Wednesday, October 19, 2005


RETIRED HUSBAND SYNDROME


I can’t exactly say that my wife thinks the sun shines out of my shorts, but apart from my slightly substandard neatness parameters, now that the kids have gone into their lives and I am redirected (not ‘retired’; I despise that word) the household situation hasn’t worsened appreciably, so I think I’m doing better than a lot of these fellows. So far. Love to say more but I gotta go do the dishes.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I like! the term -- Redirected. There is hope of a future in it.

I cannot speak for all wives, of course, but realistically, I don't know of a wife who thinks the sun shines out of their husband's shorts.

When I do things for my family, like cooking a dinner, there is always the same appreciation, where each person says thank you (sincerely) at the end of the dinner. Same for my husband when he cooks. I know my effort was genuinely appreciated. I think because whenever one of my kids would do a chore or something we asked of them, we said thank you to them. No one expects any one person to do any one thing in our home, without appreciating the act of doing it. There is no mandated division of labor, things just get done that need to get done by whomever has the free hands and time to do it. It seems so simple and so easy -- appreciation and respect.

I imagine the younger women of Japan may not follow in their mother's example by accepting the role their mother's accepted? After all, who wants to end up breaking out in a rash.

Robert Brady said...

This is just the tip of the coming iceberg; young folks aren't getting married, or are getting married later and are having fewer children, the birthrate is plunging, the whole social template is changing; a VERY radical thing for a strongly trad country like Japan. I can't imagine what those couples will do when retirement rolls around...

Tabor said...

I read this article in the Washington Post on Monday and didn't know whether to be amused or horrified. I have a colleague (American female graduate of Harvard) who is married to a Japanese man that has moved up in his career. They are livint in Tokyo. I only see her briefly every 5 years or so, but she clearly has difficulty dealing with the female role in Japan.

The Humanity Critic said...

Just passing through, cool blog by the way.

enigma4ever said...

Redirected- now That is a lovely term....and if the sun is shining out of your shorts- well- we get to an age where the sun or the shorts are not given enough attention....and sometimes are not even remembered- but sharing the duties- especially the grizzly greasy dishes- that warms any woman's heart for years...