Cook together, stay together...

[Luba]

from Canada.com

Many of today's brides can't cook and it may be a good thing, says a marriage counselor who claims younger couples squabble less about cooking because they don't know how to do it and so they learn together gradually.

"If a man knows that his wife knows how to cook, he is far less likely to try it himself," says Karyl Pope, owner of Karyl Pope & Associates counselling services in Burlington, Ont. "This leads to problems later on."

Pope believes older couples are more likely to fight about who does the cooking because often they have staid views on the division of labour.

"A lot of older men think cooking is a woman's job. But after years of being stuck in the kitchen, the wife is resentful."

The older generation also tends to place great value on the family meal.

"Younger couples don't see sitting down to a meal together every night as that important. Typically, they both work and, although they see dinnertime as quality family time, they're more willing to compromise and only try to do it on weekends."

By lowering expectations, there is less friction in the relationship, she says.

Although men are helping out domestically more and more, a 2004 study by the Vanier Institute for the Family, women still do most of the juggling involved balancing work and home.

Instead of younger couples taking turns, many counsellors advocate cooking together. "Cooking together is a very sexy thing," Lang says. "The joint effort can be very positive because it's a chance to talk. Communication is key for couples, especially early on."

[Stone]

very intresting article,

Why don't younger ladies know how to cook? I don't my mother never taught me because she never had time because she busted her arse at work all day, so now I am learning by myself and everyone else has to pay by eating my mistakes

[Luba]

My Mother never taught me or let me try cooking, either. But her reasoning was we didn't have the money to waste (now there's the way to make a young person feel good about themselves when she assumed that I would fail)....oh well....what's done is done...

Since I was doomed to fail anyway, I remember I was going to make a lemon pie for Dad (his all-time favourite) and made a pie shell when they were both in town and wouldn't be home until late. Anyway, the pie shell was so hard that I remember tossing it down the bank towards the river...and no one ever found out about my first episode of baking until now...

I haven't thought about that in years...but I could still see myself tossing it disgustingly and I don't remember ever trying that again until I was married...thank God I got a great recipe for pie dough from my neighbour and not one of my three males complained about my pies...

Note: I worshipped my Mother, she was a great woman and I still deeply miss her!

[Stone]

Awwww that's so sad.. maby you can teach Downing how to cook when you see her.

Nothing else is better to do when you are an adult than eat one of Grandma's recipies

[Merika]

My mom is German....so YES, I learned to cook. I could cook an entire meal by myself by the time I was in 6th grade. I still like cooking if I'm having company....just to cook every night for the family though....gets really old. I also don't like messing up my kitchen....so I'm prone to cook easy stuff out of boxes. LOL!

I've found most men really enjoy cooking and grilling.