Real men share the housework: what Britain can learn from the domestic bliss of Scandinavia
Real men share the housework: what Britain can learn from the domestic bliss of Scandinavia
A new survey shows UK men are shirking the chores. Not so in Nordic nations, says the author Helen Russell
Something I've been told that is actually quite important too: for the chores to be equally split both partners needs to do at least 60% of the household work.
I already do quite a bit of the housework, as well as most of the cooking. Always have.
Same. Partly because my wife would burn toast if given the chance.
I wasn't going to broach that subject 😉
I don't remember where I heard it, but I think it was from a movie I saw as a kid: "The best cooks are men". I doubt it holds true in general, but it is my firm belief that it's 100% true in our household. Unless baking is involved; I couldn't keep yeast alive if my life depended on it.
Is this really a controversial stance in the UK? Ive been cooking and cleaning for myself since I moved into my first apartment, at least. Never mind the promise of 'domestic bliss', kind of just sounds like the bare minimum of being a considerate partner and an actual adult.
Although a majority of Britons agree that adult couples sharing a home should do equal amounts of housework, two-thirds of them admitted that women ended up doing much more
Evidently yes.
What a concept... imagine helping one another. Crazy!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The new British social attitudes survey has just been published, and it reveals that although a majority of Britons agree that adult couples sharing a home should do equal amounts of housework, two-thirds of them admitted that women ended up doing much more.
Inspired by the notion that “real men cook”, my husband now makes a mean cinnamon bun, and his apple-chip salmon was recently reviewed as “to die for”.
The weekend living supplements have not been lying: Danes love a chic minimalist home, so no one puts up with clutter or cobwebs.
Their big brother attends a weekly “food lab” at school where he has learned to rustle up messy yet edible scrambled eggs and porridge.
In Denmark, a quarter of all teenagers attend a subsidised residential boarding school or efterskole for a year or more from the age of 14 where they learn to cook, clean and launder for themselves.
A teacher friend tells me she can spot efterskole alumni a mile away in her equivalent of A-level classes: “They’re much more grounded and mature.”
The original article contains 861 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
That was a fuckin shit summary, bot
I cook, I clean, I bath the kids and do daycare runs, I'm the one that updates the family calendar so we're all in the right spot...when do I get some help dethatching the lawn? Or renovating the bathroom to match some Pinterest post?
Fair is fair after all. Just doesn't seem all that fair.
So communicate with your spouse. Absolutely no one's saying you need to do everything yourself. Ideally it's 50/50, even if the 50's don't look the same.
Also, not saying this is your case, but sometimes when I feel like I'm the person doing everything I'll ask my spouse to remind me of their 50. It's easy for me to see what I do and when I'm low it feels harder to see what they do. So I tell them I'm having a myopic moment and ask them to point out some of their 50 to knock me out of it.