Tuesday, April 12, 2011

boy jobs


i'd like to think that i'm an enlightened, equal-opportunity kind of woman of the 21st century. but honestly, there are some things that are simply Boy Jobs. things like changing tires, and killing spiders and digging holes and picking up that dead mouse that the cat caught, played with and abandoned on the floor of sabin's room.

he also does the heavy lifting and the building to specification around here. in return for that, i pretty much see to it that he doesn't have to cook much (tho' he's a very capable cook), nor does he ever do laundry. i'm the one to take care of the horse and the other animals, tho' he's building her a new stall over here at our place, so we can bring her home. he does occasionally vacuum and clean the bathroom sink, but mostly those are my jobs. so i guess, in many ways, we have a traditional household. but i have to admit i like it like that. even as enlightened and over-educated as i undoubtedly am.

what do you think? are there boy jobs and girl jobs in your home?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes... definitely some boy jobs within the house. Helping me when I wash windows because they are too hard for me to open. Cleaning up after himself in the bathroom. Hammering nails into walls so I can hang things. Grilling meat because he's better at it than I. Putting away groceries because I am the one who goes out to the store and buys them. Lots of things he does around the house.

Di

Anonymous said...

P.S... LOVE YOUR HEADER!!

Helen said...

Funnily enough I was only having this conversation last week over dinner with my best friend. She mentioned that there is a clear division of labour in her house...she cooks and cleans (although her husband is a fab cook and cooks at weekends), stays at home and looks after the three kids, does the washing, ironing and cleaning whilst he works, and he does the more physical jobs, puts the rubbish out, and does the repairs to the house, car etc. And she is happy as larry. I am the same as in more than happy to cook whilst Jim does the manual stuff.

We are both 'modern gals', used to doing things for ourselves but as we have become older and wiser, are happy to fall into the typical traditional roles. A relationship is all about partnership and as long as it works for the couple, then there is nothing wrong in it at all.

Deb said...

Oh this reminds me of a post I wrote during the 30 secrets in 30 days challenge Spud began. I think you'll get a kick out of the story too!

http://magnificentdebra.blogspot.com/2009/08/secret-30i-can-change-tire.html

Lost Aussie said...

It's pretty much the same in this house. We are both ambidextrous when it comes to traditional gender chore skills, though I like knowing I can ask Mr. to cook dinner if I am busy or don't feel like it and he definitely gets dead mouse duty!

stephmabry said...

We definitely have boy jobs and girl jobs! I hate doing laundry, especially since we don't have a washer/dryer in our house yet and yeah, it probably "isn't fair" that I do it even though I work all day and he doesn't - but in exchange for me doing the laundry, he'll install a ceiling fan, or fix my weedwacker, or whatever.

As long as it all gets done and everyone's happy, who cares who does what?

poet said...

Erm... I take care of all spiders I encounter at my boyfriend's place, and of some of the computer stuff too. Since we don't live together we don't share the other stuff yet, so it's hard to tell. We recently had a discussion about dividing it up rather evenly, with the exception of said spiders/computers which are my job, and electricity/lighting-related stuff which is his job... but who knows what will actually be!

stephanie said...

Oh yes...we have boy and girl jobs at home. The boy takes out the trash, mows the grass, builds me things and fixes broken computers. And I do the cooking, most of the cleaning (he vacuums for me), the laundry and shopping. It really makes me happy to have it that way.

julochka said...

i didn't think about that, but computers and general hooking up of electronics (at least the bits that don't involve crawling out on the roof or drilling cords through from the attic) are mine in this house. but that's because i care way more about that stuff than he does.

Tracy Golightly-Garcia said...

Hello julie

I hate to pump gas!!!! I will drive with the gas light on all day and Mr G gets--well let's say not to nice with me. So far I have been lucky--I have not run out of gas. :-)

Kaleida said...

We refer to these as pink chores and blue chores at our house. While both Hubbs and I are quite capable of peforming all of said chores independently, like you we enjoy the traditional division.

Regards,
Kim D

Sarah said...

Yes, we have boy and girl jobs too. He takes care of everything related to the cars and I do all the grocery shopping/meal planning (for example). I do struggle with it a bit. I wish I felt more comfortable doing more traditionally "boy" jobs. But, it kind of feels like that would require a lot of effort and discomfort on my part just to make a point (and to whom, really?). I do hope that my daughter grows up feeling more capable in both "boy" and "girl" spheres. That seems like a more important place to put my efforts now.

artist in the arctic said...

Oh yes! It's funny because I was just thinking about this. Boy jobs in our house: Stacking wood, vehicles, anything that needs to be fixed (I do love my handy man!!), hauls water for holding tank, hauls trash to the dump and surprisingly he does a lot of laundry. Girl jobs: I'm the walker of the dogs, scrubber of the house,
The baker - my friends don't call me "Betty Crocker" for nothing!! After listing these out I think I have the better end of the stick!!

Sammi said...

it is a boys job to change the oil in my bike. not necessarily in my home, tho' the nice man at the bike shop can do that ;)

also the nice man at domino's who brings pizza to our house, definitely a boys job.