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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How did the older GenX and younger baby boomers in dual working households get it done?  Not teleworking — not in 1999, 2001.  And no professionals in DC lived near their moms then so that also isn’t the answer

I do think commutes weren’t an hour+ each way then. But mainly we just … did it.

[/quote]

They didnt parent M-F. Thats how. And I mean it. The kids took care of themselves and younger siblings. They got busses - most counties dont offer that anymore. There was less traffic and the remainder walked and so it was a necessity. But my mom born in 63 had a SAHM and only 1/2 day Kindergarten.

By the time she was a mom it was full day everyday kids in before care and after care she dropped us off at 7 and picked us up at 5/6. I went to private school for early years and I got dropped off by my Dad before his work (he taught at the Upper School) rode the bus to the US after school and stayed on the campus for 4 hours while my Dad coached and he didnt pay me any attention. Id go into classrooms, the gymnasium to play volleyball, lift weights in the gym with no supervision, swim in the pool, go to the dock, maybe help with practice, find coins for vending machine or beg the cafeteria staff for leftovers. Water was water fountain water or from the hose while trying to attrach manatees. 
Days off I was home or at the US or at my moms office playing minesweeper and learning to answer the phones. By 10, I was home all day before and after school expected to make dinner for everyone. [/quote]

The kids are pretty savvy from that generation. My mom stopped working her part time job at 45, she got bored and found a retail job and I had to drive 26 miles to pick her up from work in the evenings. [/quote]

I wasnt savvy- I was lonely and had no activities or social outlets. No one to help with homework or projects. Fed from vending machines or whatever I could heat up in the oven and not like I was making good choices either. I became a voracious reader, but that was escapism. The only good part is that I was outside a lot until about 10 years old and that was very idyllic. I can be be bored or alone without issue for hours on end but that doesnt mean I learned how to be productive with it. Lots of it was just TV or reading. 
My brothers had it worse and I was a psuedo parent to my siblings who are much younger than me. 
My friends with similar upbringings were also heavily parentified.

There is a lack of leadership and expecting children to be more grown. In some cases it leads to responsibility. But I am not sure responsibility in the absence of parents is better than responsibility learned through incremental age-appropriate learned behaviors. [/quote]

I had a similar experience. It's not what I want for my kids.[/quote]

Yet those parents like yours are acting like they sacrificed half the universe for us. So unhinged.[/quote]

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