My wife goes crazy when wives get upset at their husbands for not getting them gifts on Mother's Day. I find it rather amusing. What's going on with that?
I am often amused at how commercialized holidays are. Here in America it's as if buying things on holidays has become a national pastime. From Wikipedia:
"For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts — like spa treatments — and another $68 million on greeting cards [2]. Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the US jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008. Americans are expected to spend close to $3.51 billion in 2008 on dining out for Mother's Day, with brunch and dinner being the most popular dining out options [3]."
Even my church goes out of its way to provide flowers for all of the mothers on Mother's Day.
Now, I'm not saying that celebrating motherhood is bad. Far from it. I love my mother and always will. What I don't understand is why men have to feel obligated to get their wives who don't have children something for Mother's Day.
Usually I advocate doing more for wives. Today, I have to say that I'm tired of hearing about how women should get something simply because they
may be mothers some day.
Is that so bad?
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This is a post in the Good Husband Series. A series meant to highlight husbands who go the extra mile to care for their wives.
I am so thrilled to show off my husband to the world. He would never ask to be recognized, and doesn't that make it all the more deserved? And what better venue than here?
I have long known that I have the most thoughtful and loving husband on the planet! And he is extra-special to me because his kindness and adoration is saved exclusively for me. He's more than a little modest and since he can border on the reclusive side at times, he's not the guy who goes out of his way to show affection when everyone is watching. Instead he waits for me to be his sole audience, and that is when he truly shines.
My husband prepares most of our grocery lists and meals. Not only that, but he will cater to our family's ever-changing food palettes by finding new recipes when I choose to go on a diet on a whim, or alter meals for our daughter when she decides to try out being a vegetarian. He will accompany me to yoga classes when I have no one to go with and not feel at all out of place by being the only guy there at times. When the battery on my very peculiar automatic car keys went out, he went to several stores to find the right replacement batteries. Every time we go grocery shopping in the snow and cold he will unlock the car and tell me to warm up while he puts all the groceries in the trunk. Since I live far away from my family, he will encourage me to buy a plane ticket and take a weekend to go see them when I miss them. He plans weekend adventures that usually involve some unique experience that he picked out special, just for me. He never complains about me or talks badly about me to others and I often notice him "stepping out the spotlight" when talking with family and friends and highlighting me.
Until very recently (when it became impossible) he drove across town on his lunch break to have lunch with me at least 3 days a week, and very often 4 or 5 times a week. He tells me he loves me at least 50 times a day (and I'm not at all exaggerating!) and he is always available for snuggling. And he will regularly go out of his way to make me laugh uncontrollably. He will go to any and all extreme lengths, often making himself look absurdly silly, just to make me smile. I could go on and on about the many things my husband does that are special - he is just incredible to me on every level. He makes me feel like a star and keeps me feeling excited and so fortunate for being able to spend my life with him! We are coming up on 10 years together and he makes me love him more all the time.
- Heather Teters
Like this post? See more Good Husband Deeds. Want to highlight your husband? Send a picture and your story to cory_huff at yahoo.com.
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Fox Television recently announced a new reality show called "Bad Dads." The show is about collection agencies going after men who are delinquent on their child support payments. There's been a flurry of protests against this show. Male issues leader Glenn Sacks has been one of the leaders of the protests. Touched off by a post on his blog and fueled by his supporters, the mainstream media, and others, Fox is under heavy pressure to cancel this upcoming show.
I'm not so sure that's a good thing.
I come from the background of having a father who skipped out and refused to pay child support. My mother had to go to court and eventually have his wages garnished. In addition, after that happened my father moved and didn't inform the court where he was so the wage garnishments stopped for a number of years.
I think that "Bad Dads" could help track down some of these men and force them to do their duty.
Now, perhaps I would have a different perspective if my mother had been financially well off, but I grew up poor. I worked and contributed my income to the household finances from the time I was 14 years old. I made it into college, luckily, but had to go into serious debt to pay for it.
While Glenn Sacks makes the argument that this show unfairly portrays men and that you'd never see a show like this about women, it is absolute truth that there are a lot of men out there who don't take care of their responsibilities.
I've written here at AGoodHusband about how negatively men are portrayed in the media. It sickens me. As a product of a delinquent father however, I have a strange emotional reaction to this show.
I'm really not sure that it's a bad thing. What do you think?
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