What is your opinion about the Article below?

The Good Wife's Guide is a magazine article rumored to have been published in the May 13, 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly, describing how a "good wife" should act.

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. 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 prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc and then run a dustcloth over the tables.

Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

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 the washer, dryer, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

Be happy to see him.

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order, and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Don't greet him with complaints or problems.

Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him 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, soothing and pleasant voice.

Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

A good wife always knows her place.

Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

I DONT THINK SO!!!!

Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.


NO way, he better have a darn good story if hes out all night!!!!

Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
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Women have a say to ya know!!!

The above statements are ones that make me want to rage, but you really have to remember the time this was written.
It is an awful article and I am really glad we have some as far as we have

I have read this one before, and I think it's supposed to be a satire of a real article that was similar, but not quite so ickky, for lack of a better word.   I don't think any wife, even in 1955, was ever expected to be agreeable about her husband staying out all night.  I know that my mother would have had plenty to say about it if my dad had tried such a thing!

Yep, Rainbells it is fiction, but it does make you think...I love everyone's responses so far.  It has to do with choices, whether you feel intimidated into "pleasing" everyone else by societal standards, or you desire to stand alone and be an individual, both mentally and emotionally....with your partner in life.

It is a wonderful exercise on folks ideas of relationships.

Blessings Bright and Dark,

I have come to a place in my life where, however my man treats me, he had better well be prepared to be treated in the same manner!

I think there was/is a book about this. I saw a woman on Wife Swap once that lived this way. Needless to say, the "new" wife wasn't too thrilled and couldn't imagine living that way and enjoying it.
The actual wife was all done up when the man came home. She had the house spotless, dinner ready, met him at the door to take his coat and shoes. She even clipped his toenails for him! I think she bathed him and everything. He did nothing other than go to work during the day..

There is no way that would fly in my house. lol I don't think my husband would be able to handle it even if I were to lose my mind and decide that is the way it should be.
The women in my family think I am horrible because I don't cook for him. Or make sure that something is made up for him before he goes to work and he *gasp* has to make up what he wants to eat later at work. They can't figure out why he doesn't mind or how we have stayed together for so long.
But, I grew up watching the women bend over backwards for their men, just to see the men treat them like crap and cheat or beat them. I decided I would not do that for a man.
I explain it to them, and he does too, as I am not his mom. He grew up before we got together and he does not want a mother figure as his partner. He likes to cook, therefore he does it..with exceptions of certain meals that I came into the relationship knowing how to make. But also my meals cost a fortune to make, so they are rare. lol And I enjoy baking so that is my realm. He understands the stress of raising three children and homeschooling them. He sleeps during the day and does not complain at all about noise. Not that it would do him any good to anyway. lol He understands children are children, they will make noise and messes. Although we do remind them ocassionally that there was a time children were seen and not heard. They think we are nuts. LOL

Anyway, this way of life would not work in most houses. But there are some people out there that not only do this, but are happy to. The women feel it is their job, their man has a job outside the house and he has to do it well to take care of the family..so they do their "job" well to take care of him.

I was raised to think and act like this ~ gasp!  However, I've always been of my own mind.  I've been married twice...my first husband's thinking was just like this fictional story, but my second husband was 40 when we married and had already learned to take care of himself...Thank the Goddess!  

HHMMM.... I must come from a very strange family, becuase my grandma didn't even act like that. Yes her and my mom cooked the meals plus cleaned the house, but not have a say....hhaaa My grandma would let my grandpa have it with both barrels if he was wrong....stay out all night when it was not work (she would have killed him in his sleep the next night). My mom through a pot at my dad for bitchin the kitchen wasn't clean when he thought it should have been...that was funny, he never said anything again, he would just clean it himself...LOL

As for me and mine. I work, he is disabled. I still cook, because he doesn't know how to much, but not all the time. If I don't feel like it then we eat whatever we can find or go out. We both clean and stuff. Plus we talk to eachother and decide on things together. It must work good been married 21 1/2 yrs. LOL

Oh ya and I control all the money in our household....back then they would have linched me....    :roll:

I agree whole heartedly with two things in this article:

Be happy to see him (or her)

and greet with a smile and show sincerity in trying to please him (or her)

but the thing is, is that it has to go both ways or else it's bordering on master/slave relationship. I also agree with not bombarding the other partner with problems as soon as s/he walks through the door... unless you really need those probs addressed right then, or they were just out shopping or something fun like that. I live at home for now, and my mom does that all the time, which just makes me not want to come home really.. other then that, I know the article is a bit of a parody, but it still kind of made me laugh sort of angrily.. if that made any sense?

my grandmother on my mom's side, loves to be a housewife. she was an accountant and did a couple other jobs while she was raising my mom and my two uncles. but only 'cause my grandad left her. And when I went to finish h.s. in portland with her, a lot of that article is how she said she did, or did do stuff. when I came home from school, there was lunch or "lupper" out for me, but i had to bring all my school stuff, jackets and whatever into my room. or where it belonged first. I also had to make my bed, which I never got the point to, lol. but yeah, she said straight out that being a housewife IS a job, and she loves it. the article is extreme, she wouldn't do a most of that stuff, if she had a bad day.

i liked the article though. lol.

thank the goddess I came of age in 2001.  I would have had a hell of a time in the 50's!  I made boys cry in school  

My first thought was that a man wrote the article.Lol......

It may be an exaggeration to some degree a type of parody but, I remember women like that. My grandfathers 3rd wife had a college degree in home economics. Many of the women that were around when I was a child were housewives. It was the younger families that had 2 working spouses. Now don't get me wrong even though these ladies were housewives if one of their husbands had stayed out all night without preplanning or good reason he would have been kissing cast iron frying pan when he walked in the door. I also remember the husbands mowing the lawn and working on their yard on the weekends as well as building things like greenhouses, adding rooms onto the house. Redoing the basement for a family room. We had neighborhood bbq's , block parties, and neighbors got together to help out around each others homes.Dad's took their kids fishing,hiking and to do all kinds of things.
A woman was expected to behave a certain way during that time period but in return a man was expected to do certain things and also behave in a certain way as well. I also remember the men getting together to talk to one of the other husbands when he wasn't taking care of his family properly. Please don't think I grew up in stepford because lawns didn't get mowed,people fought and kids got dirty but, there was a pride in the neighborhood and people tried to look out for each other. If a woman was limited by what she could do in that time period her husband was expected to provide for her in theory it balanced out. Big words here "in theory". If it were me I would have gone crazy. I am so greatful that the world has changed. I knew even as a small child that I would rather knaw off a limb then kiss a mans behind and put up with some of the things that I saw.

My first husband's mother was a woman who believed completely in this way of life.  She never took a job until her husband died and then didn't know what to do with herself.  She expected me to be the same way, as did her son.  Needless to say, he is an ex, and I don't miss his mother!

the
"total woman" rides again! ...damn she is funny....can you imagine how psycho this would make a person?I guess that is how the drug manufacturers stay in business....you gotta be totally wasted to be able to choke back all of your human emotions.

but ya know you read those stories about people who just snap and start offing people and I can't help but think stuff like this must be part of the reason why......

My mama never worked outside the home. �"Outside the home" are the operative words...the house was always so clean. �The words "you can eat off the floors" were literal. �She worked all day long doing things like cleaning windows inside and out, cleaning baseboards and trim, starching and ironing.....not only clothes, but sheets and pillow cases (before permanent press). �Man, those fresh sheets felt and smelled so good!!! �Three cooked meals a day, at the table, together.....those were the days. �Breakfast before leaving for school, snacks ready when I got off the bus. �Not to mention gardening and canning. � Hmmm, sorry, I got carried way back there for a few minutes, but the home was her domain.

My daddy worked hard at two jobs and my mama was there to greet him with a smile and a kiss when he came home. �When he left, there was a kiss and a smile, too. �They believed you should tell each other I love you as that might be the last time you see each other, never go to bed angry and always apologize, even if you weren't in the wrong....

They were happily married 50 + years before he passed away. �

I've been married twice. �The first one I tried to incorporate those values. �Thought I should be a stay at home wife and mom. �House was very clean, meals cooked on time, lunch prepared and packed for him to take to work. �Then he wanted a new 4-wheel drive pick-up and me working would help pay for that. �lol. �nuff said

Next one, I was just gaining independence when he talked me into marriage. �BAD IDEA!! �He was the one who stayed home for the most part and still expected some of those same things we're talking about here. �I tried to tough it out....I guess trying to prove I could do it....after all...it was the second one. �NOT!

The Good Wife Guide???........lol.

I can see some of these things... not others in my family.  Grandma worked for a while, but only morning hours, so that she could be home in time to get the house right, and be there when the kids got home, and her hubby got home from work, she cooked every single night, even though now she admits to hating it with a passion.  Kept the kids quiet when he asked for quiet, and ALWAYS let him control the tv.  
On the other hand, she had a fierce streak, never missed voting, even if she didn't like any candidates, because "darn it all, them girls worked their tushies off so I could be able to."  Grandpa came home drunk as a skunk one night, hollerin and screaming at the kids.  She shoved him out the door, opened the garage door and tossed him a blanket... wouldn't let him in the house all night or morning... he had to go to work smelling like booze in his dirty clothes in the morning

I had one relationship with a guy who was pushy, wanted kids, wanted me to be a stay at home mom to his kids...(I was 17 at the time... XP)keep the house all nice for him... that relationship lasted WAY longer than it should have... a whole month and a half! lol
Got rid of him as soon as he started showin his true colours