Men's hearing deteriorates with age (or so they say)

My husband, who is in his 50's likes to constantantly tell me that he is deaf in his right ear. Hearing things like; you need to take out the garbage, did you mail that bill, did you feed the dog he tells me are sometimes difficult for him. He had me going for a short while , until I mentioned something about a vacation destination (on the phone with one of my friends) and he suddenly could hear every word. Or, if I say something under my breath about his lack of help, he can hear that too. It is NOT hearing loss, it is selective hearing. Every man I know has some version of it. In fact, some are known to hear something completely different than what youn said.

Let's go back in time and test my theory. Starting at birth, men's selective hearing gets its start. Their mother says no, they act as if she never said it, in fact they might even have thought she said yes. Grade school: how many times do you hear, "I didn't hear you say that.." or, "you never said I couldn't" Teen years, you might as well not talk at all, because they don't hear a word...Then marriage, the hearing gets even more selective, until, they claim it's hearing loss...

My way around this is to always sprinkle in some talking points you know they will hear so you can help them recall the conversation when they said you didn't say that, or if they can't remember the conversation ( which in my case happens a lot). For example, if it's something timely my husband needs to do (like fed the dog) I will mention some NASCAR event was on the news, so he heads toward the laptop in the dining room, and has to pass the dogs dish. Because you know, the longer the time passes, and he doesn't get the job dones, the less likely it is it will actually be done!

There are days I am not proud of my manipulations, but if it's the only way to get them to do it, then so be it.

And, unless he can really prove he has hearing loss, don't ever believe it.