Mother Tells You How: Essential Life Skills for Modern Young Women

by Girl Magazine

“Women’s work” has never been so much fun! Girl magazine, launched in the UK in 1951, and its popular strip “Mother Tells You How” provided inspiration and guidance for millions of teenage girls during the ’50s. Each week, Mother would teach her exemplary-in-every-way daughter, Judy, one of life’s most essential skills. Now a whole new generation can learn such traditional tasks as how to properly make a bed or bathe a baby, but also read whimsical and charming tips on how to make a Burmese skirt, use old cheese, prepare baked Alaska, pack for a weekend holiday, and camp in comfort!

Using the original archives from Girl , these strips appear to be a spoof, however the earnest and practical advice is wholly genuine. Why should girls fill their little heads with science and business they won’t understand when they can experiment with unusual sandwiches! Neatness and comfort go hand-in-hand in the kitschy and retro-chic Mother Tells You How . Now all modern women can be primed and poised for domestic success.

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

This book is funny and eye-opening at the same time, because it is all true—not a spoof, but actual sample strips from a real magazine in the 1950s. I think it has a place in the modern DIY movement ; ) In a duel between Martha and Mother, I think Mother wins. Maybe.

[Kerry Bonham]

I loved it! ❤️