New Moms and Dads: The Importance of The Training Weekend – Mom Gets a Break and Dad Gets a Clue

training weekend

Yes, we've already posted a video talking about The Mother of All Solutions - The Training Weekend. Go away for the weekend and leave your husband alone with the baby for 48 hours. No sitters. No in-laws. No cavalry whatsoever. The point is to let him figure things out for himself. He doesn’t get it because he hasn’t done it! We now want to discuss why it is such an important tool when it comes to babyproofing your marriage. The benefits of a Training Weekend are many and varied: Mom gets a break. If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. So give yourself a little girl time or alone time. Everyone, including you, will benefit from your well-rested, recharged self. “I didn’t know I needed it until I had it. Boy, did I need it!” —Valerie, married 7 years, 2 kids. Dad understands. By taking sole charge of all baby- and house-related duties for a weekend, a man will better understand his wife’s challenges and frustrations. He will have the same sink-or-swim experience that she has. If he wants to take shortcuts by not feeding a full meal, or leaving dirty diapers all over the floor, for once, he will have to deal with the consequences. He learns because there’s no other way out. Just a small glimpse into this “real world” will improve your communication level and your ability to work together as a team on the home front. “I had a list of things I wanted to get done when I had the kids by myself, and I was lucky if half of it got done. I didn’t shower and I didn’t shave. I could barely hold things together. It gave me an enormous appreciation for what my wife does. This was eight years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.” —George, married 13 years, 2 kids. “I had no idea taking care of a baby was so hard. How does she do this day in and day out? I was truly in awe of her when she got back.” —Brandon, married 3 years, 1 kid.

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The Chore Wars: Moms Scorekeeping Confessions

gold star

Scorekeeping, the endless tit-for-tat over who's working harder, who has it tougher. Does this sound familiar? “I paid all the bills, bought a birthday present for your mother, read Goodnight Moon five times, took four six-year-olds to Chuck-E-Cheese . . . and that was just Tuesday. . . .” “Excuse me, but did I not make the kids breakfast every morning last week, including the morning it made me late for my presentation, when I really should have gone in early? And I picked up the dry cleaning without being asked, and I did bath duty three times last week. What more do you want?” The three of us have at one time or another been serious scorekeepers. We’re not proud to admit it, but there you have it. We each had different styles and our own way of letting our husbands know the score. Notice we are using the past tense. That is somewhat aspirational, but we have improved enormously and we’re still working on it. Meet the Silent Sulker, the Quarterly Exploder, and Exacto Woman:

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