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1950's homemaking tips
Published Jul. 21, 2008
After reading the restrictions on teachers in Sacramento in 1915, I thought I'd dig through an old email for another trip down memory lane.
This still applies... Right?
Have dinner ready: Plan ahead even the night before to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-wary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
Clear away the clutter: Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.
Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
Minimize all noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him. Some don’ts: Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.
Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax-unwind.
Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.
The goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Jeannie C. Riley - HARPER VALLEY PTA
also found: http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/TEXTBOOK.HTM
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Martha Stewart had that style about her, as she came in from the flower garden with a gathering of flowers for the dinner table and she would think to pluck a few leaf petals to season supper with as she came up the steps to the house.
That 'southern lady' air would sweep me off my feet, as if the heat and dirt road dust didn't exist to such a fine lady in her just-so pressed cotton clothes.
I'd say, if one of us isn't treating our lover like gold, then why not? We are not going to be treated better than we treat them, maybe worse, but not better.
GOLO member since January 20, 2008
July 21, 2008 7:56 p.m.
GOLO member since August 2, 2007
July 21, 2008 6:16 p.m.
You make a person feel at home when they enter your house, even if you hardly know them, so why not do it for the wife or hubby?
You quickly learn YOUR place in someone's priorities of life and how much they value YOU by the way you greet them and bid them farewell.
Imagine coming into the house, TV going, your lover on the phone talking, and they don't get up to greet you with a warm hug and wet kiss, and then imagine how it was the first months of your romance, and you will realize what has been lost in your relationship. This isn't about men, or women, but about a loving couple.
Can you remember the first time your lover didn't go to the door with you and see you off?
Do you remember the first time your lover stayed up and let you go to bed alone?
What kind of lover are you NOW
GOLO member since January 20, 2008
July 21, 2008 6:16 p.m.
GOLO member since August 2, 2007
July 21, 2008 6:06 p.m.
July 21, 2008 5:40 p.m.
I hope to be submissive to my husband, yet he asks my opinion on the decisions he makes. He is then responsible for those decisions and their consequences- good or bad. But believe me, it's against my nature to be submissive. But it prevents a lot of clashes when I do. Also, believe me, I give my opinion, but then my husband makes the decision he thinks is best for our family. It's a very freeing position to be in- for me!!
I know I'd much rather submit to my husband than to my employer. And my husband doesn't ask for or demand submission, either...or else it wouldn't be submission, it would be dominance.
It's a hard concept to explain to those who don't get how a strong marriage functions. We do have our issues, but we are both very happy and very comfortable in our various "jobs". I wouldn't change a thing!! (Except maybe that bad attitude of mine every now and then!!)
July 21, 2008 5:38 p.m.
GOLO member since November 2, 2007
July 21, 2008 5:38 p.m.
The part that ticks me off is "make yourself presentable for your husband". So if I spend all day cleaning up, cooking his dinner and taking his shoes off- THEN I have to worry about getting all dolled up to watch him sit around and watch tv all night? No thanks. He ought to know that running a household is a dirty job sometimes.
GOLO member since July 8, 2008
July 21, 2008 5:31 p.m.
Non Politically Correct....every man's dream !!!!
July 21, 2008 5:13 p.m.
I see no scenario where I have the smallest degree of authority to dictate anything to my wife. She's entirely an equal in every sense of that word.
I just meant that I don't think I could ever have any respect for a woman who acquiesced to or accepted me telling her what to do. No way I could ever accept that or want it to be the norm.
GOLO member since July 4, 2008
July 21, 2008 5:05 p.m.
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