There was a time when though it meant less money for many things, mom’s stayed home to take care of the kids and be there for them.
For four years after after WWII, when my Air Force dad was assigned overseas or where there was no housing for us, my mom was essentially a “single mom”, in an “affordable” home sixty miles from anyone in her family, with six little kids - the youngest from 1-4 and the oldest from 7-11. She did not work as taking care of us and our home was more than enough for her to manage. I think there were many WWII and post-WWII mom’s like her. At the time my dad’s Warrant Officer Air Force pay was all of $334 a month. We did not know we were poor. Us six older kids remember that period very fondly. We how that feeling to our mom, for how she handled everything.
“There was a time when though it meant less money for many things, mom’s stayed home to take care of the kids and be there for them.”
Not really. Back when mothers could stay home with kids was pre-feminist movement. Men’s jobs easily supported a middle-class family. Once feminism reared its head, that stopped. Employers were free to pay men less because their wives were bringing home part of the bacon.
Bless her, she sounds like a wonderful mother! My mom and my husband’s mom were homemakers and I was too, plus we homeschooled our kids (they are grown now). Hubby and I had to tighten our belts quite a bit (fixing things ourselves, cooking from scratch on a budget, driving old cars, small house, etc) to make it happen but it was one of the greatest choices we made. It got a bit easier financially when the kids were older but I also don’t think they ever knew we struggled early on😁