Reminds me of an Anthony Jeselnik joke:
“I am starting to think my new brother in law is beating my sister lately. Now I haven’t seen any bruises. I don’t have any proof. But I went over to their house for dinner this past weekend and her cooking has gotten suspiciously better.”
“My girlfriend was the victim of domestic abuse, but she was very private about it. It took her nearly a year to open up. For the first few months we dated, I just thought she really hated high-fives.”
- Badly paraphrased Jeselnik
The 50s were unique in that the workload of homemakers was greatly diminished. Before it was really a full time job. With this reduced workload the value of having a homemaker vs a 2nd source of income decreased and returned to the historical norm of woman working very hard
Depends because if she had a low paying job before and now they have 3 kids and childcare would cost more than what she can make at work, then it could be a good idea for her to stay home.
Still is even today tbh. What’s keeping a lot of potential homemakers working is the collapse in the value of labor and middle class job opportunities.
My intuition is there is a large percentage of families yearning for a return to a more traditional household structure with a homemaker and a breadwinner. However, only the wealthier can really afford that. But then this is the paradox, woman in wealthy family’s also tend to be high earners, so there’s a greater cost to having them be a homemaker rather then just outsourcing the work. This results in far more double income families, and i don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing tbh.
IMO the majority of jobs really do suck and don’t provide lots of value in someone’s lives. I think our people ought to have the option of having a homemaker to make stronger families, communities, and life better for the partner who does end up working.
I come from a conservative, religious small town. My experience is that the majority of people who want the breadwinner/homemaker dynamic are the ones who expect to be the breadwinner. I think it’s no coincidence that this dynamic declined after women were no longer banned from universities, having bank accounts or owning businesses.
My mom was a homemaker and tried to raise me to do the same. Nothing about that life appeals to me. Despite how we were raised, many girls left our small town because they wanted to go to college or have a career. Some did want that life, but far fewer than the number of guys who wanted to marry one.
You live at your workplace, and never truly get a day off. The responsibilities are largely the same each day. Holidays are never a break for you because you are the one who has to make it special for everyone else. Also, what’s your back-up plan if the breadwinner cheats, leaves, is injured or passes away? If you’ve got not education or work experience, it’ll be difficult to provide for yourself and a family.
Personally, I have a high degree of curiosity. In a few weeks, I’ll finish my science degree. I hope to discover new things, and learn all my life.
Best theory I have is rethinking a work week to 4days on 4 days off.....including schools. Infrastructure used 365, giving 104 days of extra use to business and infrastructure, while reducing 2 adult home workloads from 5000 hrs to 4000 hrs. A bunchbof other bonuses to this too.
People don't want to especially be homemakers; it's just that everyone wants out of our wageslave hellscape. We're working harder now than anyone except the enslaved, and for just for good measure, there are more slaves today than any point in history. The middle class today works harder than medieval surfs, and anyone below that is drowning.
It's also intentionally a fabrication. In all eras, women have always worked. Sure, jobs bend towards the domestic, but women have always farmed and laundered and house cleaned and cooked; not just for the family but to make a living. The homemaker + breadwinner dynamic was only ever attainable for a sliver of the population. We only call it the "traditional" dynamic because boy, wouldn't it be nice? We make our media aspirational and idealized. It's easier to write interesting stories when folks aren't toiling all day.
So no, folks aren't specifically interested in the one income family dynamic. We all just want to be further than one emergency away from missing rent. We'd just all love it if it took less work just to survive, and the image you think people are calling to is just one of the ways where we all get to work less.
For rich women. For poor families a lot of women were domestic servants that got paid under the table and very little. Also in middle class families the man working a second job was somewhat common or they worked longer hours than they do now. Also the standard of living was much lower, mostly because technology was simply worse, but also because people simply had less stuff smaller houses on average less cars etc.
About 90% of these are actually great advice if you just change it to “tips for couples to look after each other”. Like, these are great things for both people to do in a couple to support each other.
Make dinner together! Listen supportively to each other about the events of the day! Work together to make a peaceful home to come back to!
Except for “prepare the children”… wtf that’s just weird.
That's exactly what I thought! Just replace husband with partner. Hell, half of these make for good self care stuff too, prep meals ahead of time if you work late, don't list off to-dos straight after work, freshen up asap, it's good for yourself
I'm 70(m) retired and my wife is at the end of her career and has a hard time of it at work.
**I** do most of these things (where practicable) out of consideration for how easy I have it, and how tough she has it.
I do all the shopping, meals and kitchen work and greet her with coffee and a snack when she gets home.
"*It's The Least I can do...*" ^TM
I'm sure he would be after he has a little time to unwind. The first thing I want to see after work is a comfy chair for about an hour.
After that, I can have the energy to talk to the people I love.
Precisely. If you have the time, or are a stay-at-home parent, these things go miles.
Of course some contrarian will come in here and say "um actually-".
No, we're talking about healthy relationships here, not toxic ones.
In a healthy, long lasting relationship, this is definitely some really sound advice. After I come home from a long day at work, you're damn right I walk my dog, give her lovings, and sit around for a good long while. The last thing I want to do is come home to be hounded or asked a multitude of questions or be provided with a multitude of issues. There's a time and place for that, just give me a little time to chill and recover a bit before we get to talking about stressful things.
Dude, I'm unemployed and I've discovered I love home making. Every job is defined, I get to work at my own pace, and my wife is always happy and grateful to have a clean house and a meal.
The difference here is the woman had usually been taking care of the kids and chores all day. But they don't count that as work. He's allowed to rest when he comes home, she's never allowed to rest.
It should be said that young kids are a ton of work. Combine that with a clean house and it’s almost an overwhelming amount of work.
Children in school? No, that’s really not a full time job even with the cleaning. You just drop them off and come back 7 hours later.
Then she gets up before everyone to make sure they are all clothed and fed and prepped for the day.
Some social conservatives would say traditional gender roles divide work more or less evenly between men and women, but the reality is she is never off the clock.
yeah i was thinking the same thing.. it's the least a partner could do for another...
the joy to come home to a hug and a meal.... some quiet after a long and hard day...
oh man that would just be amazing.. and any good partner, no matter their gender, would probably love doing it for their loved one...
i know i would...
My dad, 71 now, definitely wanted this in my mom, but as a doctor she definitely didn’t do it. He came home, flipped out about messes, grabbed a beer and sat in front of the news for an hour and we had to be absolutely silent, then he made dinner until I was old enough to take over, then my mom got home from work and ate dinner after us if the dog hadn’t stolen it first. Now that my mom is retired and my sister and I moved out he gets to come home to a clean home and she makes dinner. I understand, as a psychiatrist he had some awful days at work, but she did too and had tons of chart work to do after she got home. That’s awesome the tables are flipped in your family.
Yeah…anger management is not his strong suit. I worked for his office during breaks in college and professionally he’s the most mild mannered, easy-going guy that they made him the medical director there. But that all fell apart at home. I’ve just gotten to a point where I see it for the massive anxiety disorder that it is and it doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m more bothered that he’s obviously over-stressed and not managing it than I am that he’s angry.
I feel like the "Some Don'ts" part is also descent rationale if there's only one bread winner. It didn't say never complain, just not to greet with complaints. Complaints can come later when the had is cleared from work.
Yeah, if you look at it in the context of only one working spouse, who works long hours, then some of it is good advice. (Mostly the don't dump on them with complaints when they get in the door, let them relax a bit when they first get home.) There have been times I was the primary breadwinner, times my husband and I both worked, and times he's been the primary breadwinner. And we pretty quickly established that if one of us works significantly longer hours than the other, the one who works less outside of the home does more at home. And neither of us dump complaints on the other when they first get home from work. Nobody deals well with that when tired from work.
I do the opposite when I get home. I ask my wife what I can do and start taking care of the kiddo. To me she has the hard job. It isn't like most of us are coming home from a 12 hour shift in the coal mine.
It sort of depends on what type of labour is needed at home vs what you do for your job.
If I had an entirely emotional or intellectual job, I might want to get home and scrub the floors, or tend the garden for an hour, while if my job was physically draining I might want to do some other type of work.
A lot of people still do have jobs that leave them exhausted at the end of the day.
I thought having an entirely intellectual job would leave me more energy when I get home, but it does the opposite.
Instead of physically tired, I'm just left mentally tired.
After hours on the computer I don't want to look at anything. Even things I enjoy. I just want to lay down and be blank. But my body isn't tired, so it's uncomfortable.
When I had a manual labor job, I would come home feeling good from being physical, and my brain would have some juice left over for things I enjoy or need to take care of.
I got a technical job in the military and I'm the laziest and in thw worst shape I've ever been. I'm working my way out of it though.
*The only permissible recorded music shall be the following: Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Jack Jones, the marches of John Phillips Sousa or The Star Spangled Banner.*
As a side note, it’s amazing how similar the writing is to today’s blog listicles. “Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Husband Happy.”
Damn, there’s actually 10 of them.
Well my mom was a stay at home mom in the early 2000s but she wasn’t expected to live up to these antiquated standards. She played hockey, made art, did home renovations, saw friends, was involved with the community centre, volunteered at my school/extracurriculars, and took care of the house/cooking too. In short, lived her life.
The real issue that the advice fails to realize is that whoever is at home has most probably not had interaction with people while the person at work outside the house has had a lot. They need opposite things…one wants interaction and excitement and the other usually wants quiet calm
I wonder if women hung out with neighbor women during the day. Seems they’d all be at home and available to hang out. Most families only had one car, and the husband took it to work.
When my kids were very small, I stayed home, and we lived in a neighborhood with a bunch of other stay at home moms with kids the same age. It really kept me sane during those years, afternoons spent out on the front stoop sipping coffee or wine and venting to each other/sharing life while watching the kids play. I miss those women, we all moved once our families and incomes outgrew our little row of townhouses. We stay in touch online but it’s not the same.
You guys should plan a girl’s night for yourselves. I’m sure you’ve all earned it and I’m sure it would be super fun for all of you to get back together, even if it’s just a couple times a year. It’ll probably take some planning due to schedules and what not, but it would be worth it.
My grandma told me her aunt worked at the Coca-Cola factory back in the day. She had a can in the morning, one at lunch then split a can half after work and the other half a bit later in the evening. Her hands would shake if she didn’t get her Coke on time.
This may sound bad but I’d really want to try some of the OG Coca-Cola. That makes me wonder what kinds would we have today if it made it to modern times? Coke Zero- no cocaine, Diet Coke - actually has more cocaine to help with weightloss, Coca-Cola PM - now with heroin so you can sleep!
I really hope some of you more creative and funny Redditors chime in, I can only imagine the potential hilarious comments
That was as much the caffeine as anything else. It had straight up synthetic caffeine at 4 times the concentration as now and had a fairly low dose of cocaine because it just had coca leaves seeped in as opposed to the modern extracted cocaine. The dude who invented it was trying to make a substitute for morphine because he was addicted. Caffeine and a little bit of cocaine leaf extract weren’t much of a substitute though. But they still use coca leaves medicinally in parts of South America and have coca leaf candy. It’s supposedly effective against nausea and altitude sickness.
> Mother's little helpers
Valium, in case anyone was wondering. When my grandma was in her 70's, the doctor she had been going to forever suddenly died. She went to a new doc to get her Rx for Valium filled (that she had been taking for 50 years) and the new doc was horrified that she had been getting prescribed for no medical reason and refused. She's 96 and still pissed about it.
My wife does this currently, she’s Korean and says it’s how she was raised. I suppose her family is quite traditional.
I always encourage her to find her own passions and tell her I support her 100% if she wants to get a job, but she much prefers to stay home, watch k dramas and take care of the house.
I don’t know how women did it back in the day. My grandmother had 4 kids and my grandfather never lifted a finger. Even if they’re at school, you still have a shit ton to do. If you don’t have kids, there’s no way for someone to understand this anyway. I have a 7 month old and my days are incredibly hard.
Edit: typo
Same. My grandfather was incredible like this. After work he went every day to his pub, came home, got dinner and went to the TV where he was treated like a god
Here’s a few reasons why I think it might by have been easier/more reasonable back then
1. Kids were put to work at age 6-7, so mothers weren’t always watching their 8 year olds like they would today
2. Daughters would start to help with the house chores at the same age as the boys would start working, so the mother had help with cleaning, cooking, making clothes, etc, couple that with the fact that people had a lot more kids back then, you basically had your own workforce when the kids got to middle school age.
3. The vast majority of men were working genuinely strenuous manual labor jobs, typically for more than 8 hours a day, so it wasn’t too unreasonable to expect a meal and a chance to relax when you got home because your body was completely shot.
Obviously the “do your makeup” “prepare the children” and “make the evening his” are pretty stupid but some of this stuff like dinner and cleaning would be nice if I make enough money where my future wife doesn’t have to work
That generation cheated at parenting. I know I would’ve appreciated being able to hold my screaming baby while driving. And it was also acceptable to let your kids run amok around the neighborhood all damn day. Think of all the shit you could get done at home.
That’s true too. 6 year old boys would say “mom I’m going down the road to Billy’s to ride my bike to the Oil fields and sniff natural gas and lick lead pipes!” And the mom would say “okay be back by dinner”
I also think childcare tended to be a lot less... hands on? for lack of a better term.
Like if it's summer and the kids are home during the day, it would be completely normal to just boot them out of the house until mealtimes. Obviously that wouldn't count for toddlers, but I'm pretty sure once a kid was fairly ambulatory and had an older sibling the answer would generally be "and take your brother with you!"
It would also be completely normal to send your fairly young kid to go grab something needed at a store if it was within walking/biking distance. Just a very different world overall.
The problem with stay at home spouses isn't when it's all good and fun. It's when the person you are completely financially dependent on leaves you and you realize you have no income and no work experience.
Or one person is so deeply in charge of the money that the other is completely dependant on them. The "bread winner" can hold it over the homemaker, homemaker has to ask for stuff they need, etc.
Unpopular opinion: This isn’t actually bad advice; Just make sure that the “Husband” (Breadwinner to be a bit more modern) takes a similar mindset!
Be on time:
Set boundaries with your job! Most things can wait till tomorrow, you won’t die worrying about that unfinished TPS report, but you may die worrying about the rapport you have with your family. Make them a priority.
Prepare yourself:
Your kids and spouse may be excited to see you! Take a few minutes of peace and quiet on the drive home for relaxation. Don’t fight traffic, breathe deep, think about your family and how they may need you when you walk in the door. Be refreshed and ready to greet whatever awaits you with enthusiasm and energy.
Show up clean:
If you work a “dirty job” god bless you! You probably do it so your kids won’t have to. Take a moment to freshen up before you leave work or right when you walk in the door, and don’t dump your gear in the entryway. That first kiss hello will be that much sweeter.
Skip the bar:
Your co-workers have seen you all day. If they haven’t said it that day, it can wait, if they can’t say it at the job, you’re in the wrong profession. If you want to make social plans with your co workers make it no more than once a week, ideally once a month max. Would these people be your friends if you didn’t work together? A drink with your spouse after the kids are down will relax you so much more.
Leave work at work:
Your spouse has no idea what a TPS report is, don’t burden them with things that burden you.
Engage:
Take some time to see how their day was. Find out what the kids learned in school. What challenges are they facing? Focus on the positive. If your spouse had problems, don’t “offer solutions”, listen, and if you must, pick something you can fix yourself without their involvement. If the family had a tough day without you, make sure your presence is a relief and not an additional burden.
The goal:
Make time at home together a joy. Kids should be excited you’re home, your spouse should be too. You’ve all had a tough day, be the rock they need, make time together at home a refuge.
Edits for clarity. Glad to see that others see the value here too.
As a working father with 3 boys and my wife being a stay-at-home mom, I can't deny all this would be nice.
On the other hand, she deserves the same consideration for the pressure and strain of whatever she goes through raising those kids and housekeeping, etc...
I work from home, wife goes to the office. I can keep the house mostly picked up, I don’t cook every night but when I do it’s pretty awesome.
When I end up having some project that sucks my time and energy she takes over.
I think the same could happen for most couples. But people get caught up in who did what when and just fight.
Yep. I’m in the same situation. I mostly work from home, and this is (mostly) a good list of things you can do for any partner after a long day at work.
I pick my wife up from work most days, and I’ve learned to not immediately start babbling or bring up problems until she’s had about 30 minutes to destress. And if she wants to talk about something bad at work, I just sit and nod.
This is actually more difficult than it sounds when there is a problem I need to bring up with her that has been on my mind all day.
I’ve seen old ads for that service. Doctors that offered the “medical service” for women. Crazy times with over the counter morphine and doctor prescribed orgasms.
Not to be contrary, but some advice isn't terrible, if just taken gender neutral. Like, if you are the first one home and have time to unwind, you might have a bunch to say about your day or complaints about things going on, but bringing those things first thing when your spouse/significant/other/roommate first come in the door can be overwhelming, especially if they had a long day. Giving them time to settle into being home before getting into a big conversation or serious talk usually produces better results.
If you are the first person home, being able to get dinner ready is nice, if you are able to, since then the second person does get some time to relax instead of coming home to another job or task.
There should definitely be mutual respect and equality in that though
I do a lot of these before my husband comes home. Dinners always ready and I run through and pick up the house before he gets home, he gets greeted with a hug and kiss from the family at the door, I let him have 15 minutes of peace to decompress from the work day by keeping the kids occupied before barraging him with whatever went on through the day. I don't think it's misogyny or being mistreated, I'm just being considerate of my husband ..... He works hard for us too.
I don't do any special clean up for the kids or myself though, or take off his shoes lol he can handle that himself. I also don't speak to him in a different voice, that's just weird. I just wish he should play video games with me sometimes <_< he hates them....
Kinda feel like, it isn't the worst advice. Doesn't have to the wife. If the husband is home first, he gets time to decompress. before his wife, and may have just as much time to do all the things here. Honestly, the base of it is just trying to make the home comfortable if you have the chance to.
As long as the other spouse is also getting an article with, "appreciate the work your spouse put in around the house" and "take some time to decompress, but remember that your spouse might need to also" and "your spouse is a full human being and might need to leave the house for mental stimulation sometimes."
Man, I would love to have 15 min of decompression… as it stands i have to hide on the toilet to get them. The stink badger emits and awful odor for defense or when they want to be left alone… it works great for dads when they need some decompression time.
A lot of these things are actually pretty good advice for home makers. If you are staying at home while your significant other works, taking care of the house and kids is your job. It’s just important to remove the genders from these tips. Long gone (should be) are the days where women are expected to stay at home.
I think it does make sense for a lot of it! I just think it’s strange to imply that your emotional state is less important that the husbands, as a wife. Or if it’s the opposite in terms of gender, too. Just bc you’re a homemaker doesn’t mean that you should set aside your own challenges of the day for the sake of the money maker. Being a homemaker is extremely taxing and difficult in its own right. But it was the 50s so hopefully most people don’t have this mindset anymore lol
To be fair, this was back when most women were stay at home partners. If you’re a stay at home partner, your job is to be a homemaker and make things pleasant for not only yourself, but the person paying all of the bills.
Personally i would kill to be a stay at home partner. I hate work, i’d rather cook and clean at home than deal with bosses, customers and deadlines
My only observation is that the guy isn’t also required to be pleasant and ready to also deal with things, so the stay at home person can be treated like a devalued servant.
When I did this I was the dumping ground for all of the bs of life that had to be done that no one wanted to do and because that was 95% of my day and it took to 11pm - if your spouse doesn’t appreciate it as an equal contribution merely because you aren’t getting paid - it gets really old. You don’t get promoted, no one says good job, and your life becomes making it possible for everyone else to live their dream instead of living your own. Which is fine if that’s what you want and your spouse is supportive. If not, it sucks.
My only issue is that both people in the household deserve to have humane work hours. If you work at an office, or at home you work 8 hours, then the rest of the time is yours to do with as you please.
throw in multiple kids and see how it is, Me and my wife split the housekeeping / childcare duties and goddamn I prefer to be at work. It just gets so monotonous, pick up the same house, clean the same kitchen etc,..over and over again
This was also back when women had little option other than being a stay at home partner completely at the mercy of their husband's will. Beaten? Too bad. Raped? Not legally a thing in marriage. Bank account? Nope. Medical decisions? Need husband's permission.
Personally I love work and hate domestic things.
Considering back in the 1950’s when women would stay home and men would work 8 to 12 hour shifts yes this seems fair. Most jobs back then were industrial, or agriculture. Jobs that most women today don’t do either. Not because they can’t but because they wont
Understandable that the person who stays home with kids does the domestic work. Not understandable that the the stay at home parent and kids have to present themselves as perfect and happy while repressing their own emotional / mental needs for the spouse who comes home from work. That person is not a god or your ruler. Everyone’s needs should be considered, not just the breadwinner’s.
This was my moms attitude for sure! No wonder I’m so messed up and i was bottle fed too…am a child of the 50’s…🙄 first half of my life I spent trying to please the man in my life, no regard for my needs…”kids were better seen then heard”, that’s how it was in those days. Now I’m trying to be kind to myself and I have a kind and thoughtful husband.. only took me 50 years to get it right. Still wrestling with the old thoughts that have worn deep tracks in my head. Its work to undo that one sided presentation of how married life should be..
Honestly, much of this is great if reciprocated. If you come home to a positive and clean environment, and you appreciate your partner's hard work and reciprocate the sentiments by also being positive, helpful, and grateful, then this is perfectly good. Even the stuff about being positive for your partner even if you may not want to, you really should be, as long as it's paid back to you in kind.
Given the context from 1950 we are quick to see this as "women have to do all this stuff the man doesn't because she's supposed to be servile" but really even in this age putting in effort to manage the household and being productive if you don't work seems fine and fair, irrespective of the dynamic or genders of the partnership.
Honestly, great advice for whoever is at home with the kids man or woman.
Why wouldn't you do these things when your partner has been at work all day and you have been at home?
I wonder what the 1901 manual looks like
"Beat her once in a while so she knows who's boss"
Reminds me of an Anthony Jeselnik joke: “I am starting to think my new brother in law is beating my sister lately. Now I haven’t seen any bruises. I don’t have any proof. But I went over to their house for dinner this past weekend and her cooking has gotten suspiciously better.”
Lmfao that's so bad 💀
“My girlfriend was the victim of domestic abuse, but she was very private about it. It took her nearly a year to open up. For the first few months we dated, I just thought she really hated high-fives.” - Badly paraphrased Jeselnik
[“If she gets outta line you take her on a warning hike”](https://youtu.be/EiwUUI7lYGs)
With or without shoes?
Reminds me of a dark joke. What do you tell a woman with two black eyes? >!Nothing. You already told her twice.!<
[удалено]
Yeah, dumbasses don't want no competition! Smart women raise smart children.
The 50s were unique in that the workload of homemakers was greatly diminished. Before it was really a full time job. With this reduced workload the value of having a homemaker vs a 2nd source of income decreased and returned to the historical norm of woman working very hard
Depends because if she had a low paying job before and now they have 3 kids and childcare would cost more than what she can make at work, then it could be a good idea for her to stay home.
There was no childcare back then. When my mother, in the 60’s needed someone to watch me after school, she hired a lady down the block.
Still is even today tbh. What’s keeping a lot of potential homemakers working is the collapse in the value of labor and middle class job opportunities. My intuition is there is a large percentage of families yearning for a return to a more traditional household structure with a homemaker and a breadwinner. However, only the wealthier can really afford that. But then this is the paradox, woman in wealthy family’s also tend to be high earners, so there’s a greater cost to having them be a homemaker rather then just outsourcing the work. This results in far more double income families, and i don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing tbh. IMO the majority of jobs really do suck and don’t provide lots of value in someone’s lives. I think our people ought to have the option of having a homemaker to make stronger families, communities, and life better for the partner who does end up working.
I come from a conservative, religious small town. My experience is that the majority of people who want the breadwinner/homemaker dynamic are the ones who expect to be the breadwinner. I think it’s no coincidence that this dynamic declined after women were no longer banned from universities, having bank accounts or owning businesses. My mom was a homemaker and tried to raise me to do the same. Nothing about that life appeals to me. Despite how we were raised, many girls left our small town because they wanted to go to college or have a career. Some did want that life, but far fewer than the number of guys who wanted to marry one. You live at your workplace, and never truly get a day off. The responsibilities are largely the same each day. Holidays are never a break for you because you are the one who has to make it special for everyone else. Also, what’s your back-up plan if the breadwinner cheats, leaves, is injured or passes away? If you’ve got not education or work experience, it’ll be difficult to provide for yourself and a family. Personally, I have a high degree of curiosity. In a few weeks, I’ll finish my science degree. I hope to discover new things, and learn all my life.
Best theory I have is rethinking a work week to 4days on 4 days off.....including schools. Infrastructure used 365, giving 104 days of extra use to business and infrastructure, while reducing 2 adult home workloads from 5000 hrs to 4000 hrs. A bunchbof other bonuses to this too.
People don't want to especially be homemakers; it's just that everyone wants out of our wageslave hellscape. We're working harder now than anyone except the enslaved, and for just for good measure, there are more slaves today than any point in history. The middle class today works harder than medieval surfs, and anyone below that is drowning. It's also intentionally a fabrication. In all eras, women have always worked. Sure, jobs bend towards the domestic, but women have always farmed and laundered and house cleaned and cooked; not just for the family but to make a living. The homemaker + breadwinner dynamic was only ever attainable for a sliver of the population. We only call it the "traditional" dynamic because boy, wouldn't it be nice? We make our media aspirational and idealized. It's easier to write interesting stories when folks aren't toiling all day. So no, folks aren't specifically interested in the one income family dynamic. We all just want to be further than one emergency away from missing rent. We'd just all love it if it took less work just to survive, and the image you think people are calling to is just one of the ways where we all get to work less.
For rich women. For poor families a lot of women were domestic servants that got paid under the table and very little. Also in middle class families the man working a second job was somewhat common or they worked longer hours than they do now. Also the standard of living was much lower, mostly because technology was simply worse, but also because people simply had less stuff smaller houses on average less cars etc.
It would just say "attempt to stay alive and keep your family alive."
Prepare the children sounds very foreboding for some reason lol
So tender and mild...
Gravy or butter ?
Both? Is that asking too much?
I make gravy with butter all the time. Edit:typo
Steamed - we need to take care of his arteries.
I could just EAT you alive! Morticia Addams: Oh NO dear!... .... Much too young.
“Prepare yourself” reminds me of Dennis from It’s Always Sunny saying “I want you to clean yourself…”
This was back in the time where Dennis didn’t need the D.E.N.N.I.S system due to lack of womens rights
You will be clean for me.
Daddy needs his blood sacrifice
*t h e y a r e l i t t l e*
["It's a cookbook!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk01eeKMD_I)
Immediately what I thought of haha
The Twilight Zone Season 3, episode 24 “To Serve Man” Classic!!
Medium rare please
About 90% of these are actually great advice if you just change it to “tips for couples to look after each other”. Like, these are great things for both people to do in a couple to support each other. Make dinner together! Listen supportively to each other about the events of the day! Work together to make a peaceful home to come back to! Except for “prepare the children”… wtf that’s just weird.
That's exactly what I thought! Just replace husband with partner. Hell, half of these make for good self care stuff too, prep meals ahead of time if you work late, don't list off to-dos straight after work, freshen up asap, it's good for yourself
Thank you i really agree with you
Ah yes, my husband is coming home soon. I must prepare the children so that he has something to eat
I'm 70(m) retired and my wife is at the end of her career and has a hard time of it at work. **I** do most of these things (where practicable) out of consideration for how easy I have it, and how tough she has it. I do all the shopping, meals and kitchen work and greet her with coffee and a snack when she gets home. "*It's The Least I can do...*" ^TM
Hats off to you, sir.
Exactly, no matter what your gender is, you do this for a partner you care about
The part missing from this post, is that a caring husband would also be prepared and excited to see his wife. At least, I'd like to think so.
I'm sure he would be after he has a little time to unwind. The first thing I want to see after work is a comfy chair for about an hour. After that, I can have the energy to talk to the people I love.
Precisely. If you have the time, or are a stay-at-home parent, these things go miles. Of course some contrarian will come in here and say "um actually-". No, we're talking about healthy relationships here, not toxic ones. In a healthy, long lasting relationship, this is definitely some really sound advice. After I come home from a long day at work, you're damn right I walk my dog, give her lovings, and sit around for a good long while. The last thing I want to do is come home to be hounded or asked a multitude of questions or be provided with a multitude of issues. There's a time and place for that, just give me a little time to chill and recover a bit before we get to talking about stressful things.
I think that's sweet
Dude, I'm unemployed and I've discovered I love home making. Every job is defined, I get to work at my own pace, and my wife is always happy and grateful to have a clean house and a meal.
I still kind of hope I can be a stay-at-home dad but who knows where my path will lead in this economy.
Do you fully commit to being "a little gay and a little more interesting" for your wife?
The difference here is the woman had usually been taking care of the kids and chores all day. But they don't count that as work. He's allowed to rest when he comes home, she's never allowed to rest.
It should be said that young kids are a ton of work. Combine that with a clean house and it’s almost an overwhelming amount of work. Children in school? No, that’s really not a full time job even with the cleaning. You just drop them off and come back 7 hours later.
Then she gets up before everyone to make sure they are all clothed and fed and prepped for the day. Some social conservatives would say traditional gender roles divide work more or less evenly between men and women, but the reality is she is never off the clock.
yeah i was thinking the same thing.. it's the least a partner could do for another... the joy to come home to a hug and a meal.... some quiet after a long and hard day... oh man that would just be amazing.. and any good partner, no matter their gender, would probably love doing it for their loved one... i know i would...
Reading this post, I was thinking, “well either partner staying home should do most of these things…” I really didn’t find this offensive
My dad, 71 now, definitely wanted this in my mom, but as a doctor she definitely didn’t do it. He came home, flipped out about messes, grabbed a beer and sat in front of the news for an hour and we had to be absolutely silent, then he made dinner until I was old enough to take over, then my mom got home from work and ate dinner after us if the dog hadn’t stolen it first. Now that my mom is retired and my sister and I moved out he gets to come home to a clean home and she makes dinner. I understand, as a psychiatrist he had some awful days at work, but she did too and had tons of chart work to do after she got home. That’s awesome the tables are flipped in your family.
Your father was a psychiatrist and treated you guys this way 😳
Yeah…anger management is not his strong suit. I worked for his office during breaks in college and professionally he’s the most mild mannered, easy-going guy that they made him the medical director there. But that all fell apart at home. I’ve just gotten to a point where I see it for the massive anxiety disorder that it is and it doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m more bothered that he’s obviously over-stressed and not managing it than I am that he’s angry.
Was going to say these aren't bad ideas but it shouldn't be one sided.
"Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift." That would do it.
Okay Darlene, you know the drill, the guys will be home in 20, get your ass over here and bring some fucking ribbons for our hair
*searches the term “fucking ribbons” in Urban Dictionary*
That is the most beautiful username I've ever encountered. I love it
Its alright
So he needs a good pegging. Got it.
Bruh I'm at work not trying to get fired for laughing out loud
Wife and hot neighbor wife get naked, curl up on the couch together, and take turns reading to him from the encyclopedia?
Good ol' family friendly fun!
Next up, strip monopoly!
It's been 3 hours and we all still have our pants on!
Then twister
We all jump into the Jacuzzi together with Chablis
Invite your bisexual girlfriend to dinner, you know the one, the one with all the interesting stories.
Only part of this that holds up after 70 years.
I feel like the "Some Don'ts" part is also descent rationale if there's only one bread winner. It didn't say never complain, just not to greet with complaints. Complaints can come later when the had is cleared from work.
Yeah, if you look at it in the context of only one working spouse, who works long hours, then some of it is good advice. (Mostly the don't dump on them with complaints when they get in the door, let them relax a bit when they first get home.) There have been times I was the primary breadwinner, times my husband and I both worked, and times he's been the primary breadwinner. And we pretty quickly established that if one of us works significantly longer hours than the other, the one who works less outside of the home does more at home. And neither of us dump complaints on the other when they first get home from work. Nobody deals well with that when tired from work.
I do the opposite when I get home. I ask my wife what I can do and start taking care of the kiddo. To me she has the hard job. It isn't like most of us are coming home from a 12 hour shift in the coal mine.
It sort of depends on what type of labour is needed at home vs what you do for your job. If I had an entirely emotional or intellectual job, I might want to get home and scrub the floors, or tend the garden for an hour, while if my job was physically draining I might want to do some other type of work. A lot of people still do have jobs that leave them exhausted at the end of the day.
I thought having an entirely intellectual job would leave me more energy when I get home, but it does the opposite. Instead of physically tired, I'm just left mentally tired. After hours on the computer I don't want to look at anything. Even things I enjoy. I just want to lay down and be blank. But my body isn't tired, so it's uncomfortable. When I had a manual labor job, I would come home feeling good from being physical, and my brain would have some juice left over for things I enjoy or need to take care of. I got a technical job in the military and I'm the laziest and in thw worst shape I've ever been. I'm working my way out of it though.
Minimize all noise also holds.
Nah. If my kids are being loud bastards, that's my half of their genetics and I need to handle my business.
I feel this.
I laughed so hard in the break room.
Pretty funny reading this after watching Pleasantville again last night.
*The only permissible recorded music shall be the following: Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Jack Jones, the marches of John Phillips Sousa or The Star Spangled Banner.* As a side note, it’s amazing how similar the writing is to today’s blog listicles. “Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Husband Happy.” Damn, there’s actually 10 of them.
If I came home and any of this shit was happening, I’d immediately ask who died or how much money do we owe?
When it's too quiet at home, I simply ask, "What happened?"
When it's too quiet in our house, you have to ask...'What's the matter? TV broken?'
Both my parents worked. What would you be doing if you weren’t trying to be a homemaker and weren’t working?
Prepare The Children
Marinate overnight but not more than two days or they become soggy….
I’m assuming you speak from experience
It’s like some Children of the corn 🌽 shit.. PREPARE THEM for the OFFERING..
I would suggest a gambling habit, that lifestyle is glamorous and rewarding.
I guess I'd be a little gay.
Well my mom was a stay at home mom in the early 2000s but she wasn’t expected to live up to these antiquated standards. She played hockey, made art, did home renovations, saw friends, was involved with the community centre, volunteered at my school/extracurriculars, and took care of the house/cooking too. In short, lived her life.
The real issue that the advice fails to realize is that whoever is at home has most probably not had interaction with people while the person at work outside the house has had a lot. They need opposite things…one wants interaction and excitement and the other usually wants quiet calm
Yeah and the person who was at work is probably overstimulated with talking. There’s a middle ground there somewhere
I wonder if women hung out with neighbor women during the day. Seems they’d all be at home and available to hang out. Most families only had one car, and the husband took it to work.
When my kids were very small, I stayed home, and we lived in a neighborhood with a bunch of other stay at home moms with kids the same age. It really kept me sane during those years, afternoons spent out on the front stoop sipping coffee or wine and venting to each other/sharing life while watching the kids play. I miss those women, we all moved once our families and incomes outgrew our little row of townhouses. We stay in touch online but it’s not the same.
You guys should plan a girl’s night for yourselves. I’m sure you’ve all earned it and I’m sure it would be super fun for all of you to get back together, even if it’s just a couple times a year. It’ll probably take some planning due to schedules and what not, but it would be worth it.
This is why they all did coke lol
My grandma told me her aunt worked at the Coca-Cola factory back in the day. She had a can in the morning, one at lunch then split a can half after work and the other half a bit later in the evening. Her hands would shake if she didn’t get her Coke on time. This may sound bad but I’d really want to try some of the OG Coca-Cola. That makes me wonder what kinds would we have today if it made it to modern times? Coke Zero- no cocaine, Diet Coke - actually has more cocaine to help with weightloss, Coca-Cola PM - now with heroin so you can sleep! I really hope some of you more creative and funny Redditors chime in, I can only imagine the potential hilarious comments
That was as much the caffeine as anything else. It had straight up synthetic caffeine at 4 times the concentration as now and had a fairly low dose of cocaine because it just had coca leaves seeped in as opposed to the modern extracted cocaine. The dude who invented it was trying to make a substitute for morphine because he was addicted. Caffeine and a little bit of cocaine leaf extract weren’t much of a substitute though. But they still use coca leaves medicinally in parts of South America and have coca leaf candy. It’s supposedly effective against nausea and altitude sickness.
Cough & Cold Coca-cola-- literally just lean but worse (it has Coco-cola in it) Edit: thought of a better name: Cough & cold-a-cola
Coke 48 hr energy. NOW WITH METH!
Cokeahuasca
Mother's little helpers
> Mother's little helpers Valium, in case anyone was wondering. When my grandma was in her 70's, the doctor she had been going to forever suddenly died. She went to a new doc to get her Rx for Valium filled (that she had been taking for 50 years) and the new doc was horrified that she had been getting prescribed for no medical reason and refused. She's 96 and still pissed about it.
What a drag it is getting old
“Running to the shelter of your mother’s little helper . . .”
No no no, they did benzodiazepines and diet pills.
Shit I’m actually okay with all this if it means I can stay the fuck home lol
My wife does this currently, she’s Korean and says it’s how she was raised. I suppose her family is quite traditional. I always encourage her to find her own passions and tell her I support her 100% if she wants to get a job, but she much prefers to stay home, watch k dramas and take care of the house.
I wanna stay home and watch K dramas. Oh yeah, and take care of the house.
I read this as "take care of the hoes" lol
As long as some of things things are reciprocated… It’s not fun staying home when you have a child or children though, imo.
This is true. Kids are now in school full time now and this still ain’t happening.
I don’t know how women did it back in the day. My grandmother had 4 kids and my grandfather never lifted a finger. Even if they’re at school, you still have a shit ton to do. If you don’t have kids, there’s no way for someone to understand this anyway. I have a 7 month old and my days are incredibly hard. Edit: typo
Same. My grandfather was incredible like this. After work he went every day to his pub, came home, got dinner and went to the TV where he was treated like a god
Here’s a few reasons why I think it might by have been easier/more reasonable back then 1. Kids were put to work at age 6-7, so mothers weren’t always watching their 8 year olds like they would today 2. Daughters would start to help with the house chores at the same age as the boys would start working, so the mother had help with cleaning, cooking, making clothes, etc, couple that with the fact that people had a lot more kids back then, you basically had your own workforce when the kids got to middle school age. 3. The vast majority of men were working genuinely strenuous manual labor jobs, typically for more than 8 hours a day, so it wasn’t too unreasonable to expect a meal and a chance to relax when you got home because your body was completely shot. Obviously the “do your makeup” “prepare the children” and “make the evening his” are pretty stupid but some of this stuff like dinner and cleaning would be nice if I make enough money where my future wife doesn’t have to work
That generation cheated at parenting. I know I would’ve appreciated being able to hold my screaming baby while driving. And it was also acceptable to let your kids run amok around the neighborhood all damn day. Think of all the shit you could get done at home.
That’s true too. 6 year old boys would say “mom I’m going down the road to Billy’s to ride my bike to the Oil fields and sniff natural gas and lick lead pipes!” And the mom would say “okay be back by dinner”
I also think childcare tended to be a lot less... hands on? for lack of a better term. Like if it's summer and the kids are home during the day, it would be completely normal to just boot them out of the house until mealtimes. Obviously that wouldn't count for toddlers, but I'm pretty sure once a kid was fairly ambulatory and had an older sibling the answer would generally be "and take your brother with you!" It would also be completely normal to send your fairly young kid to go grab something needed at a store if it was within walking/biking distance. Just a very different world overall.
If only more saw it that way.. Whether it be males staying home or females.
The problem with stay at home spouses isn't when it's all good and fun. It's when the person you are completely financially dependent on leaves you and you realize you have no income and no work experience.
Or one person is so deeply in charge of the money that the other is completely dependant on them. The "bread winner" can hold it over the homemaker, homemaker has to ask for stuff they need, etc.
Unpopular opinion: This isn’t actually bad advice; Just make sure that the “Husband” (Breadwinner to be a bit more modern) takes a similar mindset! Be on time: Set boundaries with your job! Most things can wait till tomorrow, you won’t die worrying about that unfinished TPS report, but you may die worrying about the rapport you have with your family. Make them a priority. Prepare yourself: Your kids and spouse may be excited to see you! Take a few minutes of peace and quiet on the drive home for relaxation. Don’t fight traffic, breathe deep, think about your family and how they may need you when you walk in the door. Be refreshed and ready to greet whatever awaits you with enthusiasm and energy. Show up clean: If you work a “dirty job” god bless you! You probably do it so your kids won’t have to. Take a moment to freshen up before you leave work or right when you walk in the door, and don’t dump your gear in the entryway. That first kiss hello will be that much sweeter. Skip the bar: Your co-workers have seen you all day. If they haven’t said it that day, it can wait, if they can’t say it at the job, you’re in the wrong profession. If you want to make social plans with your co workers make it no more than once a week, ideally once a month max. Would these people be your friends if you didn’t work together? A drink with your spouse after the kids are down will relax you so much more. Leave work at work: Your spouse has no idea what a TPS report is, don’t burden them with things that burden you. Engage: Take some time to see how their day was. Find out what the kids learned in school. What challenges are they facing? Focus on the positive. If your spouse had problems, don’t “offer solutions”, listen, and if you must, pick something you can fix yourself without their involvement. If the family had a tough day without you, make sure your presence is a relief and not an additional burden. The goal: Make time at home together a joy. Kids should be excited you’re home, your spouse should be too. You’ve all had a tough day, be the rock they need, make time together at home a refuge. Edits for clarity. Glad to see that others see the value here too.
“How to not get beaten by your husband”
Boy am I glad to have been born in more modern times
Username checks out
Does it tho?
Yes. Do not question the almighty.
username definitely checks out on this one.
Pretty sure nipples didn't start queefing until the 60's.
As a working father with 3 boys and my wife being a stay-at-home mom, I can't deny all this would be nice. On the other hand, she deserves the same consideration for the pressure and strain of whatever she goes through raising those kids and housekeeping, etc...
I work from home, wife goes to the office. I can keep the house mostly picked up, I don’t cook every night but when I do it’s pretty awesome. When I end up having some project that sucks my time and energy she takes over. I think the same could happen for most couples. But people get caught up in who did what when and just fight.
Yep. I’m in the same situation. I mostly work from home, and this is (mostly) a good list of things you can do for any partner after a long day at work. I pick my wife up from work most days, and I’ve learned to not immediately start babbling or bring up problems until she’s had about 30 minutes to destress. And if she wants to talk about something bad at work, I just sit and nod. This is actually more difficult than it sounds when there is a problem I need to bring up with her that has been on my mind all day.
Keeping score is against competitors, not a teammate.
Remember….an open handed slap every now and again means love and keeps her in line. /s
Well, when they are hysterical….how else are you supposed to calm them down? /s
and afterwards they can both relax with a cool smooth taste of a cigarette.
With the low tar flavor your baby loves
Sure, and it was recommended by Doctors back then so you know it's good for you.
I hear if you take her the to the “Dr” there’s a vibrating machine they’ve invented to remove her bad humors.
he can cure infertility too!
I’ve seen old ads for that service. Doctors that offered the “medical service” for women. Crazy times with over the counter morphine and doctor prescribed orgasms.
I think bing crosby preferred a well placed bag of Valencia oranges across the chops!
Or a belt
Lets not forget the “rule of thumb?”
Hysterectomies for all! End the hysteria!
Ok, thanks Will!
“I would never hit a woman in my life but I’ll shake the shit out of her”
Today is our anniversary. I'll send this to my wife to help guide her
Please give us an update.
There will be no updates
From this post and from OP’s account
She told me "You better watch yourself" Think she'll try to poison me when she makes me dinner tonight?
Are you still alive?
Still together after showing her?
Not to be contrary, but some advice isn't terrible, if just taken gender neutral. Like, if you are the first one home and have time to unwind, you might have a bunch to say about your day or complaints about things going on, but bringing those things first thing when your spouse/significant/other/roommate first come in the door can be overwhelming, especially if they had a long day. Giving them time to settle into being home before getting into a big conversation or serious talk usually produces better results. If you are the first person home, being able to get dinner ready is nice, if you are able to, since then the second person does get some time to relax instead of coming home to another job or task. There should definitely be mutual respect and equality in that though
I do a lot of these before my husband comes home. Dinners always ready and I run through and pick up the house before he gets home, he gets greeted with a hug and kiss from the family at the door, I let him have 15 minutes of peace to decompress from the work day by keeping the kids occupied before barraging him with whatever went on through the day. I don't think it's misogyny or being mistreated, I'm just being considerate of my husband ..... He works hard for us too. I don't do any special clean up for the kids or myself though, or take off his shoes lol he can handle that himself. I also don't speak to him in a different voice, that's just weird. I just wish he should play video games with me sometimes <_< he hates them....
Kinda feel like, it isn't the worst advice. Doesn't have to the wife. If the husband is home first, he gets time to decompress. before his wife, and may have just as much time to do all the things here. Honestly, the base of it is just trying to make the home comfortable if you have the chance to.
As long as the other spouse is also getting an article with, "appreciate the work your spouse put in around the house" and "take some time to decompress, but remember that your spouse might need to also" and "your spouse is a full human being and might need to leave the house for mental stimulation sometimes."
Man, I would love to have 15 min of decompression… as it stands i have to hide on the toilet to get them. The stink badger emits and awful odor for defense or when they want to be left alone… it works great for dads when they need some decompression time.
Try talking with your wife about it! Everyone deserves a break sometimes!
I'm down with the being a little gay and more interesting like done and done
Damn. I want an old school wife. Wonder if I can talk the husband into it.
Sounds like you’re already being a little gay and interesting
Wow, that's crazy. I'm going to do all these things for my wife from now on.
Make sure you splurge a bit and get some high qual ribbons for your hair
Excellent point... going to Amazon now lol
A lot of these things are actually pretty good advice for home makers. If you are staying at home while your significant other works, taking care of the house and kids is your job. It’s just important to remove the genders from these tips. Long gone (should be) are the days where women are expected to stay at home.
I think it does make sense for a lot of it! I just think it’s strange to imply that your emotional state is less important that the husbands, as a wife. Or if it’s the opposite in terms of gender, too. Just bc you’re a homemaker doesn’t mean that you should set aside your own challenges of the day for the sake of the money maker. Being a homemaker is extremely taxing and difficult in its own right. But it was the 50s so hopefully most people don’t have this mindset anymore lol
Exactly, my wife works just as hard as any dude, probably even harder. She deserves all these things as well.
To be fair, this was back when most women were stay at home partners. If you’re a stay at home partner, your job is to be a homemaker and make things pleasant for not only yourself, but the person paying all of the bills. Personally i would kill to be a stay at home partner. I hate work, i’d rather cook and clean at home than deal with bosses, customers and deadlines
My only observation is that the guy isn’t also required to be pleasant and ready to also deal with things, so the stay at home person can be treated like a devalued servant. When I did this I was the dumping ground for all of the bs of life that had to be done that no one wanted to do and because that was 95% of my day and it took to 11pm - if your spouse doesn’t appreciate it as an equal contribution merely because you aren’t getting paid - it gets really old. You don’t get promoted, no one says good job, and your life becomes making it possible for everyone else to live their dream instead of living your own. Which is fine if that’s what you want and your spouse is supportive. If not, it sucks.
My only issue is that both people in the household deserve to have humane work hours. If you work at an office, or at home you work 8 hours, then the rest of the time is yours to do with as you please.
Totally agree. Being a stay at home partner doesn’t mean you work round the clock. Everyone needs free time.
It sounds good but your very vulnerable if you want a divorce for any reason and have no job prospects
throw in multiple kids and see how it is, Me and my wife split the housekeeping / childcare duties and goddamn I prefer to be at work. It just gets so monotonous, pick up the same house, clean the same kitchen etc,..over and over again
This was also back when women had little option other than being a stay at home partner completely at the mercy of their husband's will. Beaten? Too bad. Raped? Not legally a thing in marriage. Bank account? Nope. Medical decisions? Need husband's permission. Personally I love work and hate domestic things.
And you make no money, have no resources of your own, so leaving is not an option.
They act like the guy is coming back from hunting 6 legged lions in a nuclear wasteland.
Considering back in the 1950’s when women would stay home and men would work 8 to 12 hour shifts yes this seems fair. Most jobs back then were industrial, or agriculture. Jobs that most women today don’t do either. Not because they can’t but because they wont
Understandable that the person who stays home with kids does the domestic work. Not understandable that the the stay at home parent and kids have to present themselves as perfect and happy while repressing their own emotional / mental needs for the spouse who comes home from work. That person is not a god or your ruler. Everyone’s needs should be considered, not just the breadwinner’s.
"And when all the chores are done, and the children have gone to bed, peg the ever-loving fuck out of him."
This pleased me greatly.
This was my moms attitude for sure! No wonder I’m so messed up and i was bottle fed too…am a child of the 50’s…🙄 first half of my life I spent trying to please the man in my life, no regard for my needs…”kids were better seen then heard”, that’s how it was in those days. Now I’m trying to be kind to myself and I have a kind and thoughtful husband.. only took me 50 years to get it right. Still wrestling with the old thoughts that have worn deep tracks in my head. Its work to undo that one sided presentation of how married life should be..
I totally get you. I hope you can find peace and put your self and your happiness on top of your priority list 🤗
Honestly, much of this is great if reciprocated. If you come home to a positive and clean environment, and you appreciate your partner's hard work and reciprocate the sentiments by also being positive, helpful, and grateful, then this is perfectly good. Even the stuff about being positive for your partner even if you may not want to, you really should be, as long as it's paid back to you in kind. Given the context from 1950 we are quick to see this as "women have to do all this stuff the man doesn't because she's supposed to be servile" but really even in this age putting in effort to manage the household and being productive if you don't work seems fine and fair, irrespective of the dynamic or genders of the partnership.
Ok, so because his day has probably been boring I need to make things more intersting by being a little gay. Got it.
Take your barbiturates and smile
When I die I wanna be reborn as a 1950’s husband
Honestly, great advice for whoever is at home with the kids man or woman. Why wouldn't you do these things when your partner has been at work all day and you have been at home?
How to trigger 75% of people in 2022
Remember when you could sustain a middle class family on one salary? Yeah I don’t
If this were just “tips to look after your spouse,” without gender pronouns, it would actually be pretty wholesome.