Next time your man chops some firewood or does some other ‘manly’ job — go outside, sit in a chair with your legs up, and just watch.

He’ll love it — he’ll likely take his shirt off, suck in his stomach, flex his muscles, and chop wood like he’s never chopped wood before.

He’ll love you watching him! — Trust me, if you want to connect with your man on a whole new level just, sit there and watch him work!

But, it doesn’t work the other way — when he sits with his legs up and watches you do the dishes — you’ll likely just throw the tea towel at him and tell him to get his A into G.

My point — men and women are different, and we often forget it.

One of the ways we’re different — is that men connect side-by-side and women connect face-to-face.

Women confront-to-connect — but that’s such a negative way to say it, ‘confront’.

But that’s exactly how it feels to us men — when you try and connect with us about an issue, face-to-face, it just feels like a confrontation.

It feels like a fight.

It’s the same with your boys, raising stuff face-to-face will likely just feel like a fight —the way to connect with them is side-by-side.

I know — why can’t they just toughen up and listen, you don’t have all day to get “side-by-side”.

You just need the dishes done!

The confrontation will kick the boys into gear — but if you want them to think more about what is needed around the home, you need to get side-by-side.

Think about it this way:

You want action right now – face-to-face will probably work.
You want to get a longer-lasting change – circle back around later and get side-by-side.