Thursday, July 1, 2010

1955 vs. 2010

I belong to a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group at my church, which I absolutely love.  The one thing I’ve found from having mental illness and having had weight-loss surgery is that having support makes all the difference in the world.  Since it works so well for normalizing the rest of my life, why wouldn’t I seek out the support for my main role in life – being a wife and mom?  As a member of MOPS, every other month, I get a publication called Momsense put out by MOPS International.

This month, there were several articles about the differences in being a mom in 1950 versus being a mom in 2010.  One of the articles was How to be a Good Wife from an article in 1955 printed in a magazine called Housekeeping Monthly. The article is about preparing your home for your husband’s arrival home from work.   As I giggled my way through the article, then called my best friend and laughed with her so hard that we both cried (and snorted!), I came up with an idea for my blog.  I know that I usually post only about things that are about having a lap-band or mental illness, but this was too good to pass up.


  1.  (1955)  Clear away the clutter – Make one last trip through the house to pick up the children’s toys, books, or papers…then run a dust cloth over tables.  Your husband will feel as if he has reached a haven of rest and order.

(2010) At 3:30 look up from facebook and notice your house is in complete disarray.  As you panic, you run to the kitchen to start the breakfast and lunch dishes.  As you finish loading, realize that if the dishes do not get washed NOW there will be nothing to eat on for dinner!  Start the dishwasher.  At 4:20 realize that a clean house is just a figment of your husband’s imagination – you have little kids!  Call him before he leaves work to warn him of the mess.

  1. (1955) Prepare the children – If they are small, wash their hands and faces and comb their hair.  They are his little angels and he would like to see them playing the part.

(2010)  At 4:45 look at your kids in their mismatched outfits that they picked out themselves.  Notice that you can tell what they had to eat today by looking at their shirt.  Think about having them change clothes, but realize that would double your laundry, and the pile does not need to get any bigger because you are already a week behind and your kids are wearing bathing suits under their clothes because they have run out of underwear.  Sigh when you see the red kool-aid mustache, knowing that is going anywhere either.  Start the load of underwear.

       3.  (1955) Minimize all noise.  At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise from the
             washer, dryer or vacuum.  Encourage the children to be quiet.

(2010)  Let’s see – the dishwasher is on, underwear is washing, you realize you have to vacuum the dried playdough because it’s hurting your bare feet.  As you start to vacuum, child number 1 turns the TV volume on high and child number two starts screaming because she is afraid of the vacuum.  Cue your husband’s entrance.

     
  1.     (1955) Some Do Nots – Do not greet him with problems or complaints.  Do not     
          complain if he is late for dinner, because this may be a minor problem
    compared to what he may have gone through with his day.

(2010)    As soon as you are done vacuuming, tell your husband you need to
grab a quick shower, because you did not get a chance to get one.  Also report on thing 1 and thing 2’s (er... I meant child) digressions.  When he asks about dinner, ask him to throw in some chicken nuggets and fries from the freezer.  Potatoes are vegetables, right?