Since my name is mentioned on the title, I am going to weigh in on this thread, and I actually have a much different view of the ideas here then some of the other ladies have. I grew up in the 1950’s, and most (if not all) of these suggestions were commonplace. I actually do not find fault with any of the suggestions for making a husband happy, and what wife does not want a happy husband ? The problem with all of this is the very last statements, which says that the wife should “know her place”, which makes it sound like all of the above should be performed because she is some kind of a slave, or lower class person to the husband, who is the “master of the house”. My dad was a lineman, so all day he wore big heavy line boots that laced up to his knees. When he came home, the first thing he did was to sit down and take off the line boots. I loved kneeling down in front of my Daddy and taking off his line boots for him because I LOVED my daddy. It was not something I did because he was the boss or master of the house, it was done freely, and because I wanted my dad to know how much I loved him. An acquaintance that I met was telling me that her father was also a lineman, and she hated taking off his boots for him every night. The difference was that for her, she was told she had to do this, so it was an obligation, and not something done of her own volition and desire, and this made the whole difference in everything. The exact same actions, and we had two totally different feelings about doing it, because we each did it for a very different reason. If I can do something that makes Bobby’s life easier, or happier, then I want to do that; but I do it as an equal person, and not as someone who is forced to do it.
Thanks for that. One thing that makes a big difference is when only one person is supporting the family while the other takes care of the house and children. It's natural that the working one would expect his or her partner to help him be comfortable and recover from a hard working day. Being a housewife is hard work too. If both work outside the home it's a different story. I don't think I could get used to being a househusband but you never know what circumstances life will throw at you.
One thing I thought Yvonne might mention is when she 1st got married, her very British mother-in-law trained her to make sure that her x’ s clothes were laid out for him to wear. Another thing was the meat situation. Meat went for a man’s lunch and wasn’t meant for the woman of the house. I’m sure she’ll expound on that later but I’m pretty sure I got the story right.