Post by Monica Geller on Jan 29, 2022 12:59:06 GMT -5
I’m 40. My mom worked part time as an ER receptionist in the 70s& 80s until my youngest sister was born. She stayed home til my youngest sister was in school. Then she worked a slew of odd part time jobs until I was in HS. Then she became a school bus driver. She’s been driving for almost 25 years at this point.
I’m 34. My mom was a teacher; started before I was born and retired after the 2019-2020 school year. Most of my friends growing up also had moms who worked outside the home to some degree, whether it was part or full time.
Post by runblondie26 on Jan 29, 2022 13:02:21 GMT -5
I’m 40, and my mom did per diem nursing assignments when I was younger. She went back full time into a hospital administration role when I was in 5th grade and she just retired last year.
Post by ellipses84 on Jan 29, 2022 13:03:24 GMT -5
Mostly. When I was a baby she didn’t. The year before kindergarten she worked at a daycare center and my aunt who was a SAHM babysat me. After that she ran a home daycare, homeschooled us a couple years, and then worked at a private school in exchange for our tuition. When my parents divorced, she started working elsewhere, in the ECE field, mostly with foster children for a few years and we went to public school so she wasn’t home or with us as much. When I was a teen she worked full time while getting her masters degree and still works in the ECE field. I’m 40 and was the youngest of my siblings growing up.
About 70% of my friends’ moms were SAHMs and that percentage dropped as we got older and they entered the workforce. Half of those who worked were part time. I didn’t know many kids who went to a daycare center. My other aunt is such an inspiration to me as a working mother. She had kids later in her 20s (not the norm at the time), knew she wasn’t cut out to be a SAHM, worked full time at an office job and sent her kids to full time daycare. My cousins are fantastic human beings and I’d always remind myself of that when I felt mom guilt about daycare and working a demanding job.
I’m 41, and yes she worked outside the home. She started as a nurse and worked full-time in nursing while getting her masters and PhD, then went on to teach nursing, and by the time she retired she was Vice President of a community college. My parents didn’t make enough to live on one income when I was young. Come to think of it, most other families we knew in the 80s and 90s had two working parents because they were teachers/professors and needed two incomes.
Yes, she is a registered dietitian. She stayed home until my younger sister went to kindergarten- in the meantime she babysat for some kids for extra money and she also taught a nutrition class at night sometimes. When she went to work full time she was the coordinator for our county meals on wheels program and group meal sites. She also did nutrition consulting occasionally.
i grew up in a blue collar family surrounded by blue collar families. The men worked manual labor jobs. The women worked a job specifically to carry the family health insurance.
My mom was a SAHM until I was about 10 then she went back to work as a bank teller.
ETA: I’m 37 and the youngest of 3 children. The main reason she didn’t work was having had 3 children in 3 years, the cost of daycare would have been more than she would have been able to earn. She went back to work once we were old enough to to be home alone for a few hours after school.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Post by sillygoosegirl on Jan 29, 2022 13:19:09 GMT -5
Not at a traditional job, but she did manage multiple rental properties that my parents owned, managed our 8-acre farm, and was always volunteering on top of all that. And homeschooling me. She was, and still is, a very busy woman.
We socialized a lot with other families like ours (homeschoolers with a stay at home mom), as those were the folks not at school and not at work all day, just like us. Although to a large extent those friendships were based on the convenience of similar schedules and weren't super long term friendships.
Growing up, my best friend's mom was the sole breadwinner and dad was a house husband. And a few close family friends--the people from my childhood I'm still closest with now--had both parents working, either full or part time, although I wasn't super aware of that until I was much older. (We didn't see each other during working hours, so the difference wasn't that apparent.) So I was also exposed to families who did this differently from us in this regard, although aside from the one friend whose dad was always around and mom was always at work, I didn't much notice, and largely assumed only one parent working was pretty much the norm.
Early 40s. My mom was laid off a few months before I was born and never worked again. My dad was not some high income earner, either, so I truly wonder how they did it.
I was thinking this too. I thought we were middle class but in hindsight we were definitely working poor and the friends I thought were super rich were actually middle class. My dad always had blue collar jobs, we moved around for his jobs, sometimes he had to be away from long periods of time for jobs, but somehow we scraped by with my mom’s various jobs supplementing his income. Lots of our friends had SAHMs and Dads with jobs that wouldn’t support a family today. Studies have shown how COL has increased way faster than average pay or minimum wage over the past few decades.
Post by blondemoment123 on Jan 29, 2022 13:20:40 GMT -5
She worked as a director of hotels when I was young. When she had my brother she stopped working since he has special needs and my dad was in the military and unable to help very much.
She got certified to teach when my brother went to school and starting working as a teacher for the flexibility. She still teaches.
Yes, my mom is an attorney. She and my dad divorced when I was young. She worked as a teacher for awhile to have a more flexible schedule (her bachelors degree is in education), then went back to law when we got older. I’m in my early 30s.
I’m 40. My mom worked FT in retail until I was 4 and my brother was born, then she was a SAHM until I was in college. This was not the norm among my friends’ parents growing up, all of my friends’ moms worked outside of the home. Off the top of my head, my closest friends’ moms were a high school librarian, a nurse, a teacher, a pharmacist and a court reporter.
I only know one SAHM in my life currently as well. All my girlfriends with kids work at least PT.
I’m the oldest, in my upper 30’s. She worked at a gas station after I was born and I think when my next sister was younger but around my dads work schedule.
Then she SAH until my youngest siblings (9 years from me to the youngest) was in school. Then I think she just did part time work for the post office- Saturdays and filling in when needed and she could. Then she worked at a grocery store until she divorced my dad.
My mom was a SAHM through my elementary school years. She volunteered at the school a lot and was PTO president. Then she got her associates degree and worked part time as a substitute teacher until her cancer diagnosis.
Post by redheadbaker on Jan 29, 2022 13:41:01 GMT -5
I'm in my early 40s. My mom stayed home with me and my younger brother until I was in sixth grade. Then, she went back to work, but at a place that was walking distance from our house, so she could get home quickly in the event of an emergency. And, our grandmother lived down the block.
I’m 38 and my parents separated when I was 3 and my dad rarely paid child support so yes, she had to work full-time. She was a secretary back when they were still called that lol. I think most of my friends’ mothers also worked, but I couldn’t tell you what they did.
Post by trytobearunner34 on Jan 29, 2022 13:44:39 GMT -5
I am 43 and the oldest of 3. My mom was a medical secretary until I was born. She stayed at home until my younger sister started school. She was home for 11 years and returned to the workforce as a school secretary.
Post by estrellita on Jan 29, 2022 13:45:52 GMT -5
My mom stayed home until I was 5. She started a part time job at a bank (on the phones) and worked part time until I went to college and my dad was on strike. She went back to part time a few years ago and is retiring soon. She's had the same job for about 30 years now!
Post by basilosaurus on Jan 29, 2022 13:46:54 GMT -5
My birth mom worked as a secretary in an engineering firm (where she met my dad) before we were born and planned to go back when we were in school full time. Unfortunately she was terminal by then. She was diagnosed when we were 3 and nearly 2. She was born in 1947 and did go to uni (2 of them, good ones), but for family reasons dropped out and went to secretarial school.
Dad's 2nd wife worked until I was in high school. She was a TA, and the industry was already dying, and my dad encouraged her to quit for the toll it was taking on her mental health. She was born in 1956 and also had some college but no degree.
Most of my friends' moms worked, quite often in professional jobs. Lots of lawyers and doctors in my school community. Many of my friends were first generation, and their moms didn't always work, mostly due to education and licensing not transferring easily.
My mom had me when she was 23 - I'm 39 now so early 80s. She did some general office/secretarial work before I was born, then stayed home for the first 12ish years of my life. She worked part time after that, first she did some transcription work, then worked at the bank. I think she was off for the summers, though I wouldn't put money on that but I don't remember her being gone all summer. She also generally didn't work outside of school hours, so it was basically like she was a SAHM because she was almost always available and was still our primary caretaker.
She went back to school to be a nurse with an associates degree and graduated when I was a junior in college. I was the oldest so she still had (older) kids at home while she went to school and her first couple of years of full time work.
I don't think this was common or uncommon - I think there was a mix? We were very middle class and so were most of the people we knew. I do think it was common in my family - I have something like 11 aunts and I can only think of 1 that has a career (teaching) and she stayed home for at least a decade while her kids were young, too.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Jan 29, 2022 13:51:48 GMT -5
My mom did not until I was in middle school. It was not her choice to go to work - she'd always wanted to be a SAHM - and it was a pretty big shift for our family. But I've always worked and am the main breadwinner for my family so I don't know what that means.
Yes, my mom has worked full time for my entire life. She has worked for a couple of companies doing similar type of work, right now she's VP of just about everything at a small construction company.
Most of my friend's moms worked growing up as well.
Post by NewGirlNic on Jan 29, 2022 13:58:14 GMT -5
When I was really young my mom worked at a salon. After my younger brother was born she worked nights and weekends at a restaurant waiting tables. Then she was diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease and had to have multiple neck surgeries. She didn’t work at all from the time I was about 7 until my senior year of high school when she went to work at a doctors office as a receptionist/scheduler. She eventually became office manager. She worked there for years and then the doc sold the office to a large healthcare system and she was laid off. She now works at a cancer chemotherapy center as a receptionist and says she has zero desire to move up or be in management again. She turns 65 this year and will probably retire or go part time in the next few years.