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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote][quote][quote]The ONLY way this has worked out for my friends and me with a similar situation is to have a schedule set in stone - so he cooks dinner on Mondays an Thursdays and does bedtime on Tuesdays and Fridays. You do the opposite days - no trying to "share" duties and hope he helps - he's either on or he's off - and I am either on or off. Eventually, you can soften a bit, but for now - he needs to be 100% responsible so it happens. [/quote]

This is basically what we do and much better advice than the self-abnegation and self-delusion preached above. Thankfully my DH isn't apparently entirely a "non-functional bump on a log," but left to his own devices, he would probably gradually turn into one. We generally alternate: stagger schedules, switch off bath-time, dinner clean up, bedtime for our two kids. The more routine and established the schedule the better--things get done with little or no friction. In fact, things are always worse on weekends and in period of transition when things are unclear and he reverts to the (his) mean.[/quote]

That's a good approach for some couples. I think the points raised in this thread are for couples who are fairly alienated and entrenched with one or both seething resentment.[b] I think the thread proposes an interesting way to diffuse the energy and really pull back from the toxic situation.[/b] Anyway, these are the kinds of folks who are going to come to schedule without a lot of acrimony. [/quote]

I agree/disagree.  I think the thread was interesting when discussing how to end the dynamic where one spouse is too much of a people-pleaser and is too invested in getting acknowledgement/agreement from their spouse.  E.g. If you are making dinner, should you really care whether your spouse *loves* it and compliments it?  Where it went off the rails was when this insight morphed into: forget about emotional validation, you should not care about the fact that your spouse [i]does nothing at all[/i]!  E.g. You have to make dinner all the time, and you should not care whether your spouse ever reciprocates or contributes at all.  The first insight may be valuable, the second seems incredibly unhealthy and self-destructive.[/quote]

To get this discussion back on track (maybe):

It's interesting to see the baggage some people are reading into this - the word "detachment" seems very loaded for some.  Read up on the Buddhist idea of detachment.  It's not emotional distance, or removal of feeling.  It's taking a step back to observe and not just jumping to a reaction.  I don't love my spouse less when I do this.  In fact, I've found it to increase my love for him.  I'm no longer treating him like a stone I'm trying to squeeze water out of.

Also - this process doesn't mean you are not expecting nothing - you can still make very clear expectations of each other.  It just may not end up looking exactly the way you want it to.  When I realized my husband's productive time was the morning - bam, have him do more of the daily chores that can happen in the morning.  I happily do mine in the evening.  No longer do I seethe when he's relaxing in front of the TV - he gave me more time to sleep in the morning.  How many of us aren't being exactly fair about our partner's contribution just because it's not happening exactly at the same time as ours?

Maybe taking that time to pause in your own sense of resentment and busy-ness to "get it all done" - you aren't creating any space for him to find his own way.  When I stopped taking myself and every little thing so damn seriously, I discovered that my DH did care about the house being picked up, and he would get to the point where he would do it.  Not my way. His way.  If you truly have a spouse who will sit on his ass forever, well then - you have a different problem.

If DH says something like "We need to do x" - I say "ok!"  More often than not - he's saying that because he cares that it gets done and will do it.  If I jump up and do it, I'm not giving him the space to.  I could react by getting angry that he's assuming I should do it (which may be true or not - how many of us are not guilty of wishing the other would just do the work so we don't have to) - I'm just creating emotional work for myself.  I behave as if there is no assumption that I should do it - which puts the space back on place for him to step in.  If he pushes further, I can say - that's not a priority for me right now, but you can go ahead!    See how reacting just makes it all worse?

[/quote]

This makes a lot of sense, thank you. When I look at my marriage objectively I do think a lot of my resentment towards him are created from my own realistic expectations. Maybe if I employ this approach it will help the entire household. Thanks ladies![/quote]

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