kqutob

Excuse me if I'm going out of line, but I feel an important factor in the enjoyment of our favorite hobby is our wives' attitude towards it, and I feel this issue has long been neglected and deserves some close examinationon in this forum.
Observing some of my fellow fliers and how painfully they spend days and weeks preparing their wives for the next project. Or how their cellulars never stop ringing in the field with their interrogating spouses demanding their early return home? Should we be made to feel guilty for every dollar we spend on the hobby and the noise of our dremel and the stains on our pants???
Some and probably most of us who are married have supporting and understanding wives. Others may not be so lucky. I wish both can contribute and try to learn how to make things easier for our spouses and more enjoyable for us.
On the other hand if you feel this is not an appropriate matter for discussion I shall gladly delete this post.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

My wife sees the value of this hobby in my more relaxed attitude in streeful situations. She also see that I have something other than the TV sports to occupy my time. She thinks it is a good thing and we are in a time in our lives where we can afford this expensive hobby!

Irish R.Seer

My Feedback: (1)

I have been blessed with a very understanding wife, and she is very supportive of my hobby. We live in a small home and one bedroom, which she calls "the Hangar", is completely full of various models,engines, lights that flash 24 hours every day. And if thats not bad enough, the dining room has a 1/4 scale WW1 bipe. filling most of the space. She says she knows were I am when I'm working on my models. Every one should be so lucky.
Bill

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

Whaddaya mean? The reason I go to the field is to meet chicks!

Divorced Dave

DamonTX

My wife gleefully approves any of my funding requests for my addiction. She even encourages me to spend as much time as I need working on my planes and even offers suggestions for my next project. This is because she is smarter than she looks. She knows that for every penny I spend on airplanes, she can wiggle twice as much out of our account for shoes, makeup, clothes, redecorating.....shoes..... I must say, marriage is a very inefficient thing sometimes!!!!

nedyob

My Feedback: (67)

My wife is okay with my hobby addiction. I've been in Law Enforcement for almost 24 yrs now and she knows my hobby is a stress re liver. I usually have no problems discussing with her what I want to buy. I just bought RF G3 and she was okay with it. Since winter is just about here she knows I will be spending time building and flying on my Sim this winter.
The only time she gets get up tight is when my club has a flying event and I am unable to fly because Im usually helping out to keep the event going.
I've been flying RC for about 15 yrs. now and when I met my wife she was fully aware of my hobby and has been very supportive.
NEDYOB

msu68stang

My Feedback: (7)

My wife is great about all this. She has been the sole sponsor of a couple of my planes. She doesn't complain about the time spent at the field, building, noise from the dremel or the sanding (until the cat is covered in saw dust). The only thing she every complains about is when I get ca and expoy on my clothes. Dang stuff is just attracted to it.

IowaSilvia

My Feedback: (97)

I'm young 25yrs old and my wife "says" she doesn't care about how much time I spend in the garage working on my planes. But she makes me feel guilty, because she always comes out to the garage 20 min. after I start and say "what are you doing". I get really sick of it all the time. Because it's the same answer. "workin on my plane". But I have to say it is about the only thing I can do to relax me and have some time to myself. Most of the time my hobby supports itself financially. I'll buy a plane and then sell another one for the same cost. I got into the hobby cheap by buying some guys stash and a lot of the stuff I didn't need and sold for way more than what I bought his whole stash for. But there are times when I'll dump quite a bit into a plane. But I think she knows that if she said get rid of the planes, she would be getting rid of me. I guess I'm a package deal. She didn't know when we got married that I like rc planes this much, because I had never flown before. But I had a trainer all put together from when I was 12 yrs old. And I forgot how much fun it was to build and now fly them........ yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa......

Broken

Just get a couple more- Than they can keep each other company.....[:-][:-]

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Every woman (or man for that matter) is different, but I've lived with a few of them, so I can give you some insight as to how many of them work.

Some realize just how important your hobby is, and for those that don't, the good news is that they can learn it over time. But they can't learn unless they are taught. If all you do is get angry when they ask you to spend time with them, they will just feel unwanted. So you must use DIPLOMACY.

di·plo·ma·cy n. (dì-plô' mÃ*-sê): The art of saying "Nice Doggy" until you can find a rock.

I know that sounds terribly chauvanistic, and I'm not saying ALL women think like this, but face it - many do! A woman will only tell you something outright as a last resort. Usually, they will resort to deversionary tactics - So you must do the same and fight fire with fire.

here are a few tips. You can try whichever you think may work best.

Try putting you hobby aside for a while (I know, you're thinking "NO WAY!" but hear me out) Ask her what SHE would like to do (Hobby wise) find something she really enjoys -Scrap Booking - Floral Arrangement - etc. Then bug the living hell out of her with it: "Look honey, if we put this picture with the black border (instead of the white border SHE chose) it brings out the trees" - or - "I think we need more pictures of when your Aunt Gertie Got drunk at our wedding".

In no time, she'll be telling you to go play with your airplanes.

-------------- Or -------------

Help out around the house. But do it BADLY. Break a dish here and there, or bang into the furniture with the vacuum cleaner.

In no time, she'll be telling you to go play with your airplanes.

-------------- Or -------------

Just tell her, "Before we met, I had ONE airplane and MANY women. Now I have one WOMAN and many AIRPLANES. Which way do you prefer?"

BTW, This is not to mean that anyone should mistreat their relationship. I am all for treating my wife like a queen. I just refuse to be treated like a peasent in return.

bigchap

mine's a bit strange on this one,she is normally with me when i get a new plane,she will pay for it out of her own money 90% of the time,she is cool about me building in the house but,and this is the strange bit,when i want to go and fly on the rare occasions it's good weather in this country she goes absolutely mental!what the heck is going on in her head?i just ignore it and go flying but i'll never understand it!

Broken

My solution was simple- build a hobby-room or as i call it my "hobby-lounge" that we can share even if I am the only one doing something we are still spending time "together"..

Plus every-so-often she brings in some "thing" that is perfect for rc hobbies. I have stolen all kinds of little gizmos that assist in my model building from her...

Magic_man

My wife likes me being in this hobby for a few reasons. First of all I play in a band as one of my hobbies. She is ok with it but it keeps me away at night on the weekends. I am rebuilding a 1968 Impala in our garage and that takes a lot of money and time and I get dirty. So when I started flying planes she found out that she got to go places. She enjoys going out of town to stay overnight for flt-ins, swap meets and that sort of thing. So I would have to say out of my many hobbies (several I did not mention) this is her favorite. Heck she even buys me planes and tells me that I really should get that bigger engine![8D]

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

hehehe!

Quote:
"Just tell her, "Before we met, I had ONE airplane and MANY women. Now I have one WOMAN and many AIRPLANES. Which way do you prefer?"

I LOVE that one!!!!!! Can't wait to try it out!

Seriously, I have a great & loving wife. She supports my hobby(addiction), buys the occasional plane or parts, allows me to spend hours doing what I love to do. But, sometimes I have a tendency to spend TOO much time (???!?!) on my planes, and she doesn't hesitate to put the "brakes" on. The key is communication ( [:'(] ). Explain what, where, why, when, and if asked, how. But understand that part of that is listening to her too! It's a two-way street.

I don't think I could handle more than one, I have my hands full as it is.....

DrDeath

My Feedback: (3)

This is an interesting one. My wife (love her dearly) has been for the most part very supportive. She has banned me from flying full scale due to some deaths of friends in private planes (two different accidents), so she is pretty supportive of my hobby. She was extremely supportive when she said "You need to fix up that garage as a workshop". She figured since I spend time out there relaxing that it should be a healthy place to work (water had stained the walls, check out my website for before and after). I spent enough money on fixing up the garage to by a 27% plane fully decked out with engine, servos etc. Just like most women she is hot and cold on me flying. For the most part she will setup the weekend schedules with the kid so I can fly. To quote "Can you go fly your planes today or is it too windy" or "it is a nice day to fly, hope you enjoy". Now, that isn't to say that on her cold days I don't get the "Are you going to fly your planes again today? You just went yesterday". But for the most part she is very very agreeable, though she would rather me go play golf (exercise thing). But, spend $40 - $70 dollars on a round of golf or fly my gasser for a little over $2.00, easy choice.

Since we both take allowance out every week, our money is our money. She says, "go buy a plane, it is your money" or "Since we were on vacation I went to the SPA, why don't you buy a plane when we get home so it is fair". All I can say is that 9 times out of 10 she supports the hobby fully. She knows how the workshop is a relaxing place for me. And at least I am at home and not running the streets.

Lee

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

And if all else fails, remember:

The reason a Divorce is so expensive is that they are WORTH IT!

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

Mike, you are BAD!

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Here's my two cents. For background, I have been married only a little over a month, but we started dating nine years ago, and we moved in together five years ago (hey, what can I say--I didn't want to jump into anything). I think we have a very fair and understanding relationship. I have been around planes since I was tall enough to ride right seat in a Cessna 182 sitting on a stack of phone books, and my wife knows aviation is a part of me she'll always have to deal with (I just keep telling her she's lucky I haven't continued my full-scale training past ground school). She sees modelling as something that costs less than a pack-a-day smoking habit, keeps me out of the bars and away from the TV, and even has some educational value. Things just need to be kept in perspective. Do I spend too much time with planes and too little with her once in a while? Yes. Do I catch hell for it? Yes. But, I deserve it on the rare occasion it happens, and I know it. By and large, we both appreciate that the other has constructive interests that pass the time and reinforce our individuality. I try to encourage her interests in photography, cooking, scrapbooking, etc, and offer to spend time participating in said activities, and in turn she visits hobby shops with me, often encouraging me to buy a new kit or at least pointing out which ones she wouldn't mind me buying. How can you go wrong with a woman who buys you a saito for Christmas after seeing you drooling over it? I'll do whatever's necessary to keep her happy with my hobby, thank you very much.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

Quote:
"She sees modelling as something that costs less than a pack-a-day smoking habit,"

[X(]!!!!!!
Holy Smokes! I gotta cut back!(on the planes)




Naw....

IowaSilvia

My Feedback: (97)

Boy. I wish my wife would buy me a Saito for XMAS. I don't think my wife even knows what a saito is!!! Just the other day she was griping that i'm the hardest to buy for cuz everything she gets me I don't like and take back. Here is what I got for xmas last yr. $180 digital camera??? $60 7 ton Jack for trucks and suv's (we don't own either one) and god knows how much she spent on a Black wool dress coat. Go figure. I took everything back except for the wool coat because I didn't have an excuse to take that back (we lived in iowa and it's cold there). And I took the money and bought a somethin extra kit, engine and new radio. I don't get her some days. It would really really be nice to get an envelope with a nice gift certificate to the local hobby shop and I can pick up a cool kit or engine that's needed somewhere............phew. and that's easy..................

Mike you are kinda harsh on the Divorce thing, BUT you are right and still wonder why I got married in the first place. ).

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Well, at what, $5 a pack these days, the 'pack of smokes' part is only true on days that I don't visit the hobby shop and buy a new kit......sshhh, don't tell her.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

amelia-air

My Feedback: (82)

A Lady can never have enough shoes !--wannnna make her happy--get her a gift certificate from the local shoe store ----Joann

IowaSilvia

My Feedback: (97)

If you quit smoking then you get to spend an extra 2 grand each yr on planes. Plus more because it's your hobby. hahahaaaaha

SilverEagleBW

My Feedback: (1)

Welp.hehe.My wife did not like any part of R/C planes,So i fired her!LMAO![X(]