Did YOUR Mom work?

[powellrj]

my mom was a SAHM when I was growing up. She did have a few "mom" type jobs like lunch lady and avon lady. My dad became disabled when he was 49 and my mom had to go back to work full-time to cover their health insurance and expenses at that time. I am 46.

 

[KelNottAt]

My mom was a SAHM until my younger sister entered kindergarten. Then she became the health room aide at a nearby jr. high school - school day hours and school year calendar. When sis and I were 13 & 15, she wanted to move on to something more challenging. But Dad gave her a "no wife of mine will have a 'real' job" attitude. That was the last straw in an already weak marriage; they were divorced 18 months later. 1981.

My grandmother worked fulltime while she raised Mom and Uncle. My grandfather held a great job and provided a very nice lifestyle for the family. Gram just worked because she wanted to.

My great-grandmother worked full-time, too. She was a teenage single mom and the piano player at a silent movie theatre.

ETA: I'm employed fulltime outside the home and have been since before my kids were born.

 

[Microcell]

My mom went to work to be able to divorce my father. She was a paralegal for Ford, in product litigation, and all I can say about that is don't buy a Ford! I am 33 as well.

 

[Christine]

My mom is 62. She has worked since before I was born and continues to work today!

 

[delilah]

My mom worked as a clerical worker until she got pregnant. Back in the late 50's, when we were born, women had to stop working as soon as they looked pregnant, at least where mom worked. She never worked outside the home again until she died at age 63. She always wanted to be a nurse, and we had a junior college that she could have attended, but, dad would have nothing to do with that idea, even though he was disabled since age 45 (not working). My maternal grandmother worked all the time mom and her sisters were growing up, also in a clerical field, and worked until she was about 70. Mom would have been 76 this past year.

 

[staci]

My mom (53) was, for the most part, always a SAHM. She did occasional seasonal work (less than 10 hrs a wk), but it was always at a time where we were busy with school so we didnt notice her absence.

Both of my grandmothers (in their early-mid 70's) were SAHM moms/farmers wives. One never worked, the other started a job ( in her 50's) when they moved off the farm and 4 of her 5 children were gone from home (the last was a tag a long).

 

[Tinkim]

My mom worked in retail when I was young. I don't really remember her not working. We had something a little more unusual. My dad was a stay-at-home dad. . . not because he wanted to be but because he had become disabled through an accident at work when I was a toddler. He wasn't very happy about staying home because I think he felt he was the "man" and it was his job to "provide" for us. He did work as the manager where we lived and collected the rent, plowed snow, etc. I am 33 and I remember most of my friend's parents worked . . . moms and dads.

 

[Steffi]

No, my mom didn't work outside the home after she & my father got married in 1954. She raised 5 children and did a lot of volunteer work, though.

 

[olena]

Yes she did. She quit the insurance business after my sister was born and returned to work as a freight export agent when I was in middle school. She quit after about 10 years of that. She hasn't worked outside the home since.

 

[Feralpeg]

My mom did not work outside our home. I do think raising four children was a job in itself.

 

[KimR]

No, my mother didn't work although I think she would have been happier if she had. I think she enjoyed being a SAHM when my sister and I were little but once we started school I think she was bored and felt lost and without direction most of the time. She always encouraged me to go to college and have a career so I think she had some regrets and was hoping I would be able to have what she never did.

 

[princess pooh]

My mom has been working for as long as I can remember. All my aunts were working moms as well as both my grandmothers.

 

[jekajekalynn]

I had a SAHM mom AND dad!!!! lol My mom had early retirement from her employment , and my dad was a disabled veteran.

 

[NMAmy]

Thank you so much, everyone, for all the replies. I find it kind of interesting because we tend to think working moms is a newer phenomenon when, really, it's been going on for quite a long time. I thought maybe my family was different but from the replies I've gotten here and in my office, it was a lot more common for women to work outside the home than I'd realized.

 

[luvmyeor]

My mom is 60. She worked with my father at a Black and Decker factory when they first got married. She had me 1 1/2 years after they were married. She went back to work but then stayed home for good after my brother was born 17 months later. The only other time she worked was at a canning house in the summer. One of the neighbor kids would watch us for the few hours she worked everyday. One of my grandmothers never learned to drive. Both of my grandmothers were SAHM and never worked even after the kids were gone.

 

[mickeyfan2]

My mother never earned a single paycheck her entire life.

 

[disykat]

I am 44. I would say my mom and my grandmothers all worked, however they each had a 10 - 20 year phase of their life where they didn't work or worked part time around the needs of their family. I can't bring myself to say they didn't work when they all worked outside the home for 30 years or more. My mom is 73 and still works part time.

Frankly, I think it could still be considered presumptuous to assume a mom is working outside the home or to assume all women over 60's didn't. I think it would be a good thing to think about how you would phrase interview questions so as not to make people feel they have to defend their choices. I'm currently a SAHM, and "do you work outside the home?" would be my preference. That way I don't feel like they're assuming one way or the other.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

My mom has almost always worked. She worked since she was like 16 until she was pregnant with me, and through some of the pregnancy. Then she took off doing out of the house work until I was about 8 and my brother 6. She still did work from home, she did something with medical billing. Then she worked a P/T job that would allow her to see me and my brother off to school and home from school. Once we were both in HS she got a different P/T job. She now works Mon, Wed, and Fri's and a secretary. So she has almost always worked in some way or another.

My grandmother also worked most of her adult life. She was a telephone operator and worked the switchboards for many years. Even after retirement and moving to Florida she worked a P/T job there for a few years. I guess the women in my family are just born to be workers.

 

[TxJasmine]

I am 46 and my mother is 76. My mother has always worked as a nurse anesthetist. I thought it was completely normal for mothers to carry pagers, and to drop everything and run to the hospital when the pager went off! I was raised by my mother and grandmother - back when there were very few single parents. They raised me to believe that I should get an education so I could get a good job and always be able to take care of myself. Being a SAHM is a foreign concept to me.

My kids are now 9 and 10 and I have always worked. I even have a pager for several weeks of the year, where I have to drop everything and sign in to the computer when it goes off!

 

[staci]

Frankly, I think it could still be considered presumptuous to assume a mom is working outside the home or to assume all women over 60's didn't. I think it would be a good thing to think about how you would phrase interview questions so as not to make people feel they have to defend their choices. I'm currently a SAHM, and "do you work outside the home?" would be my preference. That way I don't feel like they're assuming one way or the other.

I totally agree. I am a SAHM right now as well, but there are many accomplishments that I feel I have made in my life outside of my family. I am choosing to put my family first right now, but I have my BA and work experiences from before I had children that is very important to me as well. Like you, my mother and grandmother were SAHM's for a good portion of their life, but they also held jobs at various points around the family, my mom has her BA, my grandmother has worked full time in what many consider 'retirement' years.