Overheard in the ladies room – “How can I make my husband …?” A woman asked her friend for advice on how to make her unruly husband do more household chores, pamper her, and just generally act more metrosexual. She just wanted him to behave. Is that so much to ask?

Okay, she didn’t phrase it exactly that way, but that’s the Reader’s Digest version of what she said. If she weren’t a total stranger, and if I were in the habit of dishing out marital advice to women I don’t know, I’d have told her. (Errr… wait! I’m doing that right now, aren’t I? )

Here it is, ladies: the secret to a happy marriage and getting your husband to do what you want.
[drumroll...]

Ask him.

Be direct. Treat him with at least the same level of courtesy that you would extend to a coworker. Just act like an adult, and treat your husband like one. Manipulation sucks. It kills marriages. If you’re mad, just tell him. Don’t stop speaking and wait for him to figure it out. Especially during football season, because it could be a very long wait.

Remind him that your birthday is coming up. And if he’s doing things around the house, don’t micromanage the timing or methods, just thank him for pitching in. Gratitude gets much better mileage than nagging. If there are things he flat refuses to do, there’s a better than even chance that the reason he dug his heels in is that he doesn’t want to give in to manipulation – because if it works, you’ll keep it up. Be direct. Men appreciate it. You change your ways, and the extremely strong likelihood is that so will he.

While this marital advice will not solve every issue you have, it will improve the vast majority of marriages. Any men out there care to disagree with me?

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The Florida Masochist on 20 Jul 2006 at 9:14 am

The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today’s winners are Miami-Dade School Board member Frank Bolaños and American Senior High School Assistant Principal Alejandro Rizo.

Imago Dei on 20 Jul 2006 at 11:34 am

More on the veto

It’s silly that this veto is being used to portray Bush as a man who wants to set back research. That isn’t the case at all. If he wanted to do that he would attempt to ban stem-cell research. But again, the research has not been banned. Vetoing this…