If anyone has not watched 'Married with Children' I humbly suggest you get the dvds and watch it or catch the re-runs.

Al Bundy was an all-round winner in high school. Football star, four touchdowns in one game, he was very popular and could possibly go pro. Then one of his plates gets pregnant, he marries her (shotgun wedding) and he takes a job as a shoe salesman "for the summer."

Twenty years later, he is still a shoe salesman, his wife is terrible. He got betafied. If only he had held on to his dream, he may have been a millionaire NFL player.

However, some alpha traits still remain. He is the leader of a gang of losers and is the only one to stand up to his feminist neighbor Marcy. Marcy's first and second husbands are classic betas. They and the rest of Al's gang depend on Al's leadership to do stuff that allow them small enjoyments such as going to the nudie bar and drink beer.

Married with children became the most remade and syndicated show in history because it touched a deep nerve. That the rise of men with great potential getting arrested by marriage would be identified by so global an audience must have been quite a surprise.

My own experience is that marriage changes quite a few things and a man loses a lot of his independence, which is the true source of his power. There are certain things you need to do simply because they are practical even if they are not alpha behavior. One of the big changes is that your wife will eventually control most of the spending. Its because she sees it as her job. Your job is to earn, hers is to spend. To avoid freaking out and losing frame when she starts spending, its important to set expectations and boundaries early. For example, she can buy anything under $200, but anything more needs approval or give her spending allowance and let her buy stuff for herself from what she saves there. Women have a tendency to accumulate loads of stuff and try as you may, you won't be able to stop the potpourrie and other crap from infesting your home.

However, marriage itself is very small impact compared to the impact of having children. When the wife calls and says get milk or baby-food on the way home, its next to impossible to say no. Bit by bit, you turn yourself into your wife's errand boy and unless you shift the balance back within the first year of your child's life, you will find yourself totally betafied. I think this is one of the reasons couples stop having sex after kids.

Children however, are truly the redeeming feature of marriage. There is no joy greater than a child's love for dad. I postponed having kids for 10 years after being married because I didnt want any. But as you age, if you have a legacy to pass on, you need a child. And if you are an accomplished alpha male, you do have a legacy by definition. I don't mean just pass your DNA, which is quite easy, but passing on your knowledge and experiences, values and beliefs. You could possibly take on mentoring to address this, but its not quite the same.