The 1950's Woman...

Been there done that.
It would get very tiresome doing the same old thing every day but if ya got up at 4 AM you could get most everything done then have time for other things Like I would take my sons fishing oor hiking during the day. Daughter never wanted to go so she stayed home and watched tv or slept!
My grand ma had her wash day her bread making day and a day to really go thru the house but to me it seemed like it was never dirty.
SHe cooked on a coal stove and made beautiful loafs of bread! Loved the house when that aroma went thru it .
SHe pickd her fruit feed chickens and all that too and wrote for the news paper.
Now Grand pa did the farm work and I would mostly help him when I was there,

Women in the 50's were definitely expected to work harder than we are today, we have more technology to help us now and clothes are cheaper so people have almost stopped mending them completely and just buy new ones.
I must confess I don't have a perfect house but it's clean enough for my liking and I don't have any kids yet so I don't have to look after them. I spend a lot of time on the Internet and am studying music so I do often neglect the cleaning a little. In the past people use cast aspersions on your character if your house wasn't clean but now we aren't as oppressed and it's socially acceptable to have house that is a little untidy.

I always liked hearing stories about my great-grandmother too. She took care of the house, the farm, cooked 3 meals a day, and raised 7 kids. I think my mother was/is a strong woman, she raised me and my sister, took care of the house, and worked full time. As for me, I was a stay at home mom for 24 years, raising two daughters. For 10 of those years I helped take care of the animals we raised, show goats, horses, rabbits, chickens, and the pets, 4 dogs, and a cat. My ex worked full time, so I also did minor repairs around the house, and for 8 of those years I was also a member of a volunteer fire dept. on call 24/7. And I kept the house cleaned up, laundry, yard work, etc. And now, even though I don't have any kids at home, my daughters are grown and on their own, I still work as a wildland firefighter for the forestry, and take care of the house, laundry, etc. I do have a wonderful man, that helps with the house and does the yard work. I have been on medical leave this summer (injury at work) and even though it takes a little longer, limited use of left wrist/hand, I have still kept the house clean and laundry done, etc. I don't feel that my s/o should have to do any of that since I am at home and he's working.

I have never been able to understand women that don't work, some don't have kids, and they still can't seem to keep their house clean. That to me is just being lazy. And it bothers me that some that stay at home all day complain about how their husband/boyfriend, whatever, don't help out around the house, but yet they are working full time. Why should their man have to help out around the house after working all day, when they have been at home doing nothing.

I don't think they had a 'secret weapon', they stayed active, they saw what needed to be done and they did it.

I can only remember my grandmother on their farm and she would be out in the garden in the mornings and or evenings and also gathering fresh eggs. When not doing those things she was in the kitchen cooking or canning and cooking.
As for my mother I have more memories. She was a great and a very strong woman. She kept our house very clean and the wooden floors always had a beautiful shine to them. We had home cooked meals and baked goods all from scratch. My mother was also a great seamstress. I wish I had taken after her. I always tried to keep my house clean and food on the table for my kids and I even learned to sew thanks to my mother but I was and will never be as good at those things like she was. My mother has passed now and my children are grown and I miss those days so much. I am not as strong a person now mainly due to health but oh how I sit here almost each day and wish I could change a thing or two and be stronger. I feel like my grandchildren will not have the kind of memories of me like I would want them to have, like the ones I have of my grandmother.

I would say that both of my Grandmas were strong women, my Mum on the other hand is strong in character but not in running a house like a 1950s woman. I know that I am a strong character but like my Mum I am useless at running everything so smoothly and getting the days chores done. I am a bit of a lazybum I think, I would not have stood a chance in the 1950s!

Well, I really feel that both husband and wife should help with the house chores unless the wife stays at home. IF the wife works outside the house is important for the husband to engage in the housework too. In my situation, we both work outside the home and we both help around the house when it comes to cleaning and cooking. Our kids are big already,so they need to cooperate too. I don't think is fair for the family to just relax and for the mom to take care of everything. I always helped my mom because it was the right thing to do.

My grandmother did all that with four kids, and while going to college...I feel like living up to her every day and do my best...I love to cook and clean so that helps, but I work too, so I'm giving my child the best of both worlds...I don't really understand staying home all day while the kids are in school either...I would be bored beyond belieft after a couple weeks.

Yeah, i am a strong woman because I have to! I want to give my kids the best that was not given to me when i was growing and dreaming. I want to make the future livean]ble for them, if given the opprtunity. On the physical aspect, i did the chores to give them a liveable house where they can dream and grow.

I was a child of the 50's and 60's. My mother never had to work. Unlike the stereo typical tv mother, she did not wear dresses etc at home. But she would not go to town in shorts or jeans. She would put on a skirt and blouse. She was always busy not only with the usual housework but she sewed and made crafts as well as being an artist. I can understand the plight of women today. Many have to work to help earn the money or they are the money maker. I can understand why they are tired. When children are too young for school I can understand that too. My kids were three years apart. I had three kids, two were twins. I was glad when they went to school. Then I had to go back to work. Now that my kids are all grown and I am not working I don't understand woman who are at home all day and "too tired" to do anything. I am trying to find a job I can do at home. I like to read, too. I wish I had room for a garden. I have a lot of things that I do to occupy time before my husband comes home from work. I sometimes run out of energy or find occasionally that I don't want to do something. But some people are just bored because they don't have any interests or things to do. Not me.

I don't think that I am a strong woman. I KNOW that I am!!

I have been through a lot in my life and am a doer. I've held many jobs at once, worked in many careers, ran my own business, successfully for 15 years, survived cancer, the loss of my son, and other things.

I do a lot of work around my home, I mean like building rooms, closets, decks, etc., on my own, can cook when I want (but hubby usually does it), travel a lot for business and manage to maintain a nice home that looks like it cost more than it did, because I am "Miss Bargain Hunter of the Year", lol.

One thing I have learned about many (not all) of the tuckered out women is they have poor time-management skills. If they could be taught that skill, that would help greatly.

Also, many don't feel they should ask for help, learn to say "no" or let less important things go for their own mental and physical health. So, I don't dust as much as some and don't always make my bed on a daily basis, but you know what? No one is perfect.

It's a matter of choosing what's important and if time with my family means not vacuuming today, so be it, I can do it tomorrow.

The women in my life were always strong, doers and fighters. My mom still is, at 80. She works part-time in the banking business, where she worked her whole life, and is not slowing down, much.