up the music and sharing a little wine as we waltz around the stove. Occasionally we go out to dinner, although this doesn't always turn out well.

The main exception is when we do a little grilling. Since I'm the man, and men specialize in meat and fire, the following chain of events are put into motion:

   1. The woman goes to the store.
   2. The woman fixes the salad, vegetables, and dessert
   3. The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils, and takes it to the man, who is lounging beside the grill, beer in hand.
   4. The man places the meat on the grill.
   5. The woman goes inside to set the table and check the vegetables.
   6. The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning.
   7. The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman.
   8. The woman prepares the plates and brings them to the table.
   9. After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
  10. Everyone praises the man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.
  11. The man asks the woman how she enjoyed "her night off."

And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women.

I hope that clears everything up...

2 comments:

JT said...

Familiar themes...and I was just poking fun at you.

We have a similar set up, except that I love to mow and am rather protective of my power tools.

Have you had much luck getting the teenagers to pitch in? There is a great deal of disparity in our home, at the amount of manual labor experienced during our childhoods vs that of our kids.

CenTexTim said...

I figured your comment was tongue-in-cheek, so I didn't take it too seriously.

I agree with the disparity between chores then and now. In our case, most of it is due to the increased prevalence of organized activities for kids. When I was young, there wasn't much outside of Boy Scouts and Little League. Today, it seems like they always have something going on, with the understanding that they must maintain their grades or their activities get curtailed.

So we've assigned them small, regular chores (taking care of the animals, taking the trash out, setting the table, etc.) - things that help them develop good habits, and that send the message that everyone pitches in, but that don't take up too much time. We also have them help on large projects, like spreading mulch each winter, painting outbuildings, performing preventive maintenance on vehicles and equipment, and the like.