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Wed 28 Sep, 2005 03:55 pm
AAAH! The OLD days......
The following is from a 1950's Home Economics textbook intended for High School girls, teaching how to prepare for married life.
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 alot of work- weary 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 the 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 Dont's: 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 and 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 relax.
Yeah but she'd faint dead away if you asked her for a BJ.
well yeah all true also be sure to wear nothing but saran wrap when you greet him at the door with heaving bosom and quivering thighs.(on your kees when you kiss his hand while at the same time untieing his shoes.
They would never find my body.
this CANT be a true publication?
I kid you not but I took Home Economics in school and we were provided with something similar in tone to this (by the nuns). After choking with laughter we were shocked to realize it wasn't a joke. They expected us to learn how to become good little wives and mothers. See this is why I am a heartless and cruel man-beater ... I mean gentle, and loving partner.
Heeven wrote:I kid you not but I took Home Economics in school and we were provided with something similar in tone to this (by the nuns). After choking with laughter we were shocked to realize it wasn't a joke. They expected us to learn how to become good little wives and mothers. See this is why I am a heartless and cruel man-beater ... I mean gentle, and loving partner.
Gives you some insight into why the good sisters followed their particular vocation.
How come some women are posting on here....AT THIS TIME OF DAY!!
Haven't you got things to do?
Yeah, easy for them to say. They were married to Jesus, and he'll only be coming home at the end of the day one more time.
And he brings his own wine.
Can I have one of the girls who were taught that?
I'm sure it's for real. My mother had a similar book called something like "The Art of Love and Marriage". Her mother gave it to her at her 1954 wedding. It has all sorts of little goody goody paragraphs like the one above. There was a whole chapter about decorating that warns a woman not to make her house too feminine or her husband might not want to come home to it.
As a pre-teen I was intrigued with the mysterious chapter called "Private Time" which was about sex (sort of), but mostly talked about making your husband "feel loved'. The advice basically suggested never say "no" even when you too tired from making him a big meatloaf supper and scrubbing the bathroom or you might hurt his delicate male ego. It went on about how men need this "act" to feel like a husband.
For years my mother used this book to prop up an orchid she had growing in the bathroom window - that's why I got to read it.
Anyone remember the Phyllis Schafly book that was meant as a backlash to the 70's women's movement? I think it was called "The Total Woman". It had a similar tone with a little sex thrown in."
Heeven wrote:Yeah but she'd faint dead away if you asked her for a BJ.
She'd probably go and fetch the Blackberry Jam (jelly).
....home made, of course.
Lord Ellpus wrote:Heeven wrote:Yeah but she'd faint dead away if you asked her for a BJ.
She'd probably go and fetch the Blackberry Jam (jelly).
....home made, of course.
A BJ M'lord, not a PB & J.
In order to modernise the book, and include BJ's, there should be a section on how to keep the top of one's head looking attractive at all times.
i just got highlights done...oh. wrong thread. i though i was in the "good hair day" thread.
Luckily I didn't take home ec at Notre Dame, but I got enough of the gist in homeroom and religion classes.
Reading the except from the home ec book now, I'm amazed by the level of acting that is part of the level of instruction, re tone of voice, role playing...
Yup, I've seen women's magazines from the 50's and sure enough, it was "How to Keep Your Man Happy at Home: 101 New Ways to Vacuum!"
I'm amazed that anyone thought this should be put into a book, that women should be taught what I always thought was part of the natural order of things. You mean there used to be women who didn't act like this instinctively?
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