07-03-2014, 06:12 AM
22
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
as a young married father with wife and two kids - we could get by well on my salary alone but we did have cheap accomodation and a large garden and grew a lot of our own vegies.But having seen my wife as a housewife and now my daughter-in-law there is a terrible boredom about staying at home and just doing the housework and looking after toddlers.
I have just spent 5 wks with my son and family and watched his wife go through this boredom and develop depression because of it. So I am all for the working wife whether financially necessary or not - it is healthy for all.
and I am also a great believer in kids going to kindi and not staying at home. my youngest grandchild 2 and a half is bored at home and needs other kids to stimulate her.
Yesteryear was one thing - a thing of my gran and her mother but not todays mums - liberate all is my motto.
07-03-2014, 07:24 AM
23
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
I think you can only try to compare like with like and then you have to allow for every family's different attitude to what they spend and save.I was a teacher and my husband a carpenter when our children were growing up. On those wages we could afford to buy a house, have two cars and go on holidays. My guess would be that two people with similar jobs could do the same now.
BUT I also know a lot of young couples who want everything NOW whether they can afford it or not and spend enormous amounts on consumer goods. always getting the newest model, the latest gadgets, spending horrific amounts on their children's clothing, toys, parties, IT equipment etc and drinking and smoking and juggling several credit cards with thousands of debt. At least the banks wouldn't let you do that in my day!
Equally, i know other young couples who are sensible and live within their means.
07-03-2014, 08:06 AM
25
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
I can think of two words to explain what has happened - Avarice and Attitude! Not everyone, admittedly, but many.My generation saved for a deposit on house, lived in simple rented accommodation or with in laws while they did so. Having found the house - we then bought second hand furniture or welcomed donations of stuff from relatives until we could afford new. I can remember many a fun Saturday morning at the local auction house. We made things like curtains and clothes. We knitted and crocheted things for the babes when they arrived. We cooked proper food and we didn't have time to be bored because we had hobbies! New things were welcomed with a sense of achievement. We managed a 'household budget' because to be in debt was shameful.
Modern generation ( again, not all!) don't want second hand stuff - they want to start out where their parents left off. They don't want to wait until they have saved the money - they want it all now. They want designer/fashion clothes not home made. They want instant meals that they can just throw in a microwave during the ads on TV. They want those disgusting disposable nappys so they can dump the babes with a childminder and go back to earning money to buy more designer clothes and giant plasma TVs. They have no hobbies or interests. They use credit cards like confetti ! They don't worry about debts because 'the social' will sort it out for them.
I see lots of young mums on the buses - in the shops - in the city centre - and the one thing that strikes me more than anything is - they have no joy of life about them - and that is so sad!
07-03-2014, 08:16 AM
26
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
Originally Posted by gumbud
->
as a young married father with wife and two kids - we could get by well on my salary alone but we did have cheap accomodation and a large garden and grew a lot of our own vegies. But having seen my wife as a housewife and now my daughter-in-law there is a terrible boredom about staying at home and just doing the housework and looking after toddlers.
I have just spent 5 wks with my son and family and watched his wife go through this boredom and develop depression because of it. So I am all for the working wife whether financially necessary or not - it is healthy for all.
and I am also a great believer in kids going to kindi and not staying at home. my youngest grandchild 2 and a half is bored at home and needs other kids to stimulate her.
Yesteryear was one thing - a thing of my gran and her mother but not todays mums - liberate all is my motto.
07-03-2014, 08:22 AM
27
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
a lot of women entered the workforce slowly. My wife set up a kindergarten in the 70's with a friend and a loan of a house from the council [how nice of them!] - that ran for a while then for some reason stopped and my wife then secured more permanent work at the local hospital and her friend returned to home duties. So there was no mad rush of women demanding work around our area - it was osmotic! bit by bit!
07-03-2014, 08:55 AM
30
Re: What happened to the breadwinner?
When we got married 40 years ago, the idea of living with in-laws was regarded as an absolute last resort. We were expected to stand on our own two feet. Even the church minister stressed the need for our own house.I'll accept that we didn't rely on technology, flashy cars and foreign holidays- though we did start off with new furniture, a deep freezer and a new washing machine - all from modest savings, our pay and some help from parents.
This was nothing unusual for young couples in the 70's. When our children came along, they went to 'playschool' and when the youngest reached school age, Dianne got a part time job in the local school.
If the vast majority of people get by comfortably, nobody notices. If a minority struggle - that sells newspapers.
|
|
