At a recent family gathering, my younger sister asked me for help. She and her husband have been trying to conceive a child but have been unsuccessful. After going to a fertility doctor, they got the recommendation for her husband to switch from briefs to boxer shorts.
She said it took some effort to convince her husband to follow the doctor's recommendation. After getting the doctor's recommendation, her husband started wearing boxer shorts all the time. However, after two or three days he suddenly told her that he thinks the doctor was a "quack". This was only after two or three days of wearing boxer shorts. He even told her he liked the "cool breeze" and helped pick out this doctor. She got mad saying he knows him and that is not him talking. She thinks he's hiding his true reason(s). Therefore, he said he will wear the boxer shorts for her but only under certain conditions.
Her husband is sort of wearing boxer shorts but only in 2 situations. The first situation is the hours between coming home from work and before leaving home to go back to work. The second situation is he will only wear boxer shorts outside the home if he is wearing jeans.
She doesn't know what to do. The doctor recommended him to wear boxer shorts completely not in just these odd situations. She has asked me to help to talk to her husband to convince him to switch to boxer shorts all time. Since she is my little sister and I'm the big brother, I agreed to help.
Now, I need help on how to plan out the conversation with her husband. I'm not a total stranger to him but I'm also not close friends with him. We're more like acquaintances. He's 24 and I'm 25 so we both come from the same generation and have topics in common to talk about.
Some of the issues I'm having trouble with the upcoming conversation are the following:
How should I approach the subject without embarrassing him or making him go on the defensive? I can't just say "My sister told me you can't have a baby until you switch to boxer shorts. Please switch to boxer shorts." His low sperm count might be embarrassing. Also, it sounds like he partially switched to boxer shorts.
How do I convince him to completely switch to boxer shorts? I can't figure out why he doesn't want to switch to boxer shorts all the time. I guess I'm at a disadvantage here. My parents started me off with boxer shorts as underwear and I have never worn any other type of underwear. I don't see any issues switching from briefs to boxer shorts. Maybe, because I didn't switch from briefs to boxer shorts that I have not experienced what he's going through. It's really hard for me to put myself in his shoes.
If I can figure out why he doesn't want to wear boxer shorts all the time then I can plan out my bullet points carefully.
I want to make an honest effort to help my sister. I want to have a niece or nephew. Even though I might not be successful at convincing him I want to be able to at least tell her "I tried."