Women’s Football Season Survival Guide
Dear Monica, Every Sunday my husband watches football from morning until night. Whether it is the Eagles or another team, he is glued to the TV. This goes on from September through February. How do men get away with having a work-free and chore-free day? What is a wife to do? —F.B., Gladwyne
It is true the NFL has a powerful hold on many men. Football produces emotions like no other sport. For the fan, it involves hours of lounging, eating and episodic yelling at the TV. This pastime is then faithfully passed onto the male offspring for generations to come. So what are women to do? Instead of feeling defeated by this phenomenon, why not adopt the strategy of “if you can’t beat them, join them”?
Keep the peace in your house and say nothing about his Sunday ritual. Buy the game-time food for him and his crew with a smile on your face. You can even take it one step further and buy him a jersey of his favorite Eagle assuring the Birds that extra bit of Sunday mojo that they desperately need. Will he be happy? Of course. Will you be happy? You bet, and here is how:
Play by your man’s rules, only choose a different day. Take every Saturday from September through February all to yourself. Leave him with the laundry, dishwasher, carpools, food shopping and homework. You’ve earned your hall pass, too. Get together with your girl friends, put your feet up and rent a movie on On Demand. Close the door to the den and make sure that the he is the one in charge of the house and everyone in it.
You can unite the husbands and wives by planning a great Super Bowl party for February 3rd, 2013 with guys in one room with burgers and beers and ladies in the other with cosmos and chit-chat. For those women who are with the program and brave enough, they can watch the game with the men. If you are not into football you can at least enjoy the commercials and Beyonce during the halftime show!
The bottom line is that football is a great tradition that many men look forward to. Let them have their time with their passion. The reason why women get bent out of shape is that they do not know how to arrange for reciprocal time off in return. As long as you feel there is give and take in your relationship, you should be happy to leave him with the Eagles, for as long as they last, or until the Super Bowl has played out. The problem only comes about when things are left one-sided in the down time department.
If you follow these tips your man may be as excited to see football season come to an end as you are!
