Did your Mom work, outside of the home, when you were a kid?

[irisblue]

My siblings & myself were born late 50s/early 60s.
My Mom had "side hustles"- Avon, some kind of clothes selling, federal & school census in the early 60s
She got a full time early am kitchen cafeteria job when my father's factory was on strike in 64.
When the divorce occured, she got another full time job & worked from 68 till she retired in 2005.


So while my father did work full time, Mom did get some short spans of just parenting and house management

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[Walleye]

1. When I was a kid, my father had a small photography studio.

It was next-door to our house We did everything including photo finishing. But my father really made nice portraits and my mother worked on them sometimes using oil paints. They had a pretty good business for a while. I grew up. She went back to her first job, which was teaching.

[JBTaurus83]

2. I was born in the early 80's

My mom always had part time jobs while we were growing up, usually during hours we were at school. By the time I was in HS she started her own daycare business at the house for disabled children.

[Marthe48]

15. Welcome to DU

[surrealAmerican]

3. At first, no. Later, yes.

She started a job when I was about nine years old. I was the youngest kid.

[crim son]

4. No, but I was born in 1963

and it was still common for women to stay at home with the kids. When I married, I did the same, until my divorce. Then I had to work outside the home.

[redstatebluegirl]

5. We were farmers so Mom worked on the farm.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. yes . school teaher and single parent of 3 kids . had to feed us somehow.

2 cats 1 duck andaguenia pig . numerous carnival gold fish.

[FirstLight]

7. Born 1970, Dad worked for Ma Bell / Western Electric

Mom went "back to work" when I was about 10 or so for some "fun money" as she called it... being able to get us kids extra stuff or take us and friends to the roller rink without busting Dad's budget.

Mom was a receptionist at a Medical Office for 6 years in her early 20's till they got married and she had my sister... Then she went back to work doing different Office type jobs for fun as we got older. I think she really enjoyed getting out of the house and having conversations with all types of folks

[ms liberty]

8. Yes, I was born in 59 and she went back to work when I was 9 or 10.

I was the youngest of two.She worked in the cafeteria at my elementary school for a year or two, then went back full time into the work force. By the 8th grade my parents were divorced., and she worked full time until retiring.

[sdfernando]

9. Mom had 5 kids within 8 years

the last 2 of us ten and a half months apart. Mom worked hard keeping the house running…she worked harder than my Dad.


Thanks Mom….I miss you!

[cornball 24]

10. Yes. In the 40s and after, Mom hung wet clothes on the clothes lines in the backyard.

[Fla Dem]

18. Similar story for my family. I think many of my childhood friends had a similar situation.

Post WWII situations.

[Wicked Blue]

11. I was born in 1952

and my mother did not work outside the house. We had one car, which my father used, so she had no way to get to a job. Also, my mother wasn't a citizen until the early 1970s as far as I recall.

The pity is that she was in law school in Estonia when she and her mother had to flee because of the war. And once in the U.S., there was no money to finish her education. My father was also a law student and didn't finish.

[Deep State Witch]

12. I was born in the mid-60's

My mom had to resign from working in a bank when she got pregnant with me. I think she subconsciously blamed me for that. My dad was a teacher. When the teachers' union went on strike in 1975, I was in fifth grade. My mom went back to work at a local department store. Mom wanted to go back full-time after that. They decided that I had handled myself well enough to be left alone. So, she went back to work full-time at a different bank. She worked there probably until 1990 - I know it was after I graduated from college in '87. She loved working with money, but hated standing all day.

[Nittersing]

13. We were born in 49, 50 and 54 (moi)

Once I was in high school, Mom went to work.

[Marthe48]

14. My parents owned a grocery store

My Mom kept the daily books, which she did at home in the den, no computer, but she had a manual adding machine I don't think my Dad or Mom got a paycheck, not sure how they dispersed profits. She also took care of us kids, and when my ailing great-aunt moved in as an invalid, in 1958, she and my Gram took care of her. My Mom ran errands for the store, jumped in as a clerk if we had a rush. She took care of my sister who had spinal surgery at age 14 for scoliosis, which left her in a body cast for 9 months, and a walking cast for 6. She also took care of my brother who developed Leg Perthys at age 8 and was in traction for about 4 years, 29 months at Rainbow Children's Hospital and the rest of the time at home. My Mom went to see him every day, exceot Sundays, when he was at Rainbow, which was about a 30 minute drive through Cleveland. The rest of us would go on Sundays.

I know you are probably wanting yes or no responses about defined jobs, but Mom did what she did, at home or at the store. I'm glad she got to do what she wanted in her later years. She deserved a medal.

[catbyte]

16. I grew up in the 1960s. My mom worked days in an office, my dad nights as a cop.

I remember Mom being ticked off if Dad didn't have dinner on the table when she came home. I thought all families were like that.

[Fla Dem]

17. My Mom had 4 kids to care for all born within a 5 year span.

My Dad worked a fulltime day job and a parttime night job. Mom did not work outside our home.

They both served in the US Military, different branches, and got married after the war was over in 1945 and relieved of their service, 1st child born 1946.

[crosinski]

19. My mother went to work as a receptionist in a doctor's office in 1966.

My father was a pipe fitter in a big auto factory and had mixed feelings about mom working. He liked the extra money, but missed having his dinner right after he got home. Mom kept the job, and dad finally adjusted.

[Skittles]

29. heh

in 47 years of full time work I never ONCE had dinner waiting for me when I got home

[Skittles]

20. no

that would have been hard, she did not know how to drive

[True Dough]

21. I grew up in the '70s and '80s

When I was young, my mom babysat other kids in our home to make some extra money. When I was in high school, she worked retail part-time.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

22. My mom had 3 different jobs while I was growing up.

Born in 1951. She went to work as a school crossing guard for 3 years when I was in grade school. She had a factory job at a plastics manufactoring plant after that (and HATED it.) Only lasted about a year at the most. Then she worked at her sister's Italian grocery store from then on until the store finally closed many years later.

[Eugene]

23. Yes. Born in the early 1960s.

Working class family that couldn't make the "traditional" homemaker arrangement work.
My dad worked days and my mom worked overnight as nurse. That way, one parent
was at home with the kids at all times. Household duties were shared.

[hunter]

32. My wife and I did that.

One of us was always at home with our kids. I had the flexible schedule, working nights and weekends.

Mostly I remember being very, very, tired...

[LeftInTX]

24. My dad was in the military. My mom did not work, she had been a nurse previously but getting license in another

state was hard back then.

Then when I was much older (around 25?) she spent a few days working as a "Kelly Girl" She didn't like it. So that was that.

[hunter]

25. My mom was working in Hollywood as a script secretary when she met my dad.

When my mom and dad married the studio sent her home to be a housewife. It was not a choice.

Hollywood is lucky she didn't burn the place down.

My mom then worked as a freelance typist, editor, and ghostwriter. When my youngest sibling started Kindergarten she started working outside our home again.

My mom grew up as a latchkey kid. Her mom and dad were shipyard welders during World War II and my grandma was one of the very few women who kept on working when the war ended. My grandma must have had some mad welding skills or maybe her bosses were afraid of her. They did restrict her to delicate jobs, however. I think my grandma would have been a happier person if she'd been allowed to continue doing the "men's work" she did during the war.

[Kali]

26. not really

I guess she had a job at an insurance office when I was born but I don't remember it and she was mostly home. some summers she went with my dad on research trips (archeology/anthro) and us kids stayed at the ranch with the grandparents. she did a little bit of volunteer stuff - elections, hmm actually that is all I remember.

[Hope22]

27. From second grade on mom was the bread winner and single parent of multiple kids.

She kept the roof over our heads. In turn we had a childhood of chores and lists and we knew we better bring home good grades. I was wondering the other day if they still publish the honor rolls in the paper. I’m not sure I agree with that now. It must have been hard on some kids. Never really thought of it before.

[3catwoman3]

28. Yes. I was born in 1951. My mom was a nurse.

She did many different kinds of nursing. When I was 5+, she worked a couple of night shifts a week. By the time I was in grade school, she was a school nurse, which she found to be her favorite, and which she did for 30+ years full time, and then about another 10 as a substitute after retiring.

[mwmisses4289]

30. Yes.

She was a nurse, dad was military. They arranged their shifts so that there was always one of them at home with us. Except for a couple of years when we lived over seas, she worked. She and dad split in the early 1970's, but by that time my brother and I were old enough to be latch key kids. She decided to get a second degree in business, ran her own shop for about thirty years.

[electric_blue68]

31. My dad didn't want my mom to work...

She was trained as a dress designer, and an ace sewer.
(We benefitted ftom her sewing skills!)

She also was the head draftsperson either for the whole Hughes Aircraft Company in California during part of WW2, or a main section of it. Had at least 25 - 50 draftsmen reporting to her to check, and sign off on their work; while she also did her own assignments.

When she returned to NYC, she did more drafting for the war w another company.

I found that fascinating!

[malthaussen]

33. My father was a drunk who spent more time between jobs than working.

My mother was a career RN who paid most of the bills, including all the cars the old man (and his sons, TBH) wrecked.

-- Mal

[Talitha]

34. I was born in 1952 - Mom worked in the office of my parochial K-8 school.

My siblings and I didn't dare get sent to the office for misbehaving. The head Nun's punishment would be a picnic compared to Mom's after we got home.