Women who can't or won't use a lawnmower!

[Bettercallsalli]

Just cut my lawns. Neighbour in her 40s commented she has asked her husband to do hers forr 3 days.
Woman up and do it yourself! What am i missing?

I can't use a move lawnmover due to my health but no you can't see my disablity.
We split things different in our household than you most likely do but it works for us.

@Bettercallsalli why are you so judgey?
Wise up.

My mum wouldn’t change a battery on a torch let alone pump tyres or mow lawns. That was always seen as my dad’s domain. I respect that’s my mum’s thing however I personally have an opposite approach. I want my DD to be self-sufficient and not rely on a man to do all these things. I am fortunate DH is a qualified tradesman in a former profession but we both get involved in the maintenance and repair of the house and gardens and teaching our DD along the way.

i know I’ve said before on this thread about late dh mowing our lawn but it just reminds me of the argument we had once about it

we hadn’t moved in yet, he had his own house about a mile away and he decided he’d mow my lawn for me and bring his own mower as mine was a bit temperamental . I’ve got a big back garden and it’s a right pain to do so I was grateful for the offer.

I left him to get in with it and pottered around the house cleaning and doing the washing. He stomps in about half an hour later in a mood, pissed off because I hadn’t made him a cup of tea, I said well why didn’t you ask or make one yourself, we had a row and then he threw all his toys out the pram, refused to do anymore, threw his mower in the back of his car, said you can’t do this lawn without me and no you’ve got a half mown lawn see ya and drive off.

so I got my own mower going, finished off the lawn, strimmed all the edges and sat there smug with a cup of tea when he turned up hours later with his mower. His face when he saw my garden 😆

late dp was a lovely man, but he did have a daft streak but we did work well together (mostly!)

I've never ever mowed the lawn. DH loves doing it. Our lawn is gassy and the mower is heavy and temperamental. He can coax it into working. I have arthritis and a sore hip. I'd never manage it. If he dies I'll pay someone to do it. I do all the cooking because I like it. We have other chores that are flexibly divided up. Works for us.

I hate using a push-along mower but I’m quite happy to practice my Grand Prix moves on the sit-on. I pay a gardener now though.

Christ how old is he? What happens if you go away for the weekend?

I mowed ours today, sometimes DH does, same with most chores (though he thinks he does more).

I do mine as my partner has no interest in the garden. It’s a tiny lawn and a light little electric mower though.

I also do all the painting and decorating in our house, and put out the bins. The only thing I don’t do is use the drill if any holes are needed once in a blue moon. He does more of the cooking.

I'm banned from cutting the grass!! Apparently I dont do it right and for some reason any time I have done it I have managed to break the mower! In the same token I am the one who does all the cooking and cleaning. Except the washing as that's got to be done at a certain time due to our electricity package. Boy does he love telling everyone he does the washing he puts it in the machine and dryer. I'm the one who folds and puts away.

I would rather bung some laundry into a washing machine and cut the grass rather than do all the cooking and cleaning.

It's weird, OP started a thread suggesting that women should be able to cut their own grass but the main thing it's exposed is the incredibly uneven divide of chores in so many houses. Personally this is far more troubling to me than whether everyone can use the lawnmower. What does it matter? Most fit and healthy people could easily learn if they can't do it now and if for whatever reason you can't physically manage it now then you'll have to get someone else to do it whatever your circumstances. Luckily you can pay people to do it

TBF I know it sounds uneven by what I have written but it's actually not. I have more spare time to deal with the house. He's the one who has to drive the kids to their numerous clubs , pick up from gaffs, concerts etc as I don't drive which can be a complete pain in the arse for him.

Do you have the same amount of free time? Do you envisage the setup changing when the kids get older and the need to drive them around diminished and yet the domestic workload will look similar?

None of us can comment on individual setups. It might well be fair but it's funny how often women get stuck doing the cleaning/cooking work which is time consuming and endless whilst men often get closed ended jobs.

i remember 20 + years ago and I was decorating, painting, the walls, i mentioned it to neighbour who was incredulous that I was doing this and not DH

dh mowed the lawn when we had a petrol mower, it was his "job", it took him the whole weekend however!
i was grateful when we moved to a house with a smaller garden.

I’ve never mowed our lawn in my life. I guess I could, but it’s a big heavy looking petrol mower and I’m not known for my strength.

Spiders in the shed

Arent you fabulous.
Why dont you offer to do hers seeing as you have time to go drinking.

I live in a house with DH and two older teenage boys. If I did every job that we've agreed each of them should do but they hadn't done it when I wanted, I would be doing everything! I don't really get why you're struggling with this concept OP. Your neighbour's DH is in charge of cutting the grass and he hasn't done it. You really think she should just roll over and do it herself?

I am sure I could cut the grass. I do all the diy including fixing the decking and most of the power tools I bought.
but if DH is procrastinating over something he agreed to do there is no way am I going to just do all the jobs. Not a chance he’s getting away with that. We have a pretty even split of chores partly because I will not back down on this.

There could be myriad reasons as to why she hasn’t cut it herself though, and here you are crowing about being wonder woman. I can’t use any equipment that causes vibrations through my wrists due to arthritis, so I definitely wouldn’t mow the lawn. If DH were away for 8 weeks at a time, I’d have to pay a gardener to do it. I can, however, clean the bathroom. My DH has almost never done this.

I never ever cut the grass. Even when my husband used to go away for work for long trips. He’d cut the grass before going away, and do it again when back. Not my department and I’d be doing a pretty bad job of it. I don’t even know how to turn the lawn mower on. If my husband can’t do it, we’d hire someone for the job. Or maybe get a couple of goats?

Yep - I agree that the OP is fabulous. She doesn't need a man to mow her lawn.

Which was basically her point. Not really sure how that makes her a misogynist as another poster claims.

We have a petrol mower with a pull-start thing - it's a matter of personal pride that I can start it. And get it out of the shed. It doesn't mean that I am judging anyone else (male or female) who does not do that.

Who would think that a post about mowing a lawn could elicit such angry and unpleasant responses?

My mother was the same, and father did everything “manual” because she showed no interest. Growing up I thought it was ridiculous so I started doing things with him to teach myself as I didn’t want to be dependent like that. He showed me how to wire a plug and change fuses, how to change a car tyre, battery and spark plugs, we decorated together, and I helped with his hobbies of photography and electronics (amateur radio, model railways, radio controlled cars etc). Now married, I can do as much as DH around the house and cars, so we work together a lot to get things done quicker and easier. We don’t have any “my job, your job” split at all. He’ll mop the floor and clean the loo and I’ll mow the grass and put the bins out - just depends on who’s doing what at the time work wise etc. It was good I learned to do things as my father died unexpectedly just after retirement and my mother was helpless so I had to step in to do all the jobs she thought was “man’s work”!!!

No shes rude smug and patronising.
Not sure why some people are supporting that.
Someone could start a thread saying why is my neighbour day drinking at 3.15 what is wrong with her.
But they didnt. Because people do differenr things that others dont like but dont get all smug and patronising.