My Husband Treats Me Like a 2-Year-Old & I’m Weirdly Into It – ryan

At first I thought it was kind of cringy, then it became funny and now I am fully committed to bending space and time on a daily basis in my relationship. Why? Well, it’s not that hard to understand, really: I’m being nurtured. My needs are being put first the way a child’s needs should be…and that’s not something I ever really experienced in my childhood, let alone in any romantic relationship. It’s awesome. If I groan when the kids wake up earlier than usual, S tells me he’ll get up instead because “two-and-a-half-year-olds need more sleep anyway.” When I get up to do the dishes, S beats me to it and says “don’t be silly, you’re too short to reach the sink.” I don’t know any working mother who wouldn’t enjoy that kind of treatment.

I’m not telling this story to humble brag about my partner though; he has his shortcomings like anyone. I’m telling this story because I don’t think you need to have lost a parent at the age of two to feel like something was missing from your childhood. Almost everyone I know has some mixed feelings about their childhood and what they did or didn’t get from their parents. For many people, it’s what they end up talking about in therapy.

For me, receiving that kind of nurturing from S creates a really safe space. I’m not as high-strung or, well, downright angry as I used to be before S breathed some life into Baby Emma. I still pull my weight when it comes to adult responsibilities, but I have a partner who cuts me all the slack I want, whenever I want it.