If you want a job done right… wait for her to tell you about it
What was the one thing a marriage councillor said was the main complaint wives had about their husbands?
Infidelity? Untidiness? Laziness or a preference to spend time in the pub with their mates and not their wives? No.
Apparently it’s ‘passive responsibility’. Does this sound like a load of old psychologist jumbo-jumbo? Well, let me explain.
The one thing wives find themselves moaning the most about to their husbands in asking them to do things around the house!
Rather than take ‘active responsibility’ by looking around the house and doing what needs to be done, we wait until we are told.
So us husbands are not lazy, but just need to be told to get off our backsides to do it and our wives wish we could just do it without being told.
Now what wasn’t mentioned by this marriage counsellor was the reason why many, many men, including myself are ‘passive’.
It’s because if I just got on and did something I thought needing doing, it would be wrong!
I’d then have to do it again or put something that I’ve tidied somewhere different!
Most husbands I know want a quiet life.
We are happy to help but don’t want to put our heads above the parapet for fear of opening a hornets nest!
Please don’t think I’m stuck in the dark ages with these views, it’s just the way it is in our house. Sarah likes things just so and I’m happy with that.
I could just go ahead and redecorate our bedroom, but it would be the wrong colour. I could do the washing but I’d hang it up incorrectly.
I’ve actually found that being moaned about for ‘passive responsibility’ is far less than the ‘why didn’t you ask me first before doing it’ moan!
We had lots of fun with this on the breakfast show this week and asked listeners what song sums the story up the best.
The Boy Does Nothing by Alicia Dixon and Could Have Told You So by Halo James came close but Left To My Own Devices (I Probably Would) by The Pet Shop boys was our favourite suggestion!