Wife Swap

You've all seen this show right? The one where women trade families for 2 weeks. I can't say I watch this show religiously but I will say I am always fascinated by it. The premise behind the show is that the wives and mothers of polar opposite families switch places and alternately live the life of the displaced wife for one week and then force their new families to live life their way the 2nd week. Recently this involved the family of a child beauty pageant winner and a feminist homeschooling family. I mean polar opposites!

As contrived as this experiment some time seems in the end there is always at least one touching moment... when the military mom learns to lighten up a bit from the magician dad for example... and it really does seem like there is value in this experiment after all. Each family starts out so set and convicted in their lifestyle choice and then after catching a glimpse of the other side they ultimately recognizes their faults and change for the better...if only a little.

So what is your polar opposite family? I always try to think what ours would be... but honestly we are so extreme in so many areas it is hard to narrow down the field! How about....
"A Southern Evangelical Christian Fox News watching Republican patriarchal family with a dominant, sex crazed, husband who shouts orders to his subservient wife who obsessively cleans while their kids eat fast food take out in front of their own TVs in their bedrooms? Oh and they have guns and ride ATVs around their property WITHOUT helmets!!! (that part goes without saying though... right?) And they think breastfeeding is disgusting because boobs are a man's sexual property... and their kids aren't allowed to cry because it is weak... and they think "organic food" is a hoax."

But the show stirs up a lot of stuff for me and I always start thinking about what things people would be surprised about if they had to step in my shoes for two weeks. What things would be unbearable or a "no go"? And what things would people be shocked to find out... like that I don't do the dishes... ever! Would my life seem harder or easier? More stressful or more relaxing? You never know what someone else's shoes feel like until you are in them. What would my opposite family teach me?

Of course I would never do it since I wouldn't be willing to leave my kids for that long.