The Womanly Arts: Forum

You wrote:

Some of the comments, such as, don’t greet your husband at the door with complaints, are just common sense and timeless.

My reply:

Yes, many people probably think, exactly as you do, that “not greeting your husband at the door with complaints would be just common sense and timeless.”

Alas, young women today are being raised considerably different than the “baby boomer” generation. Baby boomers are no longer having children, or for the most part raising children.

The Baby Boomers who are raising children are doing so because of some tragic event, like their son or daughter is unable to care for their own children due to drugs, alcohol, death, etc…

Divorce is more prevalent, as is being a single parent.

Relationships between men and women today have certainly evolved, but into what?
I am alarmed at the number of women who have little or no interest in housekeeping, cooking, and a myriad of other learned life skills that were once considered “standards”.

Permanent press clothing certainly allowed for the need to know how to properly iron a man’s shirt to be taken off the list of needed skills. I still occasionally iron my husband’s shirts just because I use to really enjoy ironing. (Granted that sounds more than a little nuts… I know…)

Today, the prevalence of fast food availability and the numbers of grocery stores that sell ready-to-eat, pre-cooked family meals are undermining the need to know how to cook. When, actually the grocery stores are selling cooked foods to reduce their overhead caused by food spoilage. It’s still an expensive trade off. Are you really working so you can buy food that is commercially prepared?

Granted I think it is marvelous for men to cook, but too many of men, husbands, and significant others are doing the cooking because the women in their lives don’t cook, won’t cook, or are too exhausted to cook.

It seems to me that young women today are victims of corporate sabotage, and profiteering. Yes, I said, “Corporate Sabotage, and Profiteering.” Families are at a disadvantage. Today it is a necessity for both the man (husband) and woman (wife) to be gainfully employed to afford the mortgage, car note(s), insurances, cable, Internet, utilities, and other ever rising costs of living.

I remember a saying, “Two can live cheaper than one.”

The following link is to an article that is certainly timely, and very informative, but the topic, How to shack up, financially demonstrates to me how much social norms concerning marriage have changed, since I was growing up.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Loveandmoney/P115479.asp?GT...

You wrote:
But making sure the house is quiet and peaceful, in this day and age. HA! Or maybe that’s just a So Cal impossibility

My reply:

No, making a house a quiet and peaceful place is not just a southern California impossibility. It would be nice if the problem was limited to southern California.

Hence my concern, and all the justification I need for creating the Womanly Arts: Hearth and Home

It just seems home should be more than just a physical location. For me, the word home invokes feelings of comfort, safety, security, and pleasure.

Today there is so much energy and emphasis being put on developing job skills, networking, marketability, and the like…I fear that while women compete competently in the job market that something of intrinsic (basic and essential) value is being lost.

For as long as I can remember, men, and society, have measured a man’s worth almost exclusively by their employment, and income.

A woman’s contribution to family and society goes far beyond mere job title and earnings. Women need to remind themselves of this fact.

In today’s fast paced world, being a homemaker has lost its appeal and value.

That’s all I have time for now – I need to tend to my hearth and home…

Ya’ll can bet I’m eagerly awaiting comments…