Ideas Needed

I am writing an essay for school bout husband and wives sharing household responsilities.  It needs to be 2 or 3 pages long.  I have almost 2 pages.  I nees some idea on how to extend it a bit.  It is due tomorrow, so quick responses would be nice.  Here is what I have so far:

Household chores have to be done. Traditionally, women were the ones doing all the chores around the house such as making dinner, washing clothes and dishes, and nurturing the children while the men went to work and provided financially for the family. Now, many women are going to work to help provide for the family as well as the men. This makes it harder for women to do the work around the house as well. Therefore, husbands and wives should take an equal share in all household responsibilities.


With more than one person doing the work around the house, one partner won’t feel more overburdened than the other. Both husband and wife can feel more productive and have equal personal responsibilities. While not every day will husband and wife have the same amount of work to do around the house such as washing dishes, doing laundry, picking up and dropping off kids, and making dinner;”the bottom line is that sharing these responsibilities also means sharing a certain way of thinking about chores as a whole.” (Sharing Responsibliities Around the House, 2007)

Dividing this burden can help a couple grow closer together. The cleaner and more orgainized the house is, the less chaos and tension is felt in the home. When deciding who is going to do what, good communication is very important. Arthur Lee suggests, “Discuss these (things) together, but do not make it confrontational.” (Lee, 2009) Lee, also, suggests making charts and lists while including even the youngest of family members in doing things like emptying the dishwasher or taking out the trash. Another good way to divide the chores would be on a lottery basis. All chores could be put in a jar and pulled out at a specific time to dictate who does what. Of course the best way would be for each person to see something that needs to be done and just do it. According to Gregg Hall, “Not only does sharing these responsibilities prevent resentment but it also gives the couple an opportunity to work as a team which strengthens their bond.” (Hall, 2006)

Allocating liabilities around the house will help with equality in the home. When the husband and wife both work, they are away from home about the same amount of time. That means they are also home for about the same amount of time. Therefore the division of work should not be gender based. “While married couples in many inadvertent ways continue to live life with certain tasks being associated with male or female; they now have to introduce thoughts into their mental make-up that makes the picture of mom in a gown hanging laundry with clips a thing of the past!” (Lee, 2009) No longer should only the wife do the dishes and laundry. As well, no longer should the husband be the only one to be doing household repairs. By having an attitude that the chores are not gender based, the couple would be more likely to help each other out when the burdens get to be too heavy.

When carrying an equal burden that means there is more time to have fun together as a couple. When chores are done faster, there is more time to go out to movies, parks, and restaurants. There is also more time to play games together and spend time together at home.

In today’s world both men and women work, meaning they share the responsibilities of providing for the family. They should also share in other obligations around the house as well. When husbands and wives work together, there are many benefits such as less resentment towards each other, less stress, less chaos around the house, and more time to spend together.

 

References

Hall, G. (2006, July 21). How Talking And Sharing Responsibilities Makes For A Happier Marriage. Retrieved December 21, 2009, from Enzine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Talking-And-Sharing-Responsibilities-Makes-For-A-Happier-Marriage&id=249078

Lee, A. (2009). How to Share Household Responsibilities with a Spouse. Retrieved December 21, 2009, from eHow.com: http://www.ehow.com/how_2305854_share-household-responsibilities-spouse.html

Sharing Responsibliities Around the House. (2007). Retrieved December 21, 2009, from Professor's House: http://www.professorshouse.com/family/relationships/sharing-responsibilities-around-the-house.aspx