Good Husband’s Guide
Your wife works hard every day to provide for you and your family. These simple steps can help you be a good husband.
Your wife works hard every day to provide for you and your family. These simple steps can help you be a good husband and show how much you appreciate her.
1. Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for her return. This is a way of letting her know that you have been thinking about her and are concerned about her needs. Most women are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially her favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
2. Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when she arrives. Touch yourself up, put on a clean shirt and be fresh-looking. She has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
3. Be a little gay and a little more interesting for her. Her boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
4. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your wife arrives.
5. Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dust cloth over the tables.
6. Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for her to unwind by. Your wife will feel she has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for her comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
7. 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 she would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of her arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
8. Be happy to see her.
9. Greet her with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please her.
10. Listen to her. You may have a dozen important things to tell her, but the moment of her arrival is not the time. Let her talk first — remember, her topics of conversation are more important than yours.
11. Make the evening hers. Never complain if she comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand her world of strain and pressure and her very real need to be at home and relax.
12. Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your wife can renew herself in body and spirit.
13. Don’t greet her with complaints and problems.
14. Don’t complain if she’s late for dinner or even if she stays out all night. Count tHer as minor compared to what she might have gone through that day.
15. Make her comfortable. Have her lean back in a comfortable chair or have her lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for her.
16. Arrange her pillow and offer to take off her shoes. Speak in a soft, soothing and pleasant voice.
17. Don’t ask her questions about her actions or question her judgment or integrity. Remember, she is the master of the house and as such will always exercise her will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question her.
18. A good husband always knows his place.
The text above was adapted from the Housekeeping Monthly May 1955, Good Wife’s Guide. While some of it may seem laughable in today’s world, we propose you take a closer look. Imagine if the men in our relationships attempted only a few of these steps (with a little common sense added). We would take major strides in balancing our homes and our world.