Did your mother work outside the home?

[ApatheticNoMore]

My mom was a engineer. She was able to do part time for some caretaking but she quit working after her second kid (she was in her 40s by then, so had done 20+ years in the workforce). My grandmother had a law degree but after doing some stints related to that including helping write a book, didn't really make use of it, only sometimes worked outside the house teaching English as a Second Language, as she was caretaking several generations, younger and older.

[herbgeek]

None of the mothers in my childhood neighborhood worked, except the one divorcee across the street. Only one aunt worked who was unmarried. I did have a great aunt who did the bookkeeping for her husband's garage but she had no kids. All of the mothers with kids were non working though some did get jobs when the kuds got to high school.

[rosarugosa]

My mom was an RN, but stopped working when I was born and was a SAHM for the duration. Most of my friends' moms did not work. My MIL worked part-time until her kids were older, and then she worked full-time. My mom was unusual at the time in that she was a SAHM with a car, so she was highly valued as a source of transportation, field trip chaperone, etc.

[happystuff]

I come from a very large family, so that was job enough for my mother - until my dad left and she had to enter the "real" workforce. Pretty much everyone I knew worked in one manner or another.

[KayLR]

My mom stayed at home until the youngest entered school then she worked in the town hall as a clerk. My older sister and I were at home with the younger two until she came home an hour or so after school was out.

One of my aunts was a hairdresser, always. The other aunt worked seasonally when the crops came in to the cannery in town. Otherwise she was at home.

Two of my friends' moms worked at the bank. We had family-owned stores in town, so the moms worked there.

Some of my friends lived on dairy farms and moms on farms do hard work---most millennials couldn't possibly do what they did I don't think.

My mother-in-law was a nurse, but she didn't start working until the boys were well into school.

One of my grandmas was a telephone operator.

I guess wherever this is coming from is ignoring the Baby Boomer generation which by and large were working moms. I know I was and so were all my friends---with one exception I can think of.

[Simone]

I guess wherever this is coming from is ignoring the Baby Boomer generation which by and large were working moms. I know I was and so were all my friends---with one exception I can think of.

Good point. Most of my friends (and naturally many coworkers) were working Boomer mothers.

I was a latchkey kid. Lots of my friends were as well. A lot of childcare then was self-care. We were expected to stay home on
our own, or with siblings, from a young age.

[jp1]

My mother worked as a seamstress for the first two years my parents were married so dad could go to school on the GI bill. After that she quit working and became a housewife. As an elementary school kid all my friends’ mothers were SAHMs. The one wrinkle to that was that J’s mom was a work from home mother. She did secretarial work for a State Farm agent.

[happystuff]

I have both worked and been a SAHM during my kids' childhoods. Glad for both experiences, but absolutely TREASURE the time I had at home with my son before he died - and realized from that the value of the time I had with the other kids. In all honesty, more often than not, I felt being a SAHM was harder than going out to a job. Just my opinion and experiences.

[catherine]

I have both worked and been a SAHM during my kids' childhoods. Glad for both experiences, but absolutely TREASURE the time I had at home with my son before he died - and realized from that the value of the time I had with the other kids. In all honesty, more often than not, I felt being a SAHM was harder than going out to a job. Just my opinion and experiences.

Being a SAHM is definitely harder than going out to a job, at least in my experience. I, like you, spent time at home as well as at work during their growing-up years. The hardest job of all was the family day care I ran from my home. My own two preschoolers plus three others. All by myself. That was the hardest job I ever had. My career in market research, working many 60-70 hour weeks catering to clients and flying all over the globe was a cakewalk compared to that.

[happystuff]

Being a SAHM is definitely harder than going out to a job, at least in my experience. I, like you, spent time at home as well as at work during their growing-up years. The hardest job of all was the family day care I ran from my home. My own two preschoolers plus three others. All by myself. That was the hardest job I ever had. My career in market research, working many 60-70 hour weeks catering to clients and flying all over the globe was a cakewalk compared to that.

Watching more than just your own child/ren is hard! I "babysat" for one other child at one point when my youngest was still pre-school age. It was nice but more work than one realizes. Can't imagine doing more like you did.