How To Raise A Happy Housewife
Apparently there are people out there turning to the internet to find out how to raise their daughters so that they will grow up to be happy housewives.
Because I am incredibly wise and experienced in this area I would like to fill in some advice which is missing from the world wide webz.
Don’t.
No, really! I mean it. If you want your daughter to be a happy housewife, do not raise her to be one. Keep her busy with the normal activities of American children and pretend that you care about her mind and furthering her education. Then someday she will perchance happen upon the concept of being a housewife and find it intriguing, appealing, and just a tad exotic (though goodness knows she won’t admit that last one to herself!).
Sure, she won’t be competent at first, but struggling through those first few homemade dinners and figuring out what to fill her linen closet with will be an adventure. As her confidence grows she will find it all so fulfilling!
If your daughter is raised to be a housewife then chances are, since she is your brilliant daughter, that she will be good at it. And if she is good at it, then it isn’t going to challenge her. And if it does not challenge her, she will be bored.
And a bored housewife isn’t going to be a good housewife, now is she?
Of course she might be one of the rare ones who finds ways of coping by making everything just a bit more challenging than it needs to be. She won’t just make her own laundry detergent (that is so housewife 102!), she’ll grow her own organic soap nuts. She won’t dream of asking you to babysit because she would never neglect her precious babies by leaving them with anyone, including their grandparents.
Alternately, she might spend her days teaching other women about homemaking in order to save herself from the mind-numbing boredom.
And this isn’t what you really want for your daughter, is it?
So, if you want your daughter to be a happy housewife take my advice: whatever you do, do not train her to be a housewife.
Let her discover the depth of pleasure that can come from housewifery when she is old enough to learn it herself. She won’t thank you for it, but she will be happy. And you might even get to play with your grandchildren while your daughter perfects the art of canning inferior lemon curd which she made in the microwave.
Well, I trained ALL my children to be competent around the house. The ones who are housewives (2/6, and they both have degrees in theology) are happy. The other two girls DON’T survive on fast food. The guys – I can’t call them boys anymore – do laundry, iron their shirts, and astound their roommates with their cooking ability. In my opinion, household skills set all of them free to pursue their goals without feeling like they need to choose between living in comfort and “the interesting stuff”.
As usual, you sound very wise.
“Household skills set all of them free to pursue their goals without feeling like they need to choose between living in comfort and “the interesting stuff”.”
I love this! I wish that all parents could see things this way.
I’d done it all, for years. There was no adventure left in housework or childcare. Thankfully I snapped out of autopilot, because it wasn’t a good place to be.
I am glad that you were able to find a way out.
LOL
Note: Not raising my kids to be any particular profession (that’s up to them to decide) but teaching the basics of keeping a home is a good idea housewife or not. Boys are learning them too. Trust me not learning them doesn’t make for a challenge, it makes life he… unpleasant.
That being said… I wish I could grow my own soapnuts
I don’t mind buying them, don’t get me wrong there, but the money we could save… and instant money maker too. Sigh… I doubt they’d grow well here anyway.
If you ever move to where you can grow soapnuts I will order them from you! I secretly wish that I could grow them too. I tell Josh that if he doesn’t make sure I work outside the home he’d better be ready to come home to milk-goats and me grinding our own grains etc.
And I think that all children can learn helpful basics without a special focus put on just training the girls to be housewives. At least I hope so.
I don’t know why I found it surprising to learn that some people raise their girls to be housewives, but I did. Uggh. So offensive. And not because housewifery is mindless drudgery. It’s not. I think it’s incredibly important work and can be very challenging and fulfilling. I’m a housewife and I make my own laundry soap! . But I like it because I chose it, not because it was chosen for me.
Well said.
Because you should be raising your children to be independent, hard working and educated. The idea of someone raising their child to simply have more kids is horrifying.
By raising them to be something you are swaying them way too much for you to say it’s their own choice. Teach them to get an education, get a good job, be independent and financially secure. Not to take pride in doing the things we all have to do every day.
I love this post.
Being a housewife, like any job, is a calling. And who can pretend to know their children’s calling?