How To Train Your Husband

Meet Mrs. Margaret Deeds. She is a woman who knows a thing or two about human nature and relationships. Perhaps this is why the illustrious Woman's Home Companion turned to her for, possibly, the most important primer a young newlywed will ever read, Catch Him Young! Train Him Right! (May 1947 issue).

In her article, Mrs. Deeds articulates the steps a bride must take to ingrain better habits in her Romeo before the ink is dry on the wedding contract. This is the only way to ensure that your lesser half will be as beneficial inside the home as he is at the office. As you can see from the following illustrated (click to enlarge for uncomfortable slave owner reference!) guide, it's easier than your mother told you to trick your beloved into aiding you in the kitchen, setting the table, and making the bed. Let your fella know that if he wants to drone on about his preference for his mother's cooking, he had better help you devise menus and do the shopping! Men might be more interested in drinking and impressing you with his stacking abilities, but that's no reason not to put him to work with the vegetable scrubber! Finally, remember that a sure-fire way to get him to be useful around the house is to make him feel like a king, and the best way to do that is to boost his ego by giving him the easiest tasks to free up your time (even he won't screw up packaged convenience foods!) and liberally using exaggerated compliments. Also, provide him with a selection of cheery aprons. He'll enjoy the snappy look, won't soil his slacks, and his chums needn't know about his house garb!



In a detail from an advertisement for Wear-Ever Aluminum Utensils, a rosy complexioned wife tightens her husband's apron strings as she puts him on KP. He might think he's lording over the manor with his virile pipe and bowtie ensemble, but his wife's jollied up expression tells a different story.


And, from yet another Woman's Home Companion article (this one about the importance of a good cuppa coffee), another writer submits her number one method of training her man in Good Coffee Makes Good Husbands


[all articles, images, and advertisements from the strangely thematic May 1947 issue of Woman's Home Companion]