Did YOUR Mom work?

[NMAmy]

We got into a discussion at work the other day that got me thinking. I work at a college and I received an assignment that an instructor needs to have copied. While I was waiting for something on the computer to load, I happened to glance over at it. It was instructions for interviewing people of different ages and under the heading of "Women 60 and older," she had written, "Do NOT ask women of this age about their work--ask them about their families instead. If they worked outside the home, they'll let you know."

I found this really odd. I'm 42 and my mom is in her 70's. Mom was divorced from her first husband and worked after the divorce to support herself and my sister. After she and my dad married, she continued to work until my younger sister was born. When my younger sister was in high school, Mom went back to work again. I sincerely think it would have been better for everyone if she'd continued to work outside the home even when my sister and I were little--she was very unhappy being a stay at home mom.

My grandmother also worked outside the home. My great-grandmother's first husband died quite young and she ran the entire farm by herself for years. My dad's mom was a French teacher and after she retired (when I was a kid), she worked at a local convenience store, and then at a senior center.

I guess the reason I thought it was so odd (not only because of my own experience) but because so many women worked in some capacity or other (cleaning houses, taking in laundry, etc.) during the Depression and worked in factories, etc. during WWII. When I brought this up to others at work (my own age and older), every one of us had mothers who worked--either running farms, secretarial, or cleaning houses, etc. I talked to DH about it and his family was the opposite--his mom stayed home (she never even learned to drive), as did his grandmother and aunts.

Please understand--I realize that being a SAHM is a huge amount of work and I'm not in any way saying that there is anything wrong with it or that it isn't valuable or ANYTHING like that. I don't want this to be that kind of thread.

I was just surprised that this teacher would automatically assume that older women had never worked outside the home. So, I'm widening my question now--did your mom work at any kind of job outside the home?

 

[Dodie]

I am 44. I grew up in the 60's-70's. My mother did not work outside the home until I graduated from high school.

 

[alliecats]

Yes, after my mother did after we turned 9. Also my grandmother worked for most of her adult life. She worked into her 70s, and would still work now if she could!
ETA: I am 33.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Yes. She's an RN. She worked third shift at a nursing home up to the point when my sister and I were old enough to keep an eye on our little brother after school (I think I was 12 and my sister was 15) and then she moved to first shift at a different place, a center for mentally disabled, where she continues to work today.

My grandmother also worked as a secretary in the city school district her entire life. She retired a number of years ago.

ETA: I'm 33.

 

[imsorry]

My parents married in 1944 and my Mom never worked outside the home after they got married. Before that, she worked as a telephone operator, and at the local 5&10. She had to leave high school to go to work; she came from a large family and her own mom died when she was 4 years old. My Dad did not want her to work.

I always assumed women stayed home after they got married and had kids - I was raised to expect that too. What a shock I got - I've been working for 31 years without stop!

 

[anut4disney]

I was born in 1952, Mom started working out of the home when my father ran away from home. This must have been around the early 1960's and this was with 6 children at home.

 

[SC Minnie]

Yes. My Mom always worked outside when we were growing up-- she retired last year after 40 years at the same co, I am 37. Both my Grandmothers worked too but I think that was later when the kids were grown.

 

[tar heel]

My mother always worked. She took a six-week maternity leave when I was born. Her mother was a widow who went to work when her husband died. Both my mother and I stayed with our respective grandparents while our moms worked.

My other grandmother worked outside the home for three-four years when she was in her late '50s/early '60s.

And maybe the most important part of my post -- I'm 49.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Yep. I am 32. My mom worked some different part-time jobs (mostly secreterial), then after my dad died she had to of course get a full-time job (bookkeeping).

 

[caitycaity]

my mom will be 60 next year. she worked outside the home when i was growing up.

 

[Maleficent13]

My mom worked until we were born and then went back to work after we were in school fulltime. She's now VP of a large local company.

My mom rocks.

 

[T1130]

My mom went back to work part time when I was in 5th grade.

 

[Towncrier]

My mom did not have a job outside of "mom" from the time I was born until the time that my baby sister graduated from college and married. Since then, she has held various part-time jobs but, for the most part, has remained unemployed in the traditional sense.

My mother-in-law, on the other hand, worked full-time while my wife and her brother were growing up. Their care fell firmly on the shoulders of the grandparents. Sue's mom continued to work up until the death of her husband. Since then she has worked part-time but, for the most part, is retired from the workplace.

My wife worked from the time that she turned 16 until one month before the birth of our first child. She took some time off from traditional employment and was a full-time mom until the kids were older. She continued to do wedding flower arrangements out of our home and worked some holidays at a local flower shop. As the kids have gotten older and more independent, she has devoted more time to her career. As our oldest is about to graduate from high school, I have a feeling that she (and I) may be putting in a few more hours in the workforce in order to pay tuition and expenses.

 

[DVC-Don]

My bio mom (the one who walked out on us when I was 7, in 1959) never worked, in any of her 3 marriages, my first step mom worked (she and my dad owned a business and she ran the office), and my second step mom worked retail.

DW's mom never worked outside the home.

 

[CindyKansas]

No. I am 46, my mom didn't start working until I was 12 and my brother was 8. She worked at a part time job at a grocery store from 9 to 1, Monday thru Friday. She was home when we walked to school (yes walked) and she was there when we got home. My dads mother was a widow with 5 children and she worked as a register of deeds at the court house. My moms mom didn't work outside the home.

 

[Crankyshank]

SAHM was an alien concept for me growing up. I'm 31 and not only does my Mom work full time still (she's 50), but both Grandmothers worked full time as well (Maternal Grandmother is 71 and still works p/t because she enjoys it and Gramps was driving her nuts)
and my Great-Grandmother did as well until she got married.

 

[icebrat001]

My mom didn't work and get this, I still had a maid and a nanny!

 

[GailT]

My mother did not work outside the home till i was in the 12th grade. I grew up in the 50s-60s-70s

 

[Mickeyhugger]

My mom never worked after she and my Dad married in 1948.

 

[jodifla]

I'm 44, and the norm in my neighborhood was SAHMs. Almost nobody's mom worked. Mom didn't start work until I was in college. She was left pretty much impoverished when my dad left her for a woman younger than me.

I always shake my head when I read that some women have no marketable job skills. They are just one step away from financial disaster should their "employer" I.e. husband decide to ditch them -- in my mom's case, after almost 50 years of marriage.