This evocative booklet was written by retired Wheaton College Chaplain, LeRoy “Pat” Patterson ’40. Penned in 1975 during the rise of the feminist movement, Patterson reflects on his 33 year marriage to his high school sweetheart and raising of three “fairly normal” children to highlight ten sure-fire ways to run your home into the ground.
- Let them know who is boss
- Never admit a mistake
- Throw the book at them
- Hold up the superior virtues of others
- Let them know what a martyr you are
- Never express affection outwardly
- Don’t spoil them with thanks
- Teach them to do as you say
- Children should be seen, not heard
- Religion is for women and children
At the conclusion of his tongue-in-cheek pamphlet, Patterson quotes from select passages from J.B. Phillips’ paraphrase of the New Testament.
“Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them…Men ought to give their wives the love they naturally have for their own bodies. The love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her…let everyone of you who is a husband love his wife as her loves himself.”