Women, know your place...

Today's entry is aimed at all you happily (or not so happily) married women out there.  I know it can be hard to maintain a healthy, caring relationship in this wicked world, but thankfully Ms Blanche Ebbutt has written a delightful little tome entitled "Don'ts for Wives" to help guide you.

Of course, the fact that it was written in 1913 may date some of it, but just because the advice is almost a hundred years old doesn't mean that it isn't just as valid and useful today as it was back then!  I'm sure that together we can draw something helpful from it.

Lets look at some of that advice in more detail.

Don't moralise by way of winning back the love that seems to be waning.  Make yourself extra charming and arrange delicious dinners which include all your husband's favourite dishes.

Absolutely!  We all know that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach ... well, to be completely accurate the way to a man's heart is between the fourth and fifth ribs ... and I believe what Ms Ebbutt is trying to tell us is that the easiest way to make your husband love you again is to stuff him so full of food that he's ready to bust at the seams.  Okay, so maybe it won't make him love you again, but at least he'll be so full that he won't be inclined to run off with that blonde gym instructor.

Don't hesitate to plan out large expenditures with your husband.  Usually a woman is very good at small economics, but often a man has a better grip of essentials in spending large amounts.

Well this one is a given.  Ladies, for heaven sake don't spend any more than a fiver unless you check with your hubby first!  After all, we can't be worrying our pretty little heads about things like high finances, now can we.  Thankfully none of us need to deal with confusing things like numbers on a regular basis ... well, except for those of us who work in finance (like me!!!).  Or who have mortgages.  Or who are sole income households.  But lets be honest, how often is that going to happen!  We'll just let the men take care of things like that and focus on sitting around and looking pretty.

Don't permit yourself to forget for a single instant that nothing is more annoying to a tired man than the sight of a half-finished laundry work.  The remotest hint in your home of a 'washing day' is like a red rag to a bull.

Oh yes, heaven forfend that there should be any evidence of household drudgery when the man of the house gets home!  The laundry should be washed, ironed and put away where it belongs before he returns from work.  You didn't have time to get it all done?  Well, you should have gotten up earlier then!  After all, you don't want to find out what's being hinted at by that "red rag to a bull" comment.

Don't omit to pay your husband an occasional compliment.  If he looks nice when he comes in dressed for the opera, tell him so.  If he has been successful with his chickens, or his garden, or his photography, compliment him on his results.

Many a household could have remained harmonious if only the wife had complimented her husband on his chickens.  And men can never hear too much about how good they look in their new opera cloak.

So there you are, girls.  It's easier to keep a happy marriage than you realised.  Just make sure you feed him, pander to him, slave over him and butter him up!  It'll work, Ms Ebbutt guarantees it!

And don't think you're getting off without your turn, guys.  Tune in tomorrow to find out what Ms Ebbutt recommends gentlemen do to keep a happy home in "Don'ts for Husbands"!