(Taken from a Home Economics textbook still used into the early 1960's)
LESSON THREE WORKSHEET
THE FASCINATING WOMANHOOD WAY TO WELCOME A
MAN WHEN HE COMES HOME FROM WORK.
(Check those you already do.)
- GET YOUR WORK DONE: Plan your tasks with an eye on the clock. Finish or
interrupt them an hour before he is expected. Your anguished cry, "Are you home
already?" is not exactly a warm welcome.
- HAVE DINNER READY: Plan ahead, even the night before to have a delicious meal,
on time. 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
prospects of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.
- PREPARE YOURSELF: Take fifteen minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he
arrives. This will also make you happy to see him, instead of too tired to care. Turn
off the worry and be glad to be alive and grateful for the man who is going to walk
in. While you are resting you can be thinking about your Fascinating Womanhood
assignment and all you can do to make him happy to give his spirits a lift. When you
arise, take care of your appearance. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in you 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. His boring day may need a lift.
- CLEAR AWAY THE CLUTTER: Make one last trip through the main part of the house
just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. in a
bucket or wastebasket and put them in the back bedroom for sorting later. Then run
a dust cloth over the tables. You husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest
and order and it will give you a lift too. Having the house in order is another way
of letting him know that you care and have planned for his homecoming.
- PREPARE THE CHILDREN: Take just 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 his little treasures and he would like to see them look the part.
- MINIMIZE ALL NOISE: Especially give heed to this if your husband has to join rush
hour traffic. At the time of his arrival, eliminate noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher,
or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet at the time of their father's
arrival. Let them be a little noisy beforehand, to get it out of their system.
- BE HAPPY TO SEE HIM: Greet him with a warm smile and act glad to see him. Tell
him that it is good to have him home. This may make his day worthwhile. If there
is any romance left in you, he needs it now.
- SOME DON'TS: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Solve the problems
you can before he gets home and save those you must discuss with him until later in
the evening. Also, don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as a minor
problem when compared to what he may have gone through that day. Don't allow the
children to rush at him with problems or requests. Allow them to briefly greet their
father, but save demands for later.
- MAKE HIM COMFORTABLE: Have him lean back into a comfortable chair or
suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
Arrange his pillow and offer to massage his neck and shoulders and take off his shoes.
Don't insist on this however. Turn on music if it is one of his pleasures. Speak in a
soft, soothing, pleasant voice. Allow him to relax -- to unwind.
- LISTEN TO HIM: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his
arrival is not the time. Let him talk first, then he will be a more responsive listener
later.
- MAKE THE EVENING HIS: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or
other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and
pressure, his to be home and relax. If he is cross or irritable, never fight back. Again,
try to understand his world of strain.
- THE GOAL: Try to make your home a place into a place of peace and order where
your husband can renew himself in body and spirit. Then add to this the application
of all the principles of "Fascinating Womanhood" and you husband WILL WANT TO
COME HOME. He will rather be with you than with anyone else in the world and
will spend whatever time he can possibly spare with you. Try living all of these rules
for his homecoming and see what happens. THIS is the way to bring a man home to
your side, NOT by pressure, persuasion or moral obligation.