Monday, April 27, 2009

Project #1

Project #1

30 Minutes is All it Takes

Create Some Free Time When He Gets Home

“There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Your Project:

Focus on your husbands transitional 30 minutes today. Would he like to be left alone to rest and rejuvenate, or does he want some undivided attention from you? The point is to let your husband know you value what he does out in the world, and that he has a safe loving place to come home and get refreshed at the end of the day.

Getting Creative
There are plenty of reasons why it might not be easy for you to give your husband some transition time at the end of the day. You need to look at what can work for your relationship. Be creative, like the stories listed below. Brainstorm with your friends until you find a situation that will work for you and your guy.

  • My friend, Joann, purposely scheduled her daughter’s dance classes twice a week at the same hour that her husband gets home from work. That way, her hubby comes home to an empty house. He gets some quiet, and she gets a more peaceful man.
  • One husband has his workshop out in the garage. His wife encourages him to go and hang out there for a while before dinner. (Since starting this arrangement, her husband has started helping out with the after-dinner clean up. Nice side benefit.)
  • Crockpots are The Husband Project’s best friend. Set your crockpot to be finished thirty minutes after your husband gets home from work. Let him know that you don’t need anything until dinner is ready. Don’t know a crockpot from a flower pot? Check out the recipes in The Ultimate Guide to Man Food at www.kathilipp.com
  • Does your husband already have a great transition routine after getting home? Find some other little thing to bless that time. Maybe it’s making sure the TV is available, his favorite sweats are clean and ready to be changed into, or there’s a cold soda waiting for him in the fridge. It may be so small that he doesn’t even notice. That’s okay – you’ll know what you did.
  • What if your husband works from home? Maybe the best way to help him relax is to ask what he would like the schedule to be. Does he want dinner before or after he gets some time to recharge? Ask him what would make his night better.

3 comments:

Christine H. said...

I did this one yesterday and Eric said over and over how much he appreciated time alone after work. I gave him 1 hour because the whole chicken in the oven was not cooking fast enough. Anyway, an hour is a long time. He took a bath, of course. And then I also put the girls to bed and let him have even more quiet time. Seriously. Since he enjoyed the hour so much earlier, I just wanted to give him more time alone. I never told him why I was doing it, and honestly, after the first 30 minutes, I wasn't doing it for the Project, I was doing it just because I love him. Thanks for the challenge.

Christine H. said...

I'll try to do the second one sometime soon.

heidibelle said...

Awesome Christine... I am so proud of you. It is amazing how our husbands appreciate the effort we make, even when they don't realize why we are doing it. I'm glad it worked out for you. This one is hard for me since Jeff works from home, but I try and give him time to himself every once in awhile to veg out.