5 (Fake) Tips From the 1950s on How to Be a Good Housewife
These tips, despite being listed suspiciously as "Fake"...these were very much the attitudes of my childhood, bar the submissiveness and knowing one's place stuff.
Just ask the "Leave it to Beaver" crowd.
Sounds like something out of the 50's but in spite of listing these tips as humor, there is a bit of common sense and a couple of things I wish my wife would take note. (nothing sexist here).
It is nice to be greeted when I get home and except for the greeting...(the dogs) I do like some quiet time and a good meal...after that, I'm ready to hear, (cringing) the disasters of the day.
Just ask the "Leave it to Beaver" crowd.
Sounds like something out of the 50's but in spite of listing these tips as humor, there is a bit of common sense and a couple of things I wish my wife would take note. (nothing sexist here).
It is nice to be greeted when I get home and except for the greeting...(the dogs) I do like some quiet time and a good meal...after that, I'm ready to hear, (cringing) the disasters of the day.
1) Greet each other with a kiss, hug, and loving look when you get home. This is far more important than hair or makeup (you've seen each other right after waking up after all!). Taking 30 seconds to enjoy a little physical contact can do much to ease the strain of the day.
2) You've both had long hard days. So sit down and enjoy a good home-cooked meal (you can't fake the secret ingredient of love) and talk over everything. Listen to your spouse - both the good and the bad. Most of the time (looking at husbands especially), your wife just wants a sympathetic ear. Then do the dishes together. (Men) You might be surprised just how romantic this gesture can be. ;)
3) "Five minute" clean-up time. This is for the children right before dinner. They get assigned some area to clean up and it has to be done before they are allowed to get up to the table. This must be a routine every day. There's no reason why those most responsible for making the messes shouldn't have to help clean them up. Even small children can help by picking up toys or emptying the dishwasher. (This also combats the entitlement mentality so prevalent in today's youth.)
4) Divide and conquer. Traditional roles and responsibilities aren't out-of-date, they're common-sense division of duties. Men take out the trash and mow the lawn and women do the laundry because it is the most efficient. Agree on who is going to be the primary for the major tasks then adjust as circumstances demand - including hiring a temp if someone gets sick.
5) Say thank you for even small things. It's a gesture not only of politeness, but recognition of what the other has done for you.
And as a bonus:
6) Learn how to say "you may be right". Arguments and disagreements will happen. This simple phrase can bring the tone of the argument back down to rational discussion by acknowledging the other person's assertions without unconditionally caving. It opens up the conversation by emphasizing that you are honestly listening and trying to see things from the other's point of view (as long as you aren't faking it) without dismissing your own opinions.
(This last one was given to me by a marriage psychologist whom my mother-in-law paid for me and my then-fiance to attend prior to our marriage. It has been an invaluable source of wisdom and marital harmony in my 20 years of marriage.)
Thank you.
I call it maintenance and oh yes love.
But even in today's "working household"...things need to be ordered and a bit of quiet, a good meal and rejuvenation is needed before we start unloading our daily experiences.
My parents mortgage was 103.00 dollars a month and my dad brought home 200.00 a week from Pratt and Whitney Aircraft.
Were we rich...by no means but food was good, local and cheap. We always had what we needed.
It was a good life.
Thats $455 that's closer to 1980 rent.
To better understand where your city — or soon-to-be city — ranks nationally, here are the averages for each factor from all 50 cities on the list: Median rent for 1-bedroom apartment: $1,234.43. Square footage of 1-bedroom apartment: 678.32 square feet. Cost of basic utilities: $147.06.Jun 8, 2016
Most working class people don't live in Harrisburg, Pa.
A bag of M&Ms today is 1.00 in a vending machine, back then...maybe 5cents?
Shrinkflation has occured with thousand of consumer goods , masking some of the increase.
My view of those days is that you got a lot for a 1.00 and a few bucks to save to boot. That includes College books, just cause I was chasing a pretty girl 3 year older.
Lost the Girl but got an Associates degree for my trouble before my counterparts graduated HS.
Where you begged to differ...that's my point.
You obviously had a different experience.
My own stumbles, keep Me humble. My younger and older siblings have already passed on.
(More than 50 years ago my grandmother told me about locking my grandfather out because he
stayed out too late, [I do not know when the inci
dent actually took place] and making him stay out of the place the rest of the night. After which,
he said he would rather be kicked in the "hinder"
[German immigrant town, although he was actu
ally born in the U.S.A.], than locked out all night
like that, whereupon she said "All right," and gave
him such a kick).--I am glad to find that the "Tips"
were a fake.
The PCBS world of feminism today is straight out of a SNL skit gone wrong.
Thank you Ed.
After a relatively short time, in a relationship, a partner's eye begins to wander. I noticed this throughout a (small) number of extended relationships, while I was still young. Maybe growing up, with 7 siblings, exacerbated the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" issue, but I believe it happens to everybody, at some point.
After nearly 40 years of marriage, I've found that I have to frequently "remind" myself that my wife is just as attractive to me now as she was when she was in her 20's. I still ogle her, when she undresses for bed and make appreciative comments if I see her step out of the shower. Those, combined with an occasional wolf whistle, have extracted frequent comments of appreciation from her and have kept our relationship strong.
I guess my remarks really should reference "How to be a good Husband".
My husband and I bot worked, I took time out to stay home with the daughter, then I went back to work when she was a teen.I am glad I did stay home and was able to catch the nonsense the public schools were feeding in place of academics. She loves "Beaver" to this day, which were then in reruns. Too many of her friend had families which did not eat together, did not talk at the table (cell phones) and did not share things from the past, like music, literature, movies. To this day, my husband and I kiss when one of us leaves the house, we talk over what each of us wants to do and plan eating out around it.It is just common mutual appreciation. I do not pick up what he piles on the floor of his office, I did not pick up after the kid once she knew better. The kid is grown, but the dog has to settle down or go in his crate at dinner. Nobody has "a place" in the pecking order, but we each have our own computer rooms, mine filled with books and his with sports-related and accounting books. I think there was a mutual respect back in the day, which is not a bad thing for today. Put the cell phones away, you are not that important!
Just mutual respect from a spouse that worked only day shifts.
Back in those days, the women typically didnt work, so they were in charge of the home and the children while the men brought home the bacon. So both the husband and wife "worked" really, and after dinner both could relax with the children.
Nowadays, both husband and wife work, so they both prepare dinner (if they know how....). Not sure what happens with the children people seem to 'want' during the day, but they are probably farmed out to a "daycare" place.
I do think that everyone should know their "place" in terms of how to treat other people, something that is TOTALLY lost today. Just look at the way drivers act on the roads to see that. Courtesy is gone.
Knowing one's place...good one, we have that problem with this round of dogs, ( we breed Maltese) but they also are beloved pets.
They complain and carry on when we leave, when they think someone is coming and mostly when we come home. It all seems to stem from a lack of pecking order, something our first beloved group seemed to have down pat.
Not sure how we are going to fix that. But it does relate to nature and it's really not that different with human families either.
I think that statement would send the left right through the roof.
Laughing, but seriously...it sounds exactly like what big government wants to do with us...
Jan
Listened to a lecture on "selflessness" and as observed, most that perform selflessly are miserable and kind of arrogant in thinking; "only THEY can solve a problem"...we must have a balance between celfishness and a chosen cause to engage.
However, Rand might agree with a good portion of these tips... Voluntary Value for Value exchange.