When I recently went to see my pregnant sister Lily, I was shocked by how badly her husband Mark was treating her. She did everything he asked of her while he sat on the couch and played video games. He seemed to think she was his personal maid. I knew I had to step in, but I wanted to do it in a way that would help Mark see what he was doing wrong.
Mark and I made a bet that he couldn’t do all the jobs around the house that Lily usually did in one day. I made the deal more appealing by offering to be his maid for life if he succeeded. Mark agreed to the bet because he was sure of his skills.
My secret plan to help him understand the hard parts of being pregnant was something he didn’t know. I asked Lily to help me make a “pregnancy simulator” out of a watermelon wrapped in plastic wrap to look like a big belly. Before he started doing jobs around the house with the watermelon on his stomach, Mark wasn’t sure if it would work. He quickly learnt that it wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Mark had a hard time doing even the easiest things as the day went on. The weight of the watermelon made him stumble and stagger, and his anger grew with each minute that went by. Lily and I found it funny to see Mark’s cockiness slowly go down.
Mark was tired and ashamed by the end of the day. He told Lily he was sorry for what he did and promised to be more kind and helpful in the future. He kept his word, which is good. He became Lily’s loyal partner and helped her with housework and took care of her while she got ready to be a mum.
Mark was with Lily when she went into labour a few days later. He held her hand and helped her through the contractions. He had changed, and I was proud of him for having learnt something so important.
As I was getting ready to leave, Lily thanks me for stepping in in a strange way. She said I saved their marriage and gave their daughter a father who would always love and care for her. That made me smile because I knew that sometimes all it takes to bring people together is a little imagination and understanding.
