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People were less isolated back then so the Mothers had more people to talk to during the day. Unlike June Cleaver who never seemed to have any friends or do anything other than parenting and cleaning, my mother had a great time being a housewife.
My 1950s era Mother went to a:
Bowling League
Golfed
Went to a bridge Club
Chatted with ALL the neighbors
Womens Club
Church Socials
Took Classes
Worked Part Time and had tons of friends.
I doubt many women today have such an active social network outside of work.
My parents had me in 1958, i'm the oldest so they were new parents. Although I really don't remember much prior to 63, 64 I know they were socially very active. I recall our relatives, their friends and the guys from the Firehouse where my father volunteered being around constantly. My Mother stayed home through having myself, two brothers and 2 sisters. I'm sure she had her bad days but she seemed to enjoy life. She would be outside with us when it was nice out, We walked for miles to visit friends, only 1 car in our family back then. We picked blue berries in the mountains, she hand made all our Halloween costumes. Funny I even remember my teachers stopping by for visits. The fall was cool, Mom would be outside raking leaves and we jumped in the piles. Before TV was real popular with just a few stations and before anyone knew what rich was, and before anyone really compared notes about anything. We made our own fun.
Um... well, my Mother's mother graduated from college in the 1940s and also was a teacher before she married my grandfather. I think she was 23 when they got married and he was 21.
She was a housewife in Thailand as they were missionaries there and she has never once in her life suffered from depression. My mother was born in 1956 and she was their second child. Their third child, my aunt was born with quite a few birth defects and they were told she would never be able to walk talk or have babies. When my aunt was in elementary school they moved back to the states and my grandmother was a stay at home wife and mother. My aunt was able to walk, talk, she graduated high school and she has a son.
My grandmother loved being a stay at home wife so much she encouraged my mother and I to do it as well. She enjoys taking care of her family and making sure that they are all happy. That is what truly makes her happy.
My other Grandmother worked, so I am not sure if she would have been depressed had she been a stay at home wife. She was never depressed either though!
Some of the happiness factor is also what kind of husband they had. I bet those moms that had an active lifestyle or social evenings out with their husbands, and husbands who cared and WANTED them to be happy...probably were happier then the housewife that just had to take care of the kids and clean the house while she saw her husband come home - maybe late and plop himself in front of a TV while she still did all the work
Or those crappy (even now a days) husband who bail on their wives to STILL take care of the kids and house while they go play golf all day sunday.
My grandparents and I were very close, I remember their stories as if it were yesterday. By the 50's they had seen so much, born at the turn of the century and living through the great depression, gas stamps and making due with cramming old rags into the tires of their car because all rubber went to the war effort, they were a very thankful couple when modern conveniences came along in the 50's.
Its funny really, I know now as an adult that my grandmother lost a daughter and a son long before I came along to polio and something else common in those days, yet she was the most full of life women I've ever known.
A blanket statement never works. (which is funny to say that in itself..lol)
But I do think it was hard on the 50's woman that didnt want that life.
They would do things like haul people off to the looney bin for not being "right"
I think the 50s in general was about sweeping real problems under the rug and wearing a smile all wrapped up in a plastic fantastic lie.
But as indiviuals that life could be considered a dream by some and a nightmare by others. Lack of options for men and women could lead to depression..But then again they could always have a cigg for health and pep and the after work day whiskey daily wasnt a problem in the least as long as you have a good hearty beef and butter heavy meal.
Ahhh stupid 50's...I wish It was all really true...
I think it would of been so depressing to prime in that time and then fall into the 60s/70s
Talk about a world flip flop!
Is she out partying at nursing home events and engaging in promiscuity with other senior citizens?
Funny! No, no man in her life. Just friends, church, walking, catching up with other ladies who are widowed or divorced. She is a young 65 so no nursing home yet.
I think I'd love being a socialite in the 1950's. The clothes were amazing. The economy was great so your millions of dollars went a long way. The lack of modern conveniences is nothing when you have a staff of domestic servants. And it seems like a great many American socialites lived in Italy back then.
Not that being rich isn't fun in any era -- but I just think the 1950's offered the American rich the most to enjoy.
As for the stifling social conventions -- pah! Money makes such trifles completely irrelevant. Or, to paraphrase the Bard, "kings are the makers of customs".
So what you're saying is, Thanksgiving and Christmas get togethers at your folks place is the place to be for all the fun huh?!?!
No, seriously, I'm sorry that it's that way. Life is way too short to live unhappy like that.
Ya know, I think there just may be a connection here ... I've always hated the holidays because I can't stand eating a huge meal at 1:00 in the afternoon and then sitting around while the TV blares for the rest of the day. Then, if anyone dares try to have a conversation, dad turns the volume way up so he can drown out the noise of us talking.
This year is different though - I will be competing at California Star Ball over the Thanksgiving holiday and I don't give a damn about what everyone says or thinks about it!
You could. You could utilize any convenience out there .... clothes dryers, prepared and pre-packaged foods. Meat, eggs and vegetables bought in the store.
However, more and more people are making attempts to go back to basics. Even some of those living in the suburbs, city and apartments are growing some vegetables themselves .... make efforts to find local farms to buy their eggs and meats, are using a clothes line and utilize other methods to a "back to basics" life.
And others, like myself, are business owners, live in the country (on purpose) and raise their own food. I don't have a clothes dryer .... don't want one. And you be hard pressed to find any pre-packaged or prepared food in my pantry. I even did that when my kids were growing up and I worked outside the home.
My point of all this is .... just because the conveniences are available to us doesn't mean we have to use them.
No you don't have to use them but the need for mom at home is gone because of them. Sure, the family can choose to live without modern conveniences but that doesn't make mom valued and irreplacable like she was in the past. What stay at home moms do is quite replacable today. Mom at home just isn't valuable like she was in the past when her family's survival depended on her role nearly as much as her husband's role.
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