What's it like to be married to someone with a big job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband has a pretty big job I guess. He’s not CEO, but he’s a top exec at a major company with 70,000 employees. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s home by 6 or 7 at night and helps me a ton with the kids and the dog. He never misses a P/T conference or a sporting event or whatever the kids have.

We have dinner together as a family most nights, too unless he is traveling or the kids have a game or some other kind of event.

He does travel a bunch, but tries to do as many day trips as possible.

Our marriage is great. We do date nights a lot and try to take trips without the kids 1-2x a year. We are both also good at communicating and I think that helps a lot.

I also work, but have a very flexible schedule. My income is not insignificant at all, but we could still live a good life without it. I like working, though. We don’t have nannies or a housekeeper. Never have. That’s not who we are.

Ah, so having a nanny/babysitter was part of "who you are" when your kids were younger.

What does that even mean?

-NP

So you are people who don't need childcare?

Kids are in school. I only work when they’re at school. Kids stay with grandparents when we travel. When the kids were little I had 12 hours of babysitting a week over three days so I could work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband has a pretty big job I guess. He’s not CEO, but he’s a top exec at a major company with 70,000 employees. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s home by 6 or 7 at night and helps me a ton with the kids and the dog. He never misses a P/T conference or a sporting event or whatever the kids have.

We have dinner together as a family most nights, too unless he is traveling or the kids have a game or some other kind of event.

He does travel a bunch, but tries to do as many day trips as possible.

Our marriage is great. We do date nights a lot and try to take trips without the kids 1-2x a year. We are both also good at communicating and I think that helps a lot.

I also work, but have a very flexible schedule. My income is not insignificant at all, but we could still live a good life without it. I like working, though. We don’t have nannies or a housekeeper. Never have. That’s not who we are.

So you are people who don't need childcare?

Kids are in school. I only work when they’re at school. Kids stay with grandparents when we travel. When the kids were little I had 12 hours of babysitting a week over three days so I could work.

Ah, so having a nanny/babysitter was part of "who you are" when your kids were younger.

What does that even mean?

-NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is very successful - CEO of a pretty well known company. Through him I've met many other CEO's and their spouses and based on my discussions with those spouses it can either be very good or very bad. I know that my husbands #1 priority is his family, not his job but that for many their #1 priority is their job. My husband works long hours and travels a fair amount, but when he's home he's all in as a dad and husband. Weekends are family time and are not for "customer entertaining" golf outings or attending the Super Bowl or other big sporting events. The only time I feel like the wife of a CEO is when we are at company or industry events and I get a lot of TLC. But day to day, while we live quite comfortably, life is pretty normal dominated by having three teenagers and all that entails.

You sound like the exception. I’m just guessing but I have to believe that many well known CEO’s are on their second marriages. I wonder if their divorce rate is above average?

Duh. The basic homemaker or schoolteacher or whatever just doesn’t cut it when you become a CEO. Women see the finished product you’ve become and you get far more interest then when you were just another MBA student. Time to cash in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband has a pretty big job I guess. He’s not CEO, but he’s a top exec at a major company with 70,000 employees. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s home by 6 or 7 at night and helps me a ton with the kids and the dog. He never misses a P/T conference or a sporting event or whatever the kids have.

We have dinner together as a family most nights, too unless he is traveling or the kids have a game or some other kind of event.

He does travel a bunch, but tries to do as many day trips as possible.

Our marriage is great. We do date nights a lot and try to take trips without the kids 1-2x a year. We are both also good at communicating and I think that helps a lot.

I also work, but have a very flexible schedule. My income is not insignificant at all, but we could still live a good life without it. I like working, though. We don’t have nannies or a housekeeper. Never have. That’s not who we are.

So you are people who don't need childcare?

Yeah, this confused me. He travels... she works...

Who watches the 5 year old during the day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DW has a big job. DD6 is at school so here I am killing time until I pick her up. Over the course of the past 18 months I seem to be treated more as the assistant to the house then a husband. The one day a week she is home for a family dinner at the table she is on the phone the entire time. Movie night is spent the entire time on the laptop. DD falls asleep every night is my arms crying for her mother. I get screamed at for not telling her the phone is ringing when she is in the shower.
The biggest thing is even when she is physically at home it seems as if she is completely checked out and all her thoughts and energy are on work.

This breaks my heart. I hope it gets better for you and your DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

Early 20s. Grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you ladies meet these men with big jobs?

Early 20s. Grad school.

Met at work soon after we both graduated with MBA’s. I thought he was really smart and cute but we didn’t date for a couple of years because we both worked at the same company. We were very good friends and then it turned into a lot more and I’m glad it did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious for some stories. What's it like to be married to someone with large amounts of political or financial power? CEOs of large companies, senators, etc. Do they work all the time? Does the other spouse end up as second fiddle? Are the kids happy? Any particularly unexpected pros or cons?

Super annoying. my DH has a "big job" in politics and I make WAY more money than him and put in half the hours. So, my dick swings big and I will end up having to do the lions share of the work around the house because DH is always having to go to events. I would not advise marrying a guy with a big job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious for some stories. What's it like to be married to someone with large amounts of political or financial power? CEOs of large companies, senators, etc. Do they work all the time? Does the other spouse end up as second fiddle? Are the kids happy? Any particularly unexpected pros or cons?

Super annoying. my DH has a "big job" in politics and I make WAY more money than him and put in half the hours. So, my dick swings big and I will end up having to do the lions share of the work around the house because DH is always having to go to events. I would not advise marrying a guy with a big job.

Isn’t this temporary? I was always under the impression that if you have a big job in politics you can leave in 1-2 years and cash in. How long has he been doing this for?

[Anonymous]

One of my BFFs is married to the CEO of an international company. He travels all of the time. She is pretty normal actually. They own homes in many cities around the world ...have several kids and they have a lot of dinner parties. The guy is actually really nice. They are both from the heartland of America (I don't want to say where because it might ID them).

They have their own jet, tickets to all of the best sporting events, concerts, etc. Kids work hard which is surprising given they have huge trust funds. Mom donated a ton to scholarships at the private school where our kids met.

It seems like an enviable life to me. Mom has her own business now that last kid is out of h.s. Her dad was also a CEO and she actually went to a public h.s. which surprised me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my BFFs is married to the CEO of an international company. He travels all of the time. She is pretty normal actually. They own homes in many cities around the world ...have several kids and they have a lot of dinner parties. The guy is actually really nice. They are both from the heartland of America (I don't want to say where because it might ID them).

They have their own jet, tickets to all of the best sporting events, concerts, etc. Kids work hard which is surprising given they have huge trust funds. Mom donated a ton to scholarships at the private school where our kids met.

It seems like an enviable life to me. Mom has her own business now that last kid is out of h.s. Her dad was also a CEO and she actually went to a public h.s. which surprised me.

Not surprising at all if they are from a nice suburb of a heartland city. Emphasis on private schools is very different outside of the Eastern Seaboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband has a pretty big job I guess. He’s not CEO, but he’s a top exec at a major company with 70,000 employees. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s home by 6 or 7 at night and helps me a ton with the kids and the dog. He never misses a P/T conference or a sporting event or whatever the kids have.

We have dinner together as a family most nights, too unless he is traveling or the kids have a game or some other kind of event.

He does travel a bunch, but tries to do as many day trips as possible.

Our marriage is great. We do date nights a lot and try to take trips without the kids 1-2x a year. We are both also good at communicating and I think that helps a lot.

I also work, but have a very flexible schedule. My income is not insignificant at all, but we could still live a good life without it. I like working, though. We don’t have nannies or a housekeeper. Never have. That’s not who we are.

So you are people who don't need childcare?

Yeah, this confused me. He travels... she works...

Who watches the 5 year old during the day?

Daycare, I guess? Or they have grandparent help? I have a friend who is married to a guy with a big job and she works too and they have four small kids and they spend close to six figures annually on daycares, camps, and aftercares.