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In the 1940s you probably had an icebox, a wringer washer,hung the clothes out to dry, had to iron them, and had to buy food everyday and cook from scratch.

And you probably were pregnant and had a couple kids to care for...no pampers so that means diapers to wash because birth control was not good. And no TV so nothing to do at night but make love.

In the 1940s you probably had an icebox, a wringer washer, hung the clothes out to dry, had to iron them, and had to buy food everyday and cook from scratch. And you probably were pregnant and had a couple kids to care for...no pampers so that means diapers to wash because birth control was not good. And no TV so nothing to do at night but make love.

I used a wringer washer in a college dormitory I lived in during the 1990s. My wife still hangs the clothes out to dry (it is fast here in Phoenix). She generally cooks from scratch (except bread products). When I was unemployed, she made cloth diapers, also helps with potty training. We went without a TV for 20+ years until the computer became a de facto TV, and then we finally got one for Clearplay movies and OTA sports only.

I admit there is a lot less ironing. In our case, our babies came through adoption, though we were certainly open to pregnancy, and as practicing Catholics, birth control didn't enter the vocabulary.

Given the state of the schools, we embraced home schooling (more work than ironing!) Except for the fact that computers have been essential to my income, I would give the whole thing up, as it has become a net negative.

The one thing that would have broken my heart would be the helplessness as the late '40s turned into the '50s and '60s, and having to watch it go away.

I am also glad that anti-biotics are around. They stopped my Lyme Disease cold. Of course, Lyme wasn't a thing in the '40s, but other things were.

“And no TV so nothing to do at night but make love.”

and to actually sit and engage with your children and be involved in their lives.

playing a traditional board or card game as a family or even just a parent/child is worth way more then can be imagined.

my wife is a non-working mother. She doesnt even drive but we live in Israel so thats more normal here. She helps out at a preschool 2 1/2 hours a day for minimum wage, maybe 3-4 days a week. just enough to get out of the house. We certainly dont do it for the money.

She’s up to get our kids out in the morning. makes them lunch. and is home for them in the late afternoons evening.

Thank G-d, our children are normal and well-adjusted

In the 1940s you probably had an icebox, a wringer washer,hung the clothes out to dry, had to iron them, and had to buy food everyday and cook from scratch. And you probably were pregnant and had a couple kids to care for...no pampers so that means diapers to wash because birth control was not good. And no TV so nothing to do at night but make love.

Sounds great! But there was also plenty to do at night (people had electric lights since the 10s and 20s, and radios, and before that, lanterns and candles)—knitting, sewing, mending, preserving food, sweeping, churning, reading the Bible, that sort of thing.

They also had plenty of books and magazines by the 40s, as well as agitator washers with wringers. I remember my grandmother's Reader's Digests, women's magazines, needlework magazines, devotional pamphlets, and well-worn Bible (I still have it), plus an assortment of gadgets for drying clothes to minimize ironing like aluminum-frame trouser stretchers and wooden frames with tack points all around for stretching lace curtains to dry. She was raised on a farm, and no one could beat her home cooking, plus large-quantity cooking for church suppers. She also drove a black Ford automobile and one of the joys of my childhood was accompanying her to the grocery or the streetside markets in the city.

My grandfather had a workshop in the basement in which he made all kinds of household objects for his grown offspring and toys for his grandchildren. I decorate my wooden dollhouse that he made in the late 40s every year for Christmas.

It was a modest, decent way of life. Home, family, church. Work and school on the side.

Ok whatever

Gather around the radio as a family.
You act like electricity is a modern invention.