Does your wife and children appreciate the sacrifices that you have made for their betterment? The last couple of years I have made some changes to my life insurance policies that will drastically benefit one person, and not my immediate family.
I'm gonna say no. "Wimenz work" isn't considered work. So ... I find that it is taken for granted. Until I don't do it and then OMG! 
Why isn't this done or that done or the other done! And where is the ketchup?? While he's staring RIGHT AT IT on the fridge shelf. 
Just the way of the world, I suppose.
Why isn't this done or that done or the other done! And where is the ketchup?? While he's staring RIGHT AT IT on the fridge shelf. Just the way of the world, I suppose.
No disrespect to anyone.
But I don’t care. It’s my job.
But I don’t care. It’s my job.
I’ve gotta say no, I don’t ever wonder if THEY appreciate me nor if they think about “all the many sacrifices I’ve made to bless and enrich their lives”. What I do make sure to do is not let a day pass where I don’t do something to show them how much they’re appreciated and have blessed my life.
I know I fail miserably but this prayer is what starts my day.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
I know I fail miserably but this prayer is what starts my day.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
My kids will never understand the 10 plus hour days I spent making money to provide them things I NEVER had as a child, until they are adults doing the very same thing. And that's okay. My family doesnt need to understand, but I do. And thats all that matters to me. And Wimminz work IS HARD ASS WORK.....
A few years ago, when we went out with our oldest son and his family for a meal in Norman, he took me aside after the meal and told me that he finally understood the sacrifices that I made to benefit the family. In his case, he had to realize that he was doing the same for his family.
I didn't mean to make light of men's work because it is hard, also. Hell, I think that's why it's called "work". I just can't figure out how people can't see that each side makes significant contributions to a household running smoothly.
But I can also understand how men of a certain age (mostly suburban, city-dweller types in my experience) long for the "Leave it to Beaver" house where the man worked 8 hours, came home, patted the kids on the head and got waited on hand and foot until his wife took him to bed and serviced him before giving him a back massage til he fell asleep. Just so he could do it all over again tomorrow and sit by the pool on the weekends. I'm pretty sure I'd be loathe to give that up also.
A lot of males still cant grasp what goes into keeping a home straight. Since my layoff and the wife teaching, Ive taken over a lot of the house duties for her. lol not that I didnt do some before, but working my 10-12 hours a day i had to pace myself. But like you said the beaver days are over. most homes have two working parents and I hope most if all have shared duties at the house. Its just the world we live in now.I didn't mean to make light of men's work because it is hard, also. Hell, I think that's why it's called "work". I just can't figure out how people can't see that each side makes significant contributions to a household running smoothly.
But I can also understand how men of a certain age (mostly suburban, city-dweller types in my experience) long for the "Leave it to Beaver" house where the man worked 8 hours, came home, patted the kids on the head and got waited on hand and foot until his wife took him to bed and serviced him before giving him a back massage til he fell asleep. Just so he could do it all over again tomorrow and sit by the pool on the weekends. I'm pretty sure I'd be loathe to give that up also.
@Big House
This very question I had explained to me when I was a younger man in my 20s.
Think of yourself in a Grocery Store and you need something off a shelf, a stranger is in your way. So what you do is say excuse me sir/ma’am and they move out of your way and you say thank you and go about your way.
Now at home with your family, you go in the kitchen and need a glass or something out of the cupboard, 99% of the time you move close to them nudging them or you just say move I need a glass or whatever you need. You are not as courteous as you were in the store is where this is going.
Family members you may think they don’t appreciate you, and we treat them with nudges or such, but a complete stranger we are courteous.
Trust me that stranger your courteous too doesn’t give a **** about you, but your family members loves you.
You may think your family does not care, they do. It just seems that family members are around each other so much that complacency sets in.
One more thing, my children never knew of the sacrifices that was made for them, they shouldn’t know. You make a mistake when that is brought up to them as well. And if we are discussing children, you have to wait and see as @TerryMiller boy above finally seen it as he got mature. Give them time to be adults and learn how it is.
This very question I had explained to me when I was a younger man in my 20s.
Think of yourself in a Grocery Store and you need something off a shelf, a stranger is in your way. So what you do is say excuse me sir/ma’am and they move out of your way and you say thank you and go about your way.
Now at home with your family, you go in the kitchen and need a glass or something out of the cupboard, 99% of the time you move close to them nudging them or you just say move I need a glass or whatever you need. You are not as courteous as you were in the store is where this is going.
Family members you may think they don’t appreciate you, and we treat them with nudges or such, but a complete stranger we are courteous.
Trust me that stranger your courteous too doesn’t give a **** about you, but your family members loves you.
You may think your family does not care, they do. It just seems that family members are around each other so much that complacency sets in.
One more thing, my children never knew of the sacrifices that was made for them, they shouldn’t know. You make a mistake when that is brought up to them as well. And if we are discussing children, you have to wait and see as @TerryMiller boy above finally seen it as he got mature. Give them time to be adults and learn how it is.
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This was a HUGE point of contention with us for YEARS. Grumpy would come home from work, kick his boots off and turn on the tv. I would come home, change the laundry, fold the clothes, unload the dishwasher, cook dinner, load the dishwasher, open the mail, write checks, straighten the bed I didn't get to in the morning because I was herding teenagers, pick up the bathroom, start a load of laundry, and climb in bed at 11. So he could pester me for sex and I could maybe get to sleep by 1 and get up at 6 to do it all over again. I'm not gonna lie -- I got really resentful really quick and we had some problems. Clearly most of those are ironed out now -- mostly because I can't do it all anymore.
Old age and trees falling are can be considered blessing after all ... 
But I GET how beat up you guys get. Because as a single mom I've been there. And it sucks when NOBODY acknowledges that you get tired and worn out. It's just too easy to not think about what someone else is going thru sometimes I think.
