My Guilty Pleasure – Wife Swap

The Lifetime television network runs weekday Wife Swap episodes and I really enjoy watching that show. There’s something very interesting to see how other families live and how the wives interact with their new families. Who knows how much of it is skewed by the magic of editing, but there are some things that can’t be skewed.

There was a show on the other day where the new wife reprimanded the husband of a family because he was putting in a minimum of 40 hours a week at his job. Part of her new rules was for him to work overtime. The dad came home from work after the kids were already asleep and it hurt him deeply. He missed not being there to say good night.

I teared up at that point. I’ve been there. At the time we didn’t have much of a choice due to our financial situation. Even though my working hours are different now and I do get a hug and a kiss good night from our son every night – I still find myself telling our sleeping son good night when I go to bed…just like I did way back when.

Priorities. I think that is the root of most of the drama on the show. It’s also one thing that seems to change the most with many of the families after the swap. The experience opens their eyes, and I love watching the end when the cameras come back to visit the families a few weeks after the swap.

I think because we have gone through a priorities shift in our family (thanks to our debt reduction journey) – I enjoy watching others go through it as well. It also doesn’t hurt that they sometimes have some great frugal families on there

Posted by Tricia on March 23, 2009 at 12:17 AM in Life Experiences | 4 Comments »
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A responded:
Posted: March 23rd, 2009 at 11:11 am
OMG i LOVE wife swap! When I discovered the re-runs on Lifetime, oh happy day!
Evan Powell responded:
Posted: March 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I never heard of that show, I’ll have to check it out, thanks!

BTW: I don’t have children (yet) but if I did it would be a priority of mine to say goodnight to them every single night. My parents always did that for me and each of my siblings and would like to think it is one of the added benefits of family.
Prince Of Thrift responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 7:40 am
OMG! what a horrible mom! why would she impose such a rule on her new family. I would hate to see how dysfunctional her own family must be.
Gilby responded:
Posted: March 27th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I love how the show addresses the misconception of the perfect American family–and every participant’s view of perfection is a little different. Every family has room to grow, change, and improve.