Married with Children

A large number of gentlemen finding this subreddit have the same story:

"I was alpha before I got married, then something, something, something, and now I am beta. How do I correct this?"

For many of these men, attaining a bride was the goal. In their view, they achieved that goal, so why should they put in any extra work?

Thus a trend began: These men then started to defer to their spouse on increasing occasions. They would not go out of the house without the approval of their wife. They wound not make decisions on what to eat for dinner, or where to spend their money. They were no longer the men their partners married. Instead, they were a burden on their spouses. They feared disapproval and desperately craved validation from their loved ones. In essence, their wife became a substitute for their mother.

After months, years, or decades of this, dissatisfaction set in. Looking for an answer to their calamity, the clueless men stumbled into this subreddit and asked: "Why has my wife forsaken me? Why will she not make love with me?"

For these men, the answer is simple: You have become your wife's adopted child, and women are not sexually attracted to their children.

So, when a man finds this subreddit and begins reflecting on himself and his relationship with his spouse, an important question to he should ask is whether his spouse is: "Married, with children" or "Married with children." The comma makes a difference here. A woman has no desire to be married to her child.

For instance, consider the following:

• Does your spouse need to cook for you? If so, is it because of her desire to please you, or are you, just like your children, simply another mouth to feed?

• Does your spouse need to clean up after you, just as she does with your children? Have you become another chore for her to complete?

• Do you waste your days playing video games, watching television, or engaging in otherwise childish behavior?

• How about when you go out. Do you need permission? Do you feel like you need to check in if you're going to be late?

If "yes" was the answer to above questions, take heed. You are needy. You have not "made it." Marriage was not the goal line, it was just a hurdle to surpass. Rather than gloriously leaping over this hurdle, you have collapsed upon it, and are now a pitiful figure writhing in pain on the race track. For you have given up the one thing that your spouse initially found attractive in you: your independence.

Become the independent man you used to be. Stand on your own two feet and do not remain reliant on your wife. Grow up and never look back on the man-child you were.