Monday, March 05, 2007

Appreciating the Boyish Side of our Husband's Nature
Part III

In a book called, "Precious are God's Plans," the author points out one way we can relate to our husbands' boyish side. The author encourages a wife to listen to her husbands as they share about their childhood and teen years. She encourages a wife to take an interest in the pets he had, in the sports or games he played as a boy, in his boyish hurts, his boyish defeats and his youthful joys and triumphs.

The more a man shares his boyhood and his adolesence with you, the more he shares his deepest heart with you. As he talks about his boyhood, he will come to trust and appreciate you more. And, you will learn more about him and will learn to trust and appreciate him more.

Of course, if your husband had a painful past, he may be reticent to talk about it. Don't force him to. But, if you take an interest, and you demonstrate over time that he can safely open up to you, he will share more and more of his boyhood memories with you over the years. You will both benefit.

It's interesting to me that June Cleaver often did this on the show, "Leave it to Beaver." Whenever she and her husband Wrd worked through a dilemma with one of their boys, she would ask her husband an interesting question about his growing up years. The question was always related to the problem at hand. Sometimes, they would chuckle over the similarities and teh differences between the way Ward was raised and the way they were raising their boys in "modern times". Of course, real life is not at all like a 1950's sit com, and I don't usually reccommend that anyone take marriage advice from the TV! But, June Cleaver just happens to be one example of how to put this principle into practice.

Enjoy!
elizabeth

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