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Post by chances on Jan 21, 2019 1:29:31 GMT
Such a great question and interesting stories! It's fascinating how being married can change the trajectory of a women's life.
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hendersn
Junior Member
Posts: 59
Jun 27, 2014 1:31:41 GMT
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Post by hendersn on Jan 21, 2019 1:29:33 GMT
My mom started nursing school, but got married and did not finish. She worked as a secretary to support herself and my dad until my dad graduated from college and then she became a SAHM for many years. She had eight kids. When my youngest brother was in 6th or 7th grade, my mom went back to college and finished the RN program she had started so many years ago. After graduating at age 48, she worked as a nurse for about 5 years. She had a massive heart attack at 53, and was unable to continue nursing after her recovery. She then spent many years doing volunteer work, she taught English as a Second Language, and used her nurses training to teach Hygiene, Nutrition, and Baby and Childcare classes to immigrants, mostly from Africa. She liked staying busy.
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MDscrapaholic
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,386
Location: Down by the bay....
Jun 25, 2014 20:49:07 GMT
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Post by MDscrapaholic on Jan 21, 2019 1:52:50 GMT
My Mom worked for the University (that I work for now) right after high school. She met and married my Dad and they ran a business for the whole time they were married. She did the books and anything else that needed to be done. They were married for 60-some years and had only sold the business a year or two before my Mom passed away.
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Post by myboysnme on Jan 21, 2019 1:55:14 GMT
My mom worked as a typesetter for a newspaper when she got married. After divorce she retrained herself to go back into typesetting. She did that until she retired. She also did proofreading. She worked for newspapers, periodicals and technical companies.
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Post by silverlining on Jan 21, 2019 2:50:55 GMT
My mom taught at a university. She also did the bookkeeping for my dad's business. In our neighborhood near the university most of the moms didn't work, and many of the dads were professors.
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
Jun 25, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
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Post by freebird on Jan 21, 2019 3:01:30 GMT
My mom did the SAHM thing, and also did retail jobs. Probably the longest job she did was being an artist.
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Post by Zee on Jan 21, 2019 3:07:44 GMT
No, she was a teen mom and never finished school. She's a very intelligent woman and could have done anything but she chose a different path. Her mother was a college graduate with her own advertising business and 7 children. She's had jobs and she helps her husband run the business, but it's not her own career.
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Post by SockMonkey on Jan 21, 2019 3:11:40 GMT
My mom is a nurse. She worked all throughout my childhood, and still works part time to stay a little busy. She’s 67.
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my3freaks
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,206
Location: NH girl living in Colorado
Jun 26, 2014 4:10:56 GMT
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Post by my3freaks on Jan 21, 2019 3:11:59 GMT
My Mom was a nurse. After some time working in neuro intensive care, she had been working in the cardiology department at a hospital for about 35 years when she retired last year.
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Post by PNWMom on Jan 21, 2019 6:21:28 GMT
No. My mom was a disabled single mother with 4 kids (separated from my father when her youngest was 18 months old and oldest was 8). She worked odd jobs here and there but nothing specialized--teacher's aide at a preschool, cleaning houses, etc. She has been legally deaf since birth (used to use sign language as a kid, but now is a great lip reader and got a cochlear implant in her 50's), then became also legally blind by the time I was 12 (genetic disease). She's done great since she completed blindness training once her kids were all grown--she ran her own coffeeshop for a few years and now putters around in her woodshop making all sorts of home decor and fixing up her house.
My siblings all had kids in their 20's and stayed home with their kids when they were little. I have a 20 month old and a 2 month old and have 2 more weeks of maternity leave for this last baby and head back to full time work (I'm an RN). My entire family cannot fathom having kids in daycare and I feel totally judged for being a working mom. But, I live in an expensive city, have a mortgage, etc, etc, etc.
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Post by mom26 on Jan 21, 2019 6:50:01 GMT
No, she was widowed young with 6 children to care for so she got jobs to put a roof over and food on the table, but never a career. Then she married my dad and had me, child #7 and went back to being a part time SAHM. Meaning, she saw me on the bus and went to work at a factory processing fruit and was back home when I got out of school. Worked nights and weekends being a caregiver to the elderly. Took me with her often and I had lots of 'bonus' grandparents'. She was strong and brave and hardworking and I lost her when I was only 24 years old.
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stittsygirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,580
Location: In the leaves and rain.
Jun 25, 2014 19:57:33 GMT
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Post by stittsygirl on Jan 21, 2019 7:06:39 GMT
My mom is an RN. She went back to school for that when I was eight. She and my dad eventually had seven kids total but she almost always worked full-time - night shifts mainly. As the oldest I did a lot of babysitting my younger siblings.
She’s now 70 and currently under treatment for leukemia, but was still working as an RN right up to the day of her diagnosis in December.
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Post by bigbundt on Jan 21, 2019 13:32:17 GMT
My entire family cannot fathom having kids in daycare and I feel totally judged for being a working mom. But, I live in an expensive city, have a mortgage, etc, etc, etc. You do you. Even if you lived in a cheap place making millions a year, it would still be okay if you worked. You are doing what is best for your family in your situation. They did the same. You've got 100% support from this SAHM. I wish moms would support other moms without the stupid mom wars. Working, stay home, keeping kids at home, sending to daycare... there is no right or wrong just different and what is best for your family.
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Post by Linda on Jan 21, 2019 13:41:55 GMT
My mum was a teacher - in the US for a couple of years in the late 50s (she graduated college in 1958) and then in Germany and Belgium for the DoD in the 60s. She married in mid-1969 and worked until the end of the 69-70 school year - when she and Dad moved to the UK and she was heavily pregnant with me. She was a SAHM for the next decade - although she did some supply teaching in the late 70s when we were in Cyprus.
We moved to the States in 1980 and she worked as a substitute and also worked a few side jobs (a video store and JCP). Dad died in late 1989 and she returned to teaching fulltime then and stayed there until she retired in 2006 at age 70.
She said that when she was young, the career choices for girls were secretary, nurse, or teacher - and she didn't like science enough to be a nurse.
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Post by ilikepink on Jan 21, 2019 13:59:31 GMT
My mom was in the army in WWII as a secretary/clerk. After the war she met my dad, and worked as a switchboard operator for the phone company. I think she stopped working before I was born. She stayed home with me until my dad left her when I was eight. She worked a switchboard at a hospital and later a bank, and while she partially resented having to go back to work, she did enjoy what she did. Her thing was to rarely do things or spend money on herself; she was saving for her retirement so she wouldn’t be a burden to me. Sadly, she hurt her back about the time my ODS was born, and never recovered. Her retirement was spent mostly housebound, and she died just a few years later. My lesson was to do something you enjoy, and live your life.
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Post by lbp on Jan 21, 2019 15:19:40 GMT
My mom always worked full time and instilled in me to always have my own money and never become dependent on my husband. I think the way her Dad treated her mom was her basis for that. He was ruler and he decided where money would be spent or not. From the time she was 16 until she was 36 she worked in a sewing factory. When that closed down she went to work as a keypunch operator at a bank. Unfortunately she only worked there a couple months when she found out she had Leukemia. She passed away at age 37.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,145
Jun 25, 2014 22:52:46 GMT
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Post by iowgirl on Jan 21, 2019 15:49:35 GMT
My mom never worked outside the home. Her house was always immaculate (that didn't pass down to me!) and she made the best meals. My dad told me once, that while he was in the military during the war, how my Mom managed to keep everything going with two little kids and virtually no money. She had no idea where he was most of the time, due to the nature of his work in the military and the fact that it was a different time, as far as ways of communication. My parents relationship was a partnership. I never once got a vibe that my dad was the "head of the house - rule the roost" type of guy. When I see relationships where the woman has to check with the husband to make sure buying something is OK (I'm talking little things, not a major purchase) and the husband can do whatever he merrily pleases - it makes me cringe. I too am a SAHM. I also feel that my marriage is a partnership. My kids are grown and flown, but I still don't work 'outside the home' so to speak. I farm and ranch full time with my DH though. I could never make enough money outside the farm to pay someone to take my place. Plus, according to DH - no one could replace me. LOL I said no one would tolerate his grumpy ass that long. LOL
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 1, 2024 19:32:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 17:40:42 GMT
My Mom stayed home when I was really young, went part-time while I was Pre-K to 4th then went full time when I could stay home alone starting in 5th grade. We lived in a small town where she was third generation so I couldn't get away with anything. She really liked her job as the office manager for the university hospital and she was good at it. She stayed at that job until she retired about 7 years ago. She stays busy now with her clubs, friends, and golf but does enjoy her quiet time to paint.
My neighbor went to school and became a PhD in cardiology pharmacology. She started out being a research scientist for a drug company. She gave it all up to be a SAHM and now makes cakes and cookies. Her designs and art work on her cakes is nothing short of phenomenal.
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Post by deafpea on Jan 21, 2019 17:45:38 GMT
My mom is a teacher. For years she had a home-based preschool which allowed her to be at home with us when we were younger. When my youngest sibling was older and didn't need her quite so much, she got a job as a kindergarten teacher in public schools. She worked at 3 different schools, I think. She taught for probably around 15 years before retiring. She loved it and was good at it.
Merilee
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Post by psoccer on Jan 21, 2019 17:58:18 GMT
My mom was the only of her siblings to go to college, and, I think, the only one that graduated high school. She majored in art, went to New York, from Rhode Island, to work for an ad agency. I still have some of her drawings. However, it didn't pay, so she and her roommate went back to school and became teachers. When she met and married my dad, she continued to teach until my brother and I were born. As kids, she would substitute, now and then. When we went to high school, maybe junior high, she went back full time. She ended up working with students to complete their GED. I remember her stories of going to student's houses and places of work and telling them to get back to school. She was very passionate that, if the students didn't have their high school diploma, then they must have their GED.
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Post by papersilly on Jan 21, 2019 18:14:03 GMT
my mom had a job. she was never interested in a career more than she was having job security, good benefits and good retirement. her job was a mile from our house. it was an office job that wasn't too stressful. she never wanted to be management because she didn't want the stress. she was satisfied doing her thing until she retired.
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rickmer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,125
Jul 1, 2014 20:20:18 GMT
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Post by rickmer on Jan 21, 2019 18:19:22 GMT
my mom wanted to be a hairdresser but her mom told her that was a dirty and not well respected career. she worked in retail as a young married woman but realized they were never going to own a home if she left it up to my dad (hard working but blue collar job and not a great saver).
she went back to school to get her nurse's licence and worked as a nurse until late 80s when she got a job working as a site safety nurse onsite managing safety programs and workers comp while toronto was experiencing a boom in building office towers downtown. she *loved* that job, drove a fiero, bought nice suits and was a real mover and shaker.
she always laughed that my grandmother thought hairdresser was "dirty" and as a nurse had to empty bedpans and bath people and was such a "respectable" career choice.
but my mom always worked.
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Post by giatocj on Jan 21, 2019 18:29:39 GMT
My mom was a pediatric nurse.
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Post by dudleypippen on Jan 21, 2019 18:31:18 GMT
My mom started working part time outside the house when I was in the fourth grade- I remember it feeling traumatic for me because I was afraid she wouldn’t be around anymore. She worked as a coordinator at a senior center before eventually working for a private Catholic high school where my brother would later attend. After he graduated she started working for our neighbor’s business, which was tangentially related to real estate. Eventually it was acquired by CitiMortgage and she continued to work there until she retired two years ago. She wasn’t happy with her job for many, many years. Financially she didn’t have to work and my dad encouraged her to quit and find something, anything, that she loved without regard to the pay or benefits. She refused, sticking it out so she could get her full retirement benefits. She’s much happier and fulfilled now that she’s retired and commits her time to volunteering in the community.
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jayfab
Drama Llama
procastinating
Posts: 5,530
Jun 26, 2014 21:55:15 GMT
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Post by jayfab on Jan 21, 2019 19:08:39 GMT
No, my mom didn't have a career, she had a job. She worked the line a a factory for 30 years. I can still remember the smell it left on her clothes. To this day me and my sister call Wrigley spearmint gum "Chevy gum". She was a big smoker and I think the gum helped her get thru the day. She retired in the early eighties and became a "coupon/refund lady" She made a good amount of money and freebies from her hobby.
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,912
Jun 25, 2014 20:45:00 GMT
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Post by melissa on Jan 21, 2019 19:09:52 GMT
Mom was a special Ed teacher when that was a very new concept. She stopped to be a SAHM. She spent much of her adult life battling MS and never was able to work full-time again, something she had hoped to do. When she was doing well, she tutored ill children who were hospitalized, mainly children undergoing chemotherapy and some home bound.
We were latch key kids not because Mom was at work but because she was in the hospital as a patient herself
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Post by danalz on Jan 21, 2019 19:22:43 GMT
My mom married my dad right after high school and was a stay at home wife/mother for about 8 or 9 years. Shen then became the clerk for our small town and did that part time job in her at home office for almost 40 years. It allowed her to make money while still being home for us.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 1, 2024 19:32:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 21:40:19 GMT
Mom was a special Ed teacher when that was a very new concept. She stopped to be a SAHM. She spent much of her adult life battling MS and never was able to work full-time again, something she had hoped to do. When she was doing well, she tutored ill children who were hospitalized, mainly children undergoing chemotherapy and some home bound. We were latch key kids not because Mom was at work but because she was in the hospital as a patient herself A friend’s mother had ms. Developed symptoms when my friend was 14. My friend was around 30 when her mother passed. It was really heartbreaking to watch. I am sorry that you had to go through this with your mother.
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Post by karinec on Jan 21, 2019 21:40:42 GMT
Another pea with a nurse mom! She was a nurse for 45 years. She went to nursing school at 18 and then got her BS in Nursing in her mid 40's so she could become a Director of Nursing. I was always very proud of her for that and thought it funny as a teenager, when she told me she couldn't do something because she had to do her homework!
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Post by scrappinmom3 on Jan 22, 2019 3:56:12 GMT
My mom went to art school for fashion design (back in about 1944). She stayed home with us until I (I’m the youngest by 7 and 10 years), was going into 5th grade. Then, she worked as a clerk for the US Census Bureau in Detroit. I really missed having her home when she started working again.
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