sueisallaboutquilts

I totally flunked! hahahahaha

Eddie

Wow, I really like that! It is so full of truth! :)

Butterflyblue

"Over the cooler months of the year, you should light a fire for him to unwind by"

Somehow I think my husband would have a hard time unwinding with all the fire sirens, since we don't have a fireplace...

What really ticks me off the most here (well, aside from the "don't complain even if he stays out all night" ) is how they act like being a homemaker is so easy and stress free - all the stress and contribution to the family is attributed to the man who works. As a SAHM to two kids, I can tell you that that is not true!

akrogirl

My mother worked, but she still had remnants of that mentality. However, I was the one expected to do the dusting and vacuuming, plus get dinner started, when I got home from school. My brother, of course, never had to do anything (I was also the one who helped our father work on the car!) :roll: It sure put me off housekeeping for life ;-)

kellen46

I was searching for "vintage" images for a collage project and this popped up. It would be just a curiosity except it was real for a lot of women in the forties and fifties. It was real for my family, long ago when I was newly married into a cattle rancher family all the women, from grandmother to daughter would gather in the kitchen to cook, and then to serve the menfolk in the dinning room, we would eat standing in the kitchen just in case there was an order for more of something or the other. Later we would clean up and care for any little ones around while the men napped in chairs. Shhsh daddy is sleeping. We also worked outdoors, gardening, helping with field work or caring for livestock. While the men watched Ed Sullivan we were preparing for the next day, last thing was to set the table for breakfast. I was young, only a teen, but the amazing thing was none of us questioned it back then. It was just the way things were. When I finally did take a breath I asked myself why and rebelled. It earned me a slap in the face, led to the end of my marriage and hard years of being a single parent. But it also taught me the value of personal freedom and it kept my ex mom in law as a lifelong friend. When men get sentimental about the great old days of the fifties and the sixties I get a little steamed, it was not a good time for women and children and we did have to march in the streets for, at the minimum, some recognition of the need for change. I spent the last twenty years of my working life working in the field of child protection. I have seen the damage that comes from powerlessness. I will give one small example. I had a client who was expecting her fifth child. In our conversation I asked if she was planning to breast feed her baby. She was shocked I would ask her to do something so perverted, in her words, "titties are for men, not for children". After I got my wits back I tried to educate her that no they were specifically for children, only men think of them as sexual. I finally had to point out kittens, puppies, calves and etc drank milk from the mother, that's what mammals do, she was still skeptical but admitted I might have a point.
I know this is simplistic, and not all women experienced this but, I know I we still have a long way to go when I hear women say " My husband lets me....." you fill in the blank. Our daughters and granddaughters need to know the past to create their futures, and to know that as recent as fifty years ago there were laws on the books that a woman who was pregnant outside of marriage could be incarcerated as a threat to public morals. Women were jailed for having a "love child". What an irony that is. I think the best thing we can do for our children, male or female is to teach them critical thinking. Enough, I will get off the soap box.

JudyG

Oh, Eddie, remember you are waaaaay outnumbered here (and at home). Of course, we know you're kidding or you wouldn't be surviving in a house with three women.

Butterflyblue

My parents have a pretty traditional marriage, but one thing I've always appreciated was that my little brother (although my mom still spoiled/spoils him more because he's the baby) had to do housework just like my sister and I. He lives with two or three roommates now, and he's the only one who can cook. I had a friend whose family was not that way - the boys were treated better and seen as "more important" by the parents, and she had to do A LOT of the housework and taking care of things that they did not have to. She was the oldest and she had to grow up fast.

sueisallaboutquilts

EDDIE!!!! I'm going to get Admin to kick you off this board!!!
hahahahahah :-D :-D

Eddie

Hahaha....you have NOooooo idea how right you are. I am outnumbered and never will have the odds in my favor. If I were to show that to my wife and even suggest that she follow it, well...I better be prepared to protect myself! :D

Chasing Hawk

I disagree, a woman doesn't have to be a total "b" in the house. These days I have noticed a lot of women think that it isn't done their way hell will have to be paid and there will be no peace until it is. There are women out there who do think along these lines. But don't necessarily follow that article to the letter. I am one of them, I was raised this way. Too much power-playing going on these days in a marriage and not enough equality.

I make sure our home is comfortable, we rarely argue, and I enjoy cooking for my husband. I am by no means a robot, I do have a mind of my own. We choose to live on an equal footing in our marriage.