Ulcer-causing spouses

They call it the Retired Husband Syndrome (RHS). No, it's not a joke. The syndrome was first identified by Japanese psychiatrist Dr Nobuo Kurokawa.

Apparently, more than half of women in Japan literally fall sick from having to hang out with their retired husbands. I read about one poor woman who developed stomach ulcers, slurred speech and rashes when her husband retired from a high-flying position, and began using the same bossy attitude at home. Seriously.

It's something I can identify with.

While the Japanese aunties suffer from RHS, I get the School Holiday Blues Synrome in March, June, Sept and then Nov/Dec - when the teacher-husband gets his long breaks from school.

While I don't get stomach ulcers (hopefully not, since I won't really know for sure unless I go for a checkup) or rashes, I get frazzled - from the extra mess lying around - and maybe a sore throat or two. That's probably due to the more frequent shouting matches.

The Mon-to-Fri routine that Jubi and I had stuck to for ages would be thrown off-track. And after you finally tuck the talkative wee one into bed, you can't get down to your ever-growing but never shrinking pile of stories/ household chores without being 1. distracted (hey, make me a cup of coffee) or 2. annoyed (why are you always checking your email/ doing other things instead of accompanying me?).

Of course I get along with the spouse - we had dated for donkey years prior to getting hitched. But the thing is that many men I know remain the same, do the same thing year after year, while women evolve to juggle more roles and responsibilities - look after baby, please husband, juggle career, please boss, handle the household chores, oh, and at the same time, look good while doing all those stuff, as most husbands would request.

On a cheerier note - thank goodness for me the school holidays don't last forever.