Dear baby boomers, your jokes are one of the reasons I’m not married yet

The negative jokes about married life commonly thrown around by long term married baby boomers are quite frankly, depressing and uninspiring

Humour is a major part of culture and bonding. I get that. But the day in, day out, same old negative jokes about married life commonly thrown around by long term married baby boomers are quite frankly, depressing and uninspiring.

Are the jokes serious? Should I take them as thinly veiled advice?

I honestly can't tell! And it never seems appropriate to ask!

Here’s what I've learnt about married life from the baby boomer generation…

1. On Marriage - “The old ball and chain”

At a work function one night a colleague told me he was so happy to be there — “Yeah I got a leave pass”. Another colleague at the table laughed, “oh my husband just sits on the couch, he never wants to go anywhere”. Why is it that after being married a long time these are the kind of things we say?

The amount of times I've heard a baby boomer male joke about listening to “only 10% of what my wife says”, like it is the funniest joke in the history of mankind! I hear this joke so often! It must be some secret married couple ‘in‘ joke?

I remember wondering why a couple I knew stayed together seeming so miserable with nothing positive to say about the relationship. Once I asked them, and they simply laughed at me and said “what are you talking about, of course we are happy!”. 😣 I’m so confused!

Those experienced in marriage are not sharing good messages.

Strike 1.

2. On Sex — “We don’t have sex anymore”

“Haha we haven't had sex in a years”, they joke. “Maybe if she/he is lucky on her/his birthday”. What is with all the jokes about not having sex? It’s so off putting (on a number of levels).

Strike 2.

3. On Child Rearing — “You never pick up the kids”

I recently heard another colleague say “If she doesn't pick up the kids, I'd probably forget”. What is it with the jokes about being a bad parent? This is almost the most scary of all the jokes. A marriage is touted as the best structure under which to have children, but all I hear is complaints about child rearing!

Strike 3.

That’s a Strikeout…

I don't know about you fellow Gen Y/X, but I've been listening to my elders, and what I hear from Baby Boomers is not at all encouraging! I normally try to follow the “no complaining without proposing a solution” rule, but I have to admit I am stuck to work this out. Sorry if you though this was an advice post 😉. It’s more a request for advice!

Are these jokes a covert warning? Can someone let me know soon? Else I'll probably cave to societal pressure… and in 10 years time be back here writing to you about how I managed to score a “leave pass”…