That response is usually preceded by a discussion of your little girl and proceeds to further glowing reports of the little darling. That is a good thing. But that should not be the only context which leads you to say this. For a variety of reasons, you should also respond in a similar fashion when the topic of discussion is your wife.
On TV shows, especially, it is made to be funny and almost expected to speak negatively about your wife and degrade her and her abilities as much as possible. This is a terrible mistake. She is your life partner and the one who expects you to protect her and be her champion. Why, then, would you, figuratively, drag her through the mud, and make her the butt of the jokes? Would you have done that to your mother? Your kids? Yourself? You should be treating the woman you committed your life to with the utmost respect – especially in the presence of other men. That is true love. That is what she deserves. Look into her eyes again as you did when you first married her and tell her what you said about her. Words can be very damaging. I am sure you wouldn’t want your wife embellishing your character flaws and spouting them off to her girlfriends.
You also don’t want a negative view of your wife getting back to your children. That is a huge fathering mistake that is very difficult to correct. Kids are perceptive and can see this as a marriage in trouble. They are also highly reactionary and may perceive this as the preliminaries to a divorce, even if that is the last thing on your mind. They will become unnecessarily stressed and could then exhibit behaviours such as acting out negatively, or withdrawing. The worst part is that it would all be for nothing! Are you willing to cheapen your wife’s reputation and potentially cause emotional harm to your children and wife? Is a cheap laugh that important? You might want to be known as the funny guy who always has a denigrating one-liner about his wife, just to make people laugh, but I think I would rather be known as the lucky guy who has a wife who is seemingly flawless, caring, understanding, giving and loving. Hey wait…I am that guy – others should know it, too!
On TV shows, especially, it is made to be funny and almost expected to speak negatively about your wife and degrade her and her abilities as much as possible. This is a terrible mistake. She is your life partner and the one who expects you to protect her and be her champion. Why, then, would you, figuratively, drag her through the mud, and make her the butt of the jokes? Would you have done that to your mother? Your kids? Yourself? You should be treating the woman you committed your life to with the utmost respect – especially in the presence of other men. That is true love. That is what she deserves. Look into her eyes again as you did when you first married her and tell her what you said about her. Words can be very damaging. I am sure you wouldn’t want your wife embellishing your character flaws and spouting them off to her girlfriends.
You also don’t want a negative view of your wife getting back to your children. That is a huge fathering mistake that is very difficult to correct. Kids are perceptive and can see this as a marriage in trouble. They are also highly reactionary and may perceive this as the preliminaries to a divorce, even if that is the last thing on your mind. They will become unnecessarily stressed and could then exhibit behaviours such as acting out negatively, or withdrawing. The worst part is that it would all be for nothing! Are you willing to cheapen your wife’s reputation and potentially cause emotional harm to your children and wife? Is a cheap laugh that important? You might want to be known as the funny guy who always has a denigrating one-liner about his wife, just to make people laugh, but I think I would rather be known as the lucky guy who has a wife who is seemingly flawless, caring, understanding, giving and loving. Hey wait…I am that guy – others should know it, too!