Ideal wife
By peppy82
@peppy82 (4)
India
April 19, 2011 1:47pm CST
I've been married for a couple of months now and I must say life is beautiful.
I've been blessed with a loving and caring husband & wonderful in-laws,However every family has few expectations from a newly married bride... there is a certain way in which you are expected to conduct yourself. The smallest of efforts are appreciated while even the slightest of mistakes are noted & criticised...it becomes very challenging to please everybody and be in their good books at all times... that brings me to the question -how can a woman become an Ideal Wife???
2 people like this
14 responses
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I agree with you. We should always be striving to learn things that we can do to improve our marriage. Just with any worthwhile goal it takes effort. We are often striving to improve other areas of our life. Why not work to improve our marriages.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
It is better for everyone we are ourselves. No one is fooled and no one later regrets anything. We need to be open and honest. This will build the relationship we want with our family. We can only offer who we are and that has to be enough.
@GloomCookieLex (6073)
• United States
23 Apr 11
Stop trying. If he is half-decent, your husband chose you for who you are so just be yourself. Don;t try to please everyone, don;t walk on eggshells around every single person. If they don;t like how you do something that's just too bad for them. What works for you and the dynamics of your marriage are absolutely no one's business but between you and your husband.
There is NO "ideal wife" formula. Every individual is different and every relationship works out differently. Trying to force yourself to fit into a mold will only make you miserable and make your marriage empty.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I agree with you. We will be very disappointed if we strive to please everyone. We can't make everyone happy so we shouldn't even try. We need to please ourselves and do our best to make those we truly care about happy but without sacrificing what we find and hold important. We only do the best that we are capable of.
@katie0 (5203)
• Japan
20 Apr 11
I'm so happy for you!
It doesn't matter how our past was like, what we want is always to have a good marriage and the new family to be better than what we had and if it is it can erase anything that was terrible in the past.
I'm feeling preatty at ease with life. If I knew it was going to be like this, you know, the future I wouldn't have suffered so much thinking life was like that.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
Having a good marriage is a good thing. It is very important for us to enjoy the time that we spend with our family and do our best to make them happy. It takes effort to do things that please others. But when we know it's for their benefit and that they appreciate our efforts we are happy about it.
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
20 Apr 11
It is very subjective. I don't prepare meals for my husband as i don't know how to cook, so we have a maid to do that. I don't even prepare his clothes at all, but for him i am still his ideal wife. I have a job, i am a loving mother, i take care of my son's education well, i see to it that our son does well in school. I don't have much time for household chores as i am working but i am a loving wife and husband to both and for him i am an ideal wife.
So basically, nobody else can say who the ideal wife is except the husband. So why don't you ask your husband or your in-laws about that and see what their opinion is.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I'm glad that your husband views you as his ideal wife. It is a good thing for us to take care of our family to the best of our ability. I think it would be nice to have some one keep up with our house. It would be a lot easier for me to get other things done and focus on more time with my daughter.
@redeemgurl (108)
• United States
20 Apr 11
What defines an ideal wife these days? lol... everyone is so diverse now, and woman have changed so much! I think being an ideal wife, the in-laws should have nothing to do with it. When you made those vows to your husband, he left his parents and cleaved himself to you. Your job now is to honor each other. If you make your husband happy, that is all that should matter. He should see that his parents should not be a factor in your marriage. Maybe you are not the one with the problem? lol... maybe his parents should not be so controlling and involve themselves in your marriage.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
Yeah that is funny. We are all different. The thing that is important is what a husband wants from his wife. Because like you mention we are all so diverse. I completely agree with you that the in-laws should stay out but we know that's easier said than done.
@tiffnkeat (1673)
• Singapore
20 Apr 11
Congratulations on your marriage and your situation of the ideal family. It is indeed admirable that you seek to be a perfect wife. The perfect wife should live to not the husband's standard because it may become a shifting goal post. Sometimes situations may present that the husband might think the perfect wife he married may not be so perfect after all. Likewise, you might not find your husband a perfect husband at times. The same for your in-laws, because we are all human. You simply cannot please everyone every time all the time.
Perhaps the better benchmark would be from Proverbs 31 in the Holy Bible to be a wife of noble character. That's so much I can say.
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
It is such a wonderful thing when a couple gets married. It's easier though to get married than to have a happy successful marriage. That takes work, commitment and time. We have to work at our marriage like everything else that we want to be good in our life.
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I'm glad that you get along with your husband and in laws so well. That is a great thing. I hope that your relationship is continuing to grow stronger with each passing day. I think we shouldn't strive to please everybody as that is just not possible. We've got to be reasonable in what we expect of ourselves and others.
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
19 Apr 11
I think it is hard to say how a person can become an Ideal Wife. Like you mentioned everyone has different expectations. It can be hard to please everyone. The important thing I think is to make sure that the marriage arrangement is pleasing to both. That is the most important. It's hard to separate how we feel about our in laws and how they may feel about us but we really didn't marry them. Striving to please them at times can cause stress and strain on a marriage. I would say do your best to be loving and caring to them but don't upset yourself if you don't meet all their expectations.
@martha0430 (211)
• Philippines
20 Apr 11
there is no such thing as ideal wife. if you stick to that and try to be one, it will be hard for you to show the real you. just be yourself. just think of the positive things that you should do as a wife. having a mistake is normal, but of course avoid it as possible. just love your husband, put God in the center of your relationship, stay friends, and everything will turn out fine. just be brave and strong if any problems will come your way. good luck to your married life and be happy all the time =D
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I agree with you that there is no such thing as an ideal wife. We are perfect and neither are our spouses. Once we accept that fact we will avoid a lot of disappointments on both ends. She has to be the best wife that she can and do her best to please her husband.
@dlpierce (495)
• United States
19 Apr 11
If you were his ideal bride then an ideal wife should be easy for you. Just be yourself and don't worry about the small stuff. Who cares if you burned dinner, what really matters is that you tried in the first place. The first year is the hardest because you have to get use to living with each other and use to each other's good and bad habits. It's a lot of give and take on both parties.
1 person likes this
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I agree it's important for her to try and be herself. That way everything else will come more smoothly. She can always work on improving the way she handles different stressful situations that they face. As every marriage will face their problems from time to time.
@mohitraj321 (496)
• India
20 Apr 11
Every one is perfect in the world but sometimes we can not understand our spouse's problems now matter is that who is perfect in the world although you are not a perfect wife but is your husband is perfect for you.
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
Yeah everyone is imperfect in this world. We have to do our best to please our spouse and vice versa. We shouldn't expect perfection because it's not theirs to give. So they shouldn't expect it from us either.
@jess_bohannon (3)
• United States
19 Apr 11
The first thing that you should do is talk to your husband and ask if there are anythings that you could be doing to make the marriage better for him that you are not already doing. The next thing you should do is care for yourself like you did before you met your husband, most women tend to care for themselves better before they are in a relationship than they do once they are involved with someone. If you care for yourself your husband will love you like he did when you first got together and you will like the attention he gives you. The next thing to address is everyone else.. EVERYONE ELSE is not in your relationship therefore they can not feed to the love or the intimacy of the relationship and they can not fix problems or contribute to the well being of any aspect of the TWO of you. Focus on you and your husband not anyone else that will do you the best, it has taken me three years to figure this out so I hope it helps.
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
14 May 12
I agree that is a good thing for her to do. To find out what her husband wants in the most important thing. As he is the one that she will be trying to please. I agree that it is important for us to take care of ourselves and keep looking nice after we are married.
@angelo315 (232)
• Philippines
13 Jun 11
God has designed a man to be a love-initiator and a woman to be a love receiver. The wife, is required to be joyfully submissive. The woman is designed to lean and not to lead in a marriage. However, if a husband gives his wife a command that is clearly unscriptural then she is free not to follow that command. I believe that there are no unhappy marriages---only marriage partners who are immature. Spiritual maturity and emotional maturity are integrated. One of the basic traits of a mature person is being able to control your emotions whatever they may be, and not let emotions control him/ her. :)