February Book Pick: The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands

Since February is the “month of love,” I thought it would be appropriate to have the book of the month be focused on improving our relationships with our significant others. This book is targeted to married women, so the guys reading this will have to read another book. This is good advice, so even those single gals should enjoy this read.

The book this month is titled, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I know Dr. Laura can be controversial, but this book had some excellent advice which is worth reading. After reading it I felt inspired to be a better wife.
One thing I have noticed in life is people tend to treat the people they love the most the worst. Why is it that we can be so friendly to the UPS man who comes to our door and then so impatient with our family members? I know I definitely have room to improve on being a better wife…here are some great suggestions you’ll find in this book.

• Prioritize your relationship. As women we often take a lot upon ourselves that really isn’t necessary. We have kids to take care of, a house to clean, some of us work, church commitments, hobbies, home projects, laundry, meals to prepare, PTA, social engagements…and the list goes on and on. In order to have a good relationship, we need to take the time to nourish it. We need a weekly date or at least some alone time. We need to create a welcoming atmosphere when our husbands get home. Who doesn’t appreciate coming home to a nice dinner after a long day at work? It sends the message to our husbands that we care.

• Don’t nag. This is something I didn’t think I did until I read the book and realized myself in some of the examples. When our husbands help with the dishes, do we criticize how they did them? Does that make them want to help again? We can state our concerns/problems, but in a kind way that isn’t complaining.

• Clearly state your wants. Often, as women we hint to our husband’s what we want but don’t say it directly and then we are upset that our husbands didn’t know. If you want to go out to a movie for your date night, tell him rather than hinting around.

• Respect. Our society believes men and women should be the same, but there are inherent differences that make each gender unique and special. In a marriage, men and women have different traits and talents to offer. We need to respect the wonderful roles we have as wives and/or mothers and respect the different roles husbands hold.

• Women hold the power. The mood of the home is set by the woman. We really do hold the power to our relationships. We can choose to see the flaws in our spouse and our circumstances or we can choose to see all the good.

This was a quick read that I really thought had some good advice on improving our relationships with our husbands. If you really don’t like Dr. Laura, there are plenty of other good relationship books that you can read this month.

Did any of you get the chance to read January’s book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society? What did you think?