Advice
-
Great advice from you fellas. Y'all could write a book on this together, each having your say on the chapter topic. I'll give you some chapter headings to consider for the book y'all need to write.
Chapter 1 - Generational Upbringing
Hubby and I are both Minnesooootans, and from families that have other similarities, yet differences. Your bride may have some of the same Scandihoovian generational background, especially if her maiden name ends with 'son'. What you describe is familiar to what I have seen, and how my mind sometimes wants to go, but I have learned to recognize the trap and try to avoid it, though not always successfully.Chapter 2 - Unrealistic Expectations of Self
You and your wife have three small kids, and life is so busy you hardly have time to think or relax. I suspect that is 90% of what has brought you to this point. Your wife may think she's not meeting her own expectations or her mother's, not that we will go to blaming the MIL (at least not yet, LOL). It's true that wives can have expectations for themselves that are just plain unrealistic. They will beat themselves up, creating even more damage, so much that it spills over to anger at anyone and anything around them. They're really angry at themselves. They can't see it's not necessary to beat themselves up over it.Chapter 3 - Feeling Demeaned
If she had a career outside the home before the kids, she may also miss the perks of that, with a prominent one being the way our current society values it. There are many people today who treat a full-time mom as less valued than a woman with a career. People will say they think motherhood is important, even more important than a job outside the home, but their attitude and behavior toward a full-time mom says far more than their words. Full-time moms see this, they experience it, and it affects their sense of self-worth. Yes, we should ignore those other people, but holy cow, they're everywhere it seems. In social settings, it can be very demeaning to the full-time mom, and it takes a toll. It can create depression, anger at others, and added stress.Chapter 4 - Extended Postpartum Issues
Post-partum depression can last longer that what most people would expect, even longer than a typical physician expects. The mom with three small kids may think, "Hey, I've had two kids already, I can handle one more. I'm experienced now. This will be so much easier than before." It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry when the reality of raising the third baby sets in, showing itself to be more challenging than expected. Sleep issues make it all worse.If you think this could be happening, encourage your wife to have a check up at the doctor, and offer to go with her if possible. Let her know you think her overall health is very important, and that you know she has extra stress right now with the kids being so dependent. Remind her she is the most important person in the world to you, and that you want her to feel her best by addressing health issues of any kind.
Chapter 5 - How to Help
- Let her know she's a great mom, especially with the challenge of having three very young ones right now.
- Ask her what she needs most from you now, and if it's a list of more than two things, write it all down.
- If some items on the list are tasks around the house, make a cheat sheet for yourself to check off the tasks every day. Post it where you will see it every day (and if she sees it as well, that will be in your favor.) Your reliability is soothing for her, and helps reduce the stress for both of you. It shows her you are committed to being her steady support. It will be a tangible way to show you are following through just as promised. It will also remind her of all you do, reducing her claims that she has to do everything. It may seem like a pain in the neck to have a checklist for yourself, but it also means she won't need to remind you, which is annoying as heck for a wife.
- Tell her at least once per week you love her and she's the most important person in your world. Boost her self-esteem by letting her know she's still the one you would choose every time. (Put this on your checklist at the very top.
)
-
@Aqua-Letifer Oh the strider bike. We bought a bike (with training wheels) for our kid last May... she started to do well, but then has since gone back to the strider (or balance bike). She cruises around on it so fast, hard to tell her to switch!
-
Yep. Once you get to stressed out, there are a million things going through her mind - "I'm not good enough". "You're not good enough". "But I HAVE to be good enough!". "My mom was good enough" and any permutation of these themes you can think of. Things that would never occur to you to ponder. You have to help get her back to, "well, this is OK.".
Indeed, and perhaps I need to force myself to remember once she's at a certain stressed level, and particularly when it comes with blames/insults towards me, NOW is not the time to force the plane in for a landing. Just let the turbulence ride out without fighting it.
Yet even now, I'm not sure how to interact when I see her later. My instinct is to remain upset (which I am) with how she handled things and what she said and for her to realize that. But I'd imagine in her head she's been thinking "I can't believe he said I was complaining about my own choice" or something along those lines.
Good time to practice not forcing the plane in for a landing. I understand that to you the situation is SO FUCKING OBVIOUS, and it feels like a capitulation to just let it go. But it's not. To see it otherwise makes it a win-lose rather than a win-win.
My dad was a challenge to live with at the best of times. One thing his girlfriend shared with me was that when you have to tolerate something you abhor or do something you really don't want to do, think of it as a gift that you are giving her freely as her husband.
-
-
-
-
Wow some good nuggets in there!
@brenda First, my hummingbird feeder is up!
Excellent! We finally got ours here a couple days ago, but the metro area has had them for about three weeks already. You are so spoiled having them come to your area so early!
We just got our first sighting today at lunch!
-
Why do women never take the bins out, never check the car tyres, water?
That's the most British sentence ever written on this board.
Meh. I can beat that.
Why do women never take the bins out and never check the car tyres, mate?
You're a smart guy. Not sure about the rest.
-
I appreciate the reply and the perspectives. The rational vs emotional aspect... I get it, but it's hard for me to apply it to the scenario such as yesterday. We were all going to the baseball practice, then my wife said she wanted to stay home. Ok cool. Then she said she'll go. Ok cool. Wait, it's time to pack up and go? She specifically decided she wanted to go but now she is stressed about where things are (such as the baby carrier or sunscreen), and for her to make statements about "I have to do everything" or "Where is the carrier, you had it last!" or "Why did you get Jimmy Johns after all?", it is hard for me to chalk that up to emotions, although I'm sure it is. For me, it's poor communication. How do I talk to her about shifting those blame/insults to something like "Hey can you help me find the carrier?" and dropping the insults?
Irregardless... (ok just kidding, I know you hate that), I'll try hard to look at the emotions behind these fights. However I know her, it's tough for her to sit down and discuss our egos, our emotions, our trust... We trust each other, we know each other very well, and if I even want to talk about yesterday's fight, she'll just say she doesn't want to talk about it.
The next time your wife gets that way, get her to tell you more. Literally say, “okay, and what else?” (God help you if you say it sarcastically or start to defend yourself. This isn’t about that.) If she gets defensive, she’s either scared about confiding thoughts she feels she shouldn’t have, or doesn’t trust you or both. Gotta get past that shit.
We will see. A great example is we have about 10 thank-you cards to write. She's been wanting to write them for a few weeks. I have offered to just do them. Not in a mean way, but she's made it clear she wants to be there when we write them so that we do it together, she includes her gratitude, etc. Normally this would be fine, but I can guarantee at some point if the thank you cards come up as a topic, she'll make a comment about how I could've just taken charge and written them, even though I specifically am waiting since I know she wants to be involved. Another minor, but clear, example that we are struggling with communication.
Shee-it...You call that fightin'? My wife is part French, part Scot. She can dish it out. Me? I got enough coonass in me, I'd rather fight than eat.
BTW, my wife's nickname is Saint.
We tied up in the hospital, post CABG, day two. You, son, are an amateur.
But don't ever not love your wife. And don't ever not be there, when she really needs you. As she should love you and be there for you.
As for understanding women, I've only been married to this lady for 43 years and we dated four years before we married. I'm still trying to figure her out. Probably never will, as that's half the fun.
