Is your husband your child or your partner?

I received an email recently from wife and mother who’d heard about my new book, "The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men & Marriage," which helps women who are used to being in charge learn how to be better wives. Here’s what she had to say:

“I must confess you have described not only me but many women I interact with on a daily basis. I think as teachers we easily fall into this trap after hours of controlling a classroom. A memorable quote from my husband early on was, ‘Don’t talk to me like I’m one of your students.’”

It’s an all-too-common scenario that we rarely talk about. Many women, once they have children, go into mother mode and don’t come out. Somewhere along the line, they stop being, well, a wife, and start mothering their husbands instead.

It’s not usually intentional—sometimes it’s learned behavior: they’re mimicking what their own mothers did—but it’s never a good thing. Men hate to be told what to do. In fact, a man’s reaction to being told what to do by his wife is to do the exact opposite.

If that sounds childish, you’re right. It is. But if you stop mothering your husband, he’ll stop responding like a child.

Here are 3 tips to help you move out of mother mode and into wife