Am I a 1950’s housewife?
Recently I’ve been reading Colin Beavan’s book ‘No Impact Man’. It’s about his attempts to live for a year without impacting on the environment. It’s really rather good and last night even made me go onto Amazon and various other sites to delete my shopping basket contents. (And anything that stops me from making late night internet purchases is a good thing!).
However, one thing worries me slightly about the book. This is a family who didn’t ever shop or cook before the project – they lived on takeaway food – even home-delivered breakfasts (I didn’t even know there was such a thing!). Colin’s wife comments that one of the best things about the project was seeing her husband change into a 1950’s housewife. I’m not finished yet, but the gist of it is that he starts to cook and shop.
Does this make me a 1950’s housewife? I go even further. I have always looked after my children myself, I bake, I garden, God forbid I sew. I even mend things. In the Beavan family a step in the no impact direction was to take clothes to the tailor to be mended instead of throwing them away. At that point I came to a stop. Do people really take their clothes to tailors to be mended? It wouldn’t cross my mind to go to the grocery store without a half dozen shopping bags and I walk to the nearest farm regularly to buy whatever produce is in season.
Is there something strange about me or is it just a case of a New York lifestyle versus that of the rest of the world. I have to admit I was appalled at the thought of a small child (the Beavan’s) being brought up never eating a home-cooked meal. There is even an example of them meeting other parents in a playground and laughing about the last time the children ate home-cooked meals. It was just beyond my comprehension that that was possible. (OK, it may have coloured my perception that here there aren’t many takeaway possibilities and no-one could afford to go that route on a daily basis). But aren’t cooking and shopping basic life skills?
It seems to be put down to being a time-saving decision. But saving time to do what? Watch TV in most cases.
It all made me think that, yes, maybe I’m not too far removed from my 1950’s predecessor, but also that life in the 1950’s was probably a whole lot more normal (and healthy) than what seems to have developed in some places. And I’m going to stick at what I have, which by this book seems to be an incredibly low-impact lifestyle!
Happy cooking and shopping and mending and….
I must put my lipstick on before my husband comes home!!
Helen
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
I’d like to think that the 1950’s housewife and I are alike in that we care for our families, but that I differ from her in that I am not defined by that role, and I’m glad that it’s not the only role open to me. Still – subsisting on take-out? Really?
But I also firmly believe that clean bathrooms are important and that they need not have been cleaned by me, so I guess I won’t be winning a home-baked chocolate cake any time soon! Now I’m off to teach my kids how to sew on a button, a life skill I forgot they needed.
August 22nd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I have always been very grateful that our plan to go back to England when our eldest daughter was 4 never came to fruition – she and our other two daughters got to grow up in a village atmosphere of reality without sentimentality, independence and health and did not get sucked into the over-achieving, girlie culture that seems to prevail over there nowadays!
They seem to have appreciated having a mum, who despite intelligence and an education, was mainly at home for them in the morning, at lunchtime and when they got home from school. Maybe old-fashioned, but maybe also healthier?!
Yes, the two elder ones have not gone on to university, which they undoubtedly would have at 18, had they been in Britain. But both are happy, well-balanced, hard-working, “nice” girls, one married and one getting married shortly, both having declared they enjoyed having young parents and want to have their families while they they can enjoy them. Are they a rarity, putting their children before themselves? Was/Am I old-fashioned… I don’t think so, but I think our future might well be brighter!!
The difficulty for families like ours is trying to explain the system to the folks “at home” – not starting school at 4 (or nursery even younger), not having exams all the time, having 13 subjects at the Kanti, not finishing school until 20 or 22 being normal, that maybe a little maturity might be a good thing if a university education even makes sense and so on. At the end of the day I think family values will dictate whether having useful skills make us (and our daughters) modern or old-fashioned.
Now, where are those socks I’m knitting while the dinner cooks?! ;))
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I’d like to think I’m close to a 1950’s housewife myself. I love the domestic things in my world. And I have been to my local farmers market weekly!
I did a similar post to this awhile back.. you should check it out.
http://handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com/2010/01/times-have-changed.html
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Well, I don’t have kids (a grown step-daughter but she never lived with us on a full time basis), but I was a working wife who almost always cooked a wholesome meal from scratch when I came home. We did and do order out from time to time, but I think I would draw the line at having breakfast delivered – although it is nice to go out for it once in a while. I was intrigued by what you wrote and so had a look at the author’s web site. I don’t think that I could get into this book, it seems way too self serving to me – but then, of course, I could be totally wrong. I don’t over shop (except maybe fabric and books from time to time but hey someone has to help the economy), grow some of my own food, do my own washing, mending and cleaning, so hopefully my impact on earth is not too great except for the bit a good that I might be able to do from time to time.
August 24th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I was astonished and amused to hear of a mother daughter team in Newcastle (UK) who go to the tailors to have buttons sewn on at £1 a piece! How difficult can it be to sew on a button?