As of recently I have been thinking alot about 'me time'. There seems to be such a push to give women 'breaks' often. Don't get me wrong, every women deserves them! I just sometimes think that men are short-changed on this a bit. They deserve breaks too! Where are their retreats and their 'me time' events?
For example: In my life Michael will come home and take care of Logan to 'give me a break' which I appreciate of course but frankly he has worked all day too and deserves just as much of a break.
Also, with the church we have monthly Relief Society activities where it's just for women and the men are left with the household, and in our ward specifically we have a ladies night once a month so we can all 'have a break', and then there's always events for women: as of last weekend there was the Relief Society retreat, and then there's Time Out For Women every year, and the list goes on!
It's not that I don't appreciate it because I most definetly do. I guess I wish there was more focus on how much we also appreciate them - which is something I suppose I need to step up to the plate on. Maybe that's what this blog is about - to state how much I appreciate Michael and the work he does outside of the home and inside of the home at the end of the day. In the end I want us to be equal and I want him to know that he doesn't have to come home and 'relieve' me of my duties - I would love more of a partnership and togetherness as a family in the evenings instead.
Yes, the whole purpose of my blog changed as I started typing, so now I am going to start brainstorming ways we can bring our family more together at the end of the day as a unit as opposed to always having that 'who deserves the break tonight' mentality that society seems to have created.
Hmmm, while men don't seem to have "retreats" etc I think it's because generally, in the past, men haven't needed an excuse to take their me time. For example, I always feel like I need to "check in" before I do things like shower, run to the store, go on the computer take a nap whereas Tyler will just do it. This could easily be "blamed" on my own mentality & actions, but it's still my reality.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, another place I've noticed a lack of support is in the teen pregnancy & single parent world. There are tons of programs & support available for the moms but basically nothing to encourage the dads or help them out. Ideally we would want both parents involved in baby's life, so why isnt there help for the men? I could see how this carries forward into Dads in a more traditional role & the lack of support, groups & camaraderie for them.