To wonder how many hours you...

[SmileEachDay]

Have been on the go.

It occurred to me at about 6pm, whilst cooking dinner for me and DC that I hadn’t stopped since my alarm went off at 6am. And that I still had bedtime and a hour or so’s work to do.

It’s not a complaint - more a slightly shocked observation. Particularly as that’s the norm M-F.....

Yes I feel sorry for women today, I remember my mum had it hard as in never much money, no mod cons etc, but can't compare to now. No comparison really.

What do YOU think was the hardest part of being a woman in the 50s?

My children are autistic. I’m often dealing with youngest in the middle of the night and eldest doesn’t settle to bed till 12-1. Rest is for other people

I start at 5am with littlest one and usually sit down on the sofa at 9pm with my dinner once they are in bed. So about 16 hours a day.

I work two days working out of the house per week in an office, I'm out of the house around 11 hours and to be honest they are easiest days. I am usually completely full of beans in the evenings on those days!

I've thought a lot about what makes it SO hard at the moment. I think it's a mixture of both parents working, very high expectations of home life (we have so much stuff and so many clothes to wash) and parenting standards (quality time, making memories etc). Parents are expected to be very involved in their children's lives and education - no turfing the kids out all day to play and saying don't come up until dinner time. Clothes are washed all the time, after each day's wear, and towels, sheets etc are washed very regularly (in comparison with the past). Houses are stocked with masses of stuff which needs sorted, tidied etc. Meals are easier in some ways but also far more adventurous and varied than they would have been in the past. We no longer eat practically the same thing every day as would have happened in the past. I guess we're not baking our own bread and trying to cook a stew over an open fire any more though either...

It's difficult to say but I think standards of living are now objectively incredibly high and we accept that as the norm, but it still requires huge effort to reach and maintain those standards, which we also accept as the norm. It's just different from previous generations.

Up at 6am, work laptop on for an hour, shower, out the door to start my 10 hour meeting day for 8am. Dinner with group until 10pm, home to bed for 11pm, been doing this since Mon, repeat until the end of this week.

Bit of an extreme week for me, granted. I don't know how those of you do this with kids - I can only think of myself this week. DH is the primary care giver for our cats

Oh, lovely. I just realised you namechanged to sockpuppet on the thread defending racism against Megham.

Right, now that does persuade me I don't want to talk to you.

Christ, modern life eh. Studies show we're not actually productive at work for more than three hours a day. If only businesses (private sector, not sure how it'd work in public) would realise this and free up the dead time in offices. Some have done this (kept pay the same) and have happier, more productive employees as a result.

And not getting 8–9 hours sleep a night is literally taking years off our lives. I'd like to start a new country with very different working rules

Up at 7.30am
walk dog
work, leave at 8.45, home at 6pm
walk dog til 7.30pm/exercise class til 8
shower
tidy
dinner at 8.30/9pm
sit down and relax until 10.30pm
washing up
Bed

Oh good, but you're totally wrong, bye.

But still not managed to tell us why the 50s were much worse.

How arrogant.

Similar here, a standard Mon - Fri is alarm at 0600 and I get ready in 5 min from 0625-0630 then straight into making everyone’s breakfast, uniforms on, clear up, school/nursery drops,commute, work, collect from school/ nursery , cook kids dinner, clear, baths, bed, make dinner for the adults, then I sit down 1930-2130 but usually working on laptop for at least half of that too.

I don't really "sit down" at all on work days, but, to be fair, I'm spending 8 or 9 hours sitting on my arse at work, and 2 hours sitting on my car on my commute. Yes, it feels a bit hectic in the evenings making dinner, getting everything sorted for the next day, kids clubs and protracted bedtimes, homework, etc.

However, I'm very aware that I actually have it much easier than my mum (worked 7 days a week in the 80s and 90s, across multiple jobs) or my grandmothers (6 days a week in factories or domestic service).

I always managed to sit down with my dc, they were always cuddly, still are, so loved snuggling on the sofa. Despite being at university, my dd comes in, makes tea for both of us and likes to sit nattering on the sofa

Ps I sit down at work these days so cannot claim to be on the go, I'm awake 18 hours a day (bad sleeper)

It’s an interesting point re women historically and the middle class centric view.

The Industrial revolution was real a turning point for women - a significant proportion worked outside the home.

Interesting assumption by a PP (can’t remember who?) that households need “two incomes” - many of us are single parents. I am!

My daughter's a single parent, just her income coming in, no maintenance. She has 2 jobs. If she had a partner she'd manage much better and be able to reduce her ridiculously long hours. Most people agree that 2 incomes are necessary if you want a mortgage, pay rent etc. My younger DD is now considering renting now she has a partner, whereas she couldn't afford it before. 2 incomes in most cases definitely necessary.