In case you need a reminder about how much relationships have changed over the last few decades, an excerpt from a book published in 1950 is here to help. A section of a Home Economics Book offering “tips to look after your husband” was recently shared on Reddit, including advice telling women to be quiet and take off a man’s shoes. And people are cracking up over the outdated guidelines for housewives in that era. The book instructs women to:
- Have dinner ready - This lets your husband know you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs.
- Prepare yourself - “Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking,” the book advises.
- Clear away the clutter - Clean up before the husband gets home from work so “he will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order.”
- Prepare the children - Clean up the kiddos, too, so the Mr will get to see them presented as the “little treasures” they are.
- Minimize all noise - This includes eliminating the noise of household appliances and “encouraging the children to be quiet” and not greeting him “with problems or complaints.”
- Make him comfortable - Have a drink and a comfortable place for him to sit when he gets home from a long day at the office. And don’t forget to “offer to take off his shoes” and to “speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice.”
- Listen to him - The book reminds wives to “let him talk first” and to be engaging as “his boring day may need a lift.”
- Make the evening his - Back then, women were encouraged to stuff their own feelings down and to “never complain if he doesn’t take you out to dinner” but instead to “try to understand his world of strain and pressure.”
- And don’t forget “The goal” - Which is “to make your home a place of peace where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.”
Source: Newsweek
Photo: Getty Images