This one will get me into trouble....

Just lately, some of the ladies I know have been discussing the retirement of their husbands, or of other people's husbands.

They have a huge laugh at the men's expense, and mostly because the men in their lives, who now have time on their hands, are wanting to help, but actually just end up getting in the way.

One of them was heard to say "I am so thankful to him - I finally know how to stack a dishwasher, how to iron clothes, how to vacuum,...." etc
And all the others joined in laughing and agreeing, and wondering how they ever managed without their husband to teach them all these things.

I didn't say anything at the time (I'm not quite that dumb!) but I did wonder if they bothered tot ake on board anything that was said.

In a company, when you have a new person come in, they often will see things that have just become "the way we do it" that are not really very efficient or the best way. You would have to be a fool to dismiss their observations just because "We have always done it that way" - but apparently the same doesn't apply to running a household.

Now just as in business, there is experience which will often tell you that the best way doesn't always seem to be the best way, and a wife and mother who has been doing it for years probably most of the time knows the best way.

BUT - there are some things that I see many women doing wrong, and they should sometimes - just sometimes - consider the direction that an observant husband gives them.
The classic that the ladies mentioned was stacking a dishwasher. This is not a difficult task, but there are very few women I have seen stack a dishwasher properly.
Now this is not an 'experience' thing, and there very definitely is a right and wrong way - and it is in the instruction books! And it not only fits more dishes in, but it also allows the proper movement of the water within the machine, to make the wash better and cleaner.

Of course there are some women who do, but I have never met one!

The thing is, this is not something that take years of experience to find out - it is clear, logical, and written down often.

I DO agree with them that there are things that someone new to running a household just does not understand, and the "new ideas" are not new at all, but tried and failed already.

But you know, the newly retired guy is just trying to be helpful and to feel useful.

Let him stack the dishwasher the right way - but tell him doesn't know what he is talking about on some of the other things. I can't give an example, because, quite seriously, I don't know what they are!

And I am not likely to find out for more than a few years.

But come on ladies - give him a break - he feels pretty useless right now, so humour him a bit.
And I know that most do that - this was talk between ladies, but in the presence of men, not to men!

So anyway, when my lovely wife reads this I am going to find myself with dishes to do at the very least!

Told you I was dumb!

Skelli