As moms, we work hard all day (and night!) for our families. We want our kids to be happy and healthy. We desire to have a joyful home. We want our husbands to be happy as well. In the twelve years that I have been married, I have learned a little secret to making husbands, well, pretty happy.
Here it is, are you ready? Talk to your husband like you talk to your baby!
Before you roll your eyes and click to the next article, hear me out.
Picture this: your baby just wakes up from a nap. What do you say to her? HOW do you say it? For me, it’s something like…”oooooooh sweetie. How ARE you? Did YOU sleep gooood? You’re a SUCH a sweeeet baby. Mommy loves you SOOOO much…” And so one. Personally, I think my voice might raise a few octaves higher than normal.
Sound familiar? Just listen to any mom picking her baby from daycare. You’ll hear it: the sweet, loving, yet ridiculously-sounding voice that we use on our babies. I’ve even heard this sweet baby talk from moms that speak other languages – I don’t know what the mom is saying, exactly, but I think it’s safe to say that we all speak the same language (when we talk to our babies)!
Now, back to the morning scenario. Your husband just woke-up. And about two octaves lower: “Hi. It looks like you slept well. At least one of us did. I’ve been up since 5:50am, and twice in between. Here, take the baby, I need to go shower… Can you please put the dishes away too?!”
Now, did THAT sound familiar? I hope I’m not the only one! 🙂
Photo Credit: My seven-year-old (Photography By Nealy)
Just last weekend, my sister and I were on a (kid-free!) vacation, sitting at the pool and talking about this very topic. Then we got interrupted because her kids wanted to FaceTime. It started something like this…”Good morning, sunshine!!!!!!!”
Am I condoning that you treat your husband like a baby? Absolutely not. I fully respect my husband and treat him like the adult that he is, always. I believe that at the core of any good relationship is both love and respect (<— a great book that I highly recommend on the topic of respect).
However, more often than not, we give our best to the kids and give our husbands the leftovers. We’re tired. Maybe a little selfish. We grumble. And then we talk to strangers in line at the grocery stores much more friendly that the way we talk to our husbands. And these guys are supposed to be our best friends and life partners.
Heck, we often talk to our dogs nicer than we talk to our husbands.
Try it! It might sound something like this: “Good morning, sweetie (kiss on cheek)! How did you sleep? Love you babe!!!!”
