Gen x / millennial q

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

Well we can have a role call of how many people on this thread have grandmothers or greatgrandmothers who worked outside the home when they were kids. I did but I suspect I am in the minority.

[Anonymous]

I was born in the late 80s. My childhood is identical to my kid's. Lots of activities, family dinners, involved dad, lots of family vacations, including international, making each holiday feel celebratory. I'm raising my kids just how I was raised.

They're still young, so they only get tablets on road trips or on an airplane. We're headed to a wedding in June and I'll probably bring tablets with me just in case, but that's it. No Ipads at restaurants or inside our house. Puzzles and books galore though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

Unmarried women, single moms or lower class women. My grandma (born in 1932) was an accountant and she was the best one on the floor. When she got pregnant they kept her on longer than any pregnant woman had ever been kept so she could train replacements, but at 6 months pregnant they had to let her go. They didn't hire pregnant women or women with little kids. She had made more money than her welder husband too. All 4 of our grandpas (including dh's) were in the trades- welder, painter, electrician, plasterer and none of their wives worked. They all easily made enough to support a family. Also, daycare didn't exist back then. It existed during WW2 and then it went away. Maybe big cities had daycares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

Unmarried women, single moms or lower class women. My grandma (born in 1932) was an accountant and she was the best one on the floor. When she got pregnant they kept her on longer than any pregnant woman had ever been kept so she could train replacements, but at 6 months pregnant they had to let her go. They didn't hire pregnant women or women with little kids. She had made more money than her welder husband too. All 4 of our grandpas (including dh's) were in the trades- welder, painter, electrician, plasterer and none of their wives worked. They all easily made enough to support a family. Also, daycare didn't exist back then. It existed during WW2 and then it went away. Maybe big cities had daycares.

My grandmother was a telephone operator. She worked before kids and then after her kids were old enough to take care of themselves. She was able to enough work long enough to retire with a pretty good pension and health insurance for the rest of her life and all without a college degree. She retired at 60. This type of life/work no longer exists.

[Anonymous]

The biggest difference between my 80s childhood and my kids' childhood now is money. I grew up working class, we have money now. So my kids can do activities, although we don't do a ton--they are still fairly young.

My own mother was one of 7 kids born to an air force enlisted, so not much leisure for her. Although I don't think sports or other activities for girls were unheard of; it depended on your family and class background. My husband's grandmother was a very active tennis player in her youth in the 40s, as was her daughter (my husband's aunt) in the 60s. Scouts has been around for over a 100 years, as well as church groups, choirs, piano lessons, etc etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

+1

Its not universal. I had pretty hovering/ strict but involved parents and I was born in 81. I don't think the free-range parenting thing was as prevalent as you think by the time the late 80s, 1990 rolled around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

Well we can have a role call of how many people on this thread have grandmothers or greatgrandmothers who worked outside the home when they were kids. I did but I suspect I am in the minority.

Every generation of women in my family in the US starting in 1860 worked outside the home when they had kids, until my generation. Mostly because the men died.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think my childhood was that differnt growing up in the 80s than my parents was in the 50s/60s. We were told to go outside and come hike when it got dark. My parents had no clue what we did (and it wasn’t all good). My grandparents had too many kids to keep track of. We did have Saturday morning cartoons that my parents didn’t have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

lol, what??

Before 1980 who were the nurses, teachers, secretaries, waitresses, maids, and seamstresses? The idea that a "working mom" is some modern thing is such nonsense.

Well we can have a role call of how many people on this thread have grandmothers or greatgrandmothers who worked outside the home when they were kids. I did but I suspect I am in the minority.

Every generation of women in my family in the US starting in 1860 worked outside the home when they had kids, until my generation. Mostly because the men died.

Never thought of it like this before, but same with my grandmother and great grandmother.

[Anonymous]

Your theory is the Wonder Years observation: 1960-1980 vs 2000-2020 are same time spans.

I think it just comes down to economic uncertainty now vs then. Woman have to work now for most families, and thus try to make up for quantity with “quality”. And we all stress about our kids being prepared to compete b/c the chasm is huge between those who make it and those who don’t.