OMG, Todd! I had totally forgotten about the Help Wanted Men/Women breakdown. You are correct. What we take for granted has changed a lot.

My mother born in 1921 and married in 1944 never worked for pay after the boys came home after WWII. When the 4 kids all were finished school she figured she would get a job. Never crossed her mind it would be an issue. My dad had a fit! He said she would shame him to his friends because he wasn't providing for his family or some such. My mom and sibs were shocked at his attitude, but it was not going to be changed, and never was. She still threatens to go get a job, but since she doesn't drive anymore we don't take her seriously.

May the rest of your day be calm and uneventful,-t.

My mother went back to work for pay once both kids were in school all day in 1970. She was part-time for quite a while, and staying home to take care of the kids was a given. The matter was given to us kids as mom not being alone in the house all day every day, and, well, the extra income can buy some extras for the family.

Not an issue that I was aware of -- on the other hand, I was about 8, and my parents were fairly big on don't-tell-the-children.

Oh! ms belle, did you still want poetry things tweeted?

I have no idea what my mother did after I, the youngest, went off to school. She was the treasurer for our church, but she didn't do any work outside the home.

My mom went to business college in the 50s and got a steady job as an office manager for the Boy Scouts that she worked at for 38 years. Even before Dad became disabled she was often the primary breadwinner of the family, and her head for bookkeeping meant she always handled the family's finances.

My mother got a graduate degree from Harvard in 1954, went to work in Japan, got married in 1960 and stopped working. As she had children, and it was tough to make ends meet she tells me she used to think, "why doesn't he (my father) get a second job." Right after that she usually declares herself an indiot and wonders who stole her brain.

My mom didn't work for pay after she had kids. Even when I was a kid, my parents always referred said "we decided that she wouldn't pursue that" rather than saying she didn't have to work or shouldn't or anything like that.

Another department decided to give us all smoothies today, so that's pretty sweet. And I think I heard there are nachos somewhere. Today is looking up.

Today is looking up.

Seems only fair, it was a rough start

My mom worked for pay before having kids and after my sister and I went to kindergarten. Dad's mom had worked for pay, too, as a teacher (as his teacher for a while--one room schoolhouse and all that), so I don't think he ever questioned that that would be a reasonable option.

In kinda cool (to me) news, I was poking around online and found the yearbook where my grandmother was listed at the "normal" school where she received her teaching degree in 1914. I wish the scanned images were better, so I could try to recognize her in the photos.