“Turn back the Clock, I think not!”

By

Gerry Niskern

Every day or so Facebook runs a post called, “Do You Remember?” Last week they ran a photo of a kitchen from the 50’s era featuring the pregnant mother baking a pie with the happy child helping. There was a cloth covered table, canisters on the shelf and a wringer washing  machine in the tiny kitchen.

Thousands of responders replied wishing that we could “ turn back the clock “to those wonderful good old days.

GOOD OLD DAYS! Were they kidding? I had one of those  wicked, wringer washing machines. What the picture neglected to show was the two rinse tubs that went with the laundry job back in those days. After rinsing the clothes (or diapers, but that’s another depressing story),  then the clothes had to be put thru the wringer, all the while, hoping not  lose a  finger. (sometimes it was a crushed arm)

Of course, next came the fun part, lugging the heavy basket full  of wet clothes out and handing them on the line in the yard. If the line became too  heavy there was a post to lift the line a little higher.

The majority of today’s young mothers have access to great washer and dryers, not to mention many other household appliances that should make their  life easier. And it would, but what young mothers also have are full time jobs. It takes two salaries in today’s world.

As it turns out, since the beginning of the Pandemic a large part of the employed moms are working at home. That would be good except for the fact that the kids are attending “school at home” on their computers too. I know one young mother who is also a teacher, teaching her class from one room while her two boys are supposed to  be doing their classwork online in another room. Talk about juggling!

So, there are lots of good things to remember about the “Good old days”, but hooray for all the new labor saving devices developed since the 50’s. Today’s moms deserve every one of them; and the dads kind of like them too!