Who Wears the Pants (Stay-at-home moms have plenty of clout)

Wall Street Journal ^ | October 10, 2008 | Megan Basham

[sportutegrl]

I did not choose that huge 4000 dollar monster tv that takes up half the living room.

[cblue55]

My husband goes to work everyday and I stay home. On payday I give him about $5 to last two weeks. I keep the rest.

[ladyvet]

I'm a stay at home mom now. My husband takes care of the cars, outside work, household repairs. I take care of EVERTHING else. From taking care of the finances to making sure he and the kids have a homemade meal. It works fine for us and we've been at it for almost 18 years.

[longtermmemmory]

it is really an issue of the following:

In a marriage the man wears the pants and the woman wears the dress...

[ladyvet]

LOL...the only thing my husband might remind me of once in a while is he needs his “allowance”. That is not belittling him, he knows that I have a budget that has us not worried about todays problems.

[netmilsmom]

Happy anniversary? Many more!

[netmilsmom]

Oh poo!
Make that

Happy anniversary & Many more!

[SeaHawkFan]

Women want to feel appreciated, secure, and desired. Shocker..men want the same thing.

Not accurate. As one man wrote to Dr. Laura, and mentioned in her book, TPCFH, "If I'm not horny, make me a sandwich." Men are pretty simple.

[longtermmemmory]

I question the “decision” issues of this article.

It seems most of the financial decisions they may be talking about are the “don’t care” or “whatever” type.

If it really matters to the man he will speak up IF it is something he cares about. (ie different food, clothes smell too perfumy from the detergent, pink curtains...)

[longtermmemmory]

the old media is confusing TEAMWORK of a husband and wife for power.

a husband has no power without a wife.
a wife has no power without a husband.
united they have power over their household.

[TheWriterTX]

Dear SHF,

We are actually thinking along the same lines, just expressing it in slightly different terms.

Horny = If a woman satisfies this urge, she is showing the man he is desired.

Food = If a woman cooks or feeds him, she is also showing the man he is appreciated.

Ultimately, though, for literally millions of people, food represents security.

Make sense?

[ladyvet]

Absolutely! We respect each other for what we do for each other and our family. No one is in “control”, we share how to deal with problems with the kids, you must be united.

[SvdByFaith]

Me too! My dear husband puts in 50-60 hours per week and I stay home and homeschool our kids. He works so hard that I don't mind doing everything here so he doesn't have to worry about putting in more hours. On the weekends he takes the kids to do something on Saturdays so I can have time to myself.

My dh wants me to make most of the decisions at home because he trusts my ability to do so and because it takes the burden off of him to have to oversee work and household. But he has the final word on all decisions. I would never disrespect him by making a big decision without asking for his approval.

There have been times when he has made a decision that I do not necessarily agree with, but I do not say anything because it is not my place to. I would NEVER try to wear the pants in my family.

We have been married for 20 years and we get along better and love each other more now than we ever have. We even go out on dates more now than we did the first year of our marriage! That's all due to respect and love.

My dh is the King of our castle too! I try hard to live up to the Proverbs 31 woman for him, though I'm still wondering when my maiden is going to be here to help me out! :P

[Gabz]

Without a doubt this is a MOM! ping.........

[samiam1972]

You know, on the flip side of that, I wouldn’t want to get up and leave the house for work everyday. I really admire my husband for his ability to care for all of us.

I stay home with all the kids, too, so I’m always at work. LOL! We’re pretty good about discussing big items but I generally just take care of everything around here. I’m also a little on the controlling side and like doing things my way. ;0) It seems to be working for both of us.

[pray4liberty]

A Pew Research Center study released a couple of weeks ago found that when it comes to decision making in the home, wives in a majority of cases either rule the roost or share power equally with their husbands, regardless of how much money the women earn.

It took how many millions of (probably government) dollars sunk in this research study for these morons to get that???

They could have done this for free putting up a survey on the Internet!!

[netmilsmom]

I am too!!!!

[xsmommy]

as she said in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Your father is head of our household, but i am the NECK that turns the head! LOL!

[tioga]

-it’s pretty simple....men have few needs, but neglect ONE of them and beware.....nothing else much matters to them.

[netmilsmom]

Exactly!