There are so many stereotypes in marriage. Probably the worst one is that the man goes out and works and the woman stays home, gets pregnant, takes care of the kids, cooks, cleans and pleases her husband when he demands it. Well, if ever there was a bigger load of bunk in this world. The truth is, especially in today's marriages, those days, if they ever existed, are long gone. It's a new world with new rules. And if you want your marriage to succeed you better get used to those rules, guys and gals. Otherwise, you're going to be standing in front of a divorce judge before you can say Bob's your uncle.

For starters, because of the state of today's economy, women really can't afford to stay home anymore unless her husband has a really incredible job. That is a very small percentage of the population. The reality is that most families these days are two income families. Get used to it. Things are not likely to change soon.

So what exactly does that mean? Well, for one thing, it means the woman doesn't get to lounge around at home anymore doing those fun things like cleaning and laundry. When 6 PM rolls around, most likely both she and her husband are coming home from work. Things that normally got done around the house while the husband was at work aren't done anymore. It's a whole new world, which means there are new rules. At least there should be.

What new rules you ask?

Let's start with doing the dishes after your wife makes a hot meal. Maybe it's time you guys starting helping out. Maybe share the chore. Wife washes, husband dries. Maybe alternate. For that matter, why not have your husband cook for you once in a while? Okay, if he's a lousy cook scratch that idea.

Laundry. Unless your husband is color blind, which many men are, there is no reason why he can't do the laundry once in a while. It might do him some good to learn things like that.

Speaking of learning, usually in a home, either the husband or the wife pays the bills every month. It may not be such a bad idea if both of you learned how to do this if for no other reason than if God forbid something happens to one of you, you don't have to worry about PSE&G turning off your power or GM repossessing your vehicle.

The truth is, when it comes to doing just about anything that requires some kind of skill, it really is a good idea for both the husband and wife to know how to do them. Nobody knows about life and death or even illness. A debilitating illness like MS or Alzheimer's can make it so that one of the partners is no longer able to function. When that happens, the other is left to do everything. If they've had no practice doing the various chores around the house, this can be a real culture shock as well as a terrible hardship.

So do yourself a favor guys. Learn how to take out the trash.

It's not that hard.