I think there's a typo in your question, Tracie. You say "men" but I'm sure you meant to say "SOME men." Ok, lots of men. You're right. We are lousy patients, me included.
Why is this? I'm not sure. But I have a theory.
Being sick is a bummer. It makes you feel weak, helpless, childlike. At least that's the way it makes me feel. And when you're a sick kid, who do you want? Mommy, that's who. And since grown men rarely have their mommies around, who's the next best thing? Yep. You.
So, it's a mommy thing. But I suspect you knew that already.
I say just be glad that only one of you is sick and the other is able to play caretaker. The last time I got really sick, my wife was sick, too. We both had a terrible stomach flu and spent the entire night taking turns in the bathroom. It was the day Michael Crichton died, because I remember lying on the bathroom floor, moaning and writhing in severe pain between vomit blasts and wishing that I were Michael Crichton, while my poor wife knelt three feet from me, crying and gagging and horking her guts out into the toilet, each of us unable to help the other. And that just made it worse.
So here's my point: everybody needs a little TLC sometimes. Give it to us when we're sick, and we'll return the favor and hold your hair back the next time you're tossing your cookies. Deal?
Or would you rather us call our moms? I didn't think so.
Very poignant point there, dear sir. While most women get annoyed by men's helplessness when sick, I'd bet a pound of pistachios that they'd be PISSED if we called our mother's first and she decided to show up to take of her little bookie since our women can't.
Yay-men.
Thank you, Panama Jackson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=776TYJ8tfB4
Pan-a-ma-a-a-a-a-a! Nice one.
Men aren't the only ones who are babies and want their mommies when they're sick. I've become a total wimp in my "old" age! Being sick sucks!
I think part of the problem is that some women resent the fact that when men are sick, they seem to have no trouble with just letting everything else go while they focus on trying to get healthy again. The men naturally assume and hope (rightly so, I think) that the one who loves them will be there to bring them orange juice and take their temperature and run to the store for chicken soup.
Women, on the other hand, often feel pressured to keep going whether they are sick or not with all that is expected of them. I think it is that as "the Mom," they have been seen traditionally as the "official caretaker" of the family. They feel that they have to be there for everyone else whether they are sick or not.
You said, "And when you're a sick kid, who do you want? Mommy, that's who." Mommy, not Daddy, is the one you thought of first.
Obviously, men can be and are excellent caretakers if they choose to be, and a Dad can take care of a sick child just as a Mom can, but those old stereotypes have a way of returning, like it or not.
Perhaps women need to learn to take better care of themselves and allow themselves to let things go when they are sick and focus on getting well too.
It would be wonderful and ideal if some men could stop thinking of us as "superwomen" and realize that we really need and would really appreciate a bit of coddling and extra TLC when we are sick as well.
Although this apparently is already the case in your household, Cary, unfortunately, I don't think it is the case in all households. It would be nice if there were more men who think like you do.
All I need when I'm sick is a bottle of Jamison's and some nuclear-level Kung Pao Chicken.
And maybe a woman to provide those two things. Then I will suffer in polite silence.
i like to take care of my boyfriend when hes sick because he likes to cuddle and stuff...
This would not be annoying if the TLC was a two-way street. But while men are babies and demand constant attention when they are sick, when WE are sick they go out golfing.
I don't think you can tar all men with the same brush regarding illness etc and why they are such babies really. I know men who have a cold and they act like it is a full blown flu virus, and i also know some who don't make that much fuss at all. Some people can cope with illness better than others i have found, a friend of mine a woman had a tooth removed once by her dentist and you would have thought she had a major operation it was the topic of conversation for weeks after, of course it isn't nice to have teeth out but it is not the end of the world. Maybe woman can stand pain and illness more than man althought i read an article in a magazine on pain mangement recently and the findings were woman feel pain more than men. Perhaps because women have periods etc they get more used to pain and can tolerate it more i don't really know. But at the end of the day no-one really likes illness and pain i wouldn't have thought.
ok, yes it is nice to be taken care of when sick... not that I would know since leaving my moms when I was 18!! My husband acts as though he can't work or change a diaper or anything is his nose is running!! Seriously?? I have to maintain the troops or the ship sinks if I am sick!!