What did our mums used to do?

[CantFindTheBeat]

I'm 55

I spend so much of my down time titting around on MN.

I have a great job. Great friends.
But i waste so much time on social media and probably trying to distract myself from reality when I should be doing something productive.

I remember my mum cooking, reading and working but never wasting time.

What do you remember? MN and the like are surely pleasure and curse in equal measure?

Read newspapers antique fairs upcycled pianos. Now she is always on SM hahah

My mother spent most of her time shopping, cooking, ironing and cleaning our very small house. In her down time she saw her sister and niece who lived down the road and spent ages gossiping with them about other people (she had no friends and was inhospitable to non family though superficially pleasant and 'friendly').

In the evening she would knit, read a magazine or the newspaper, and watch TV. She didn't get into proper reading until she was widowed, then she enjoyed a book and joined the library.

Cleaning (house always very very clean and tidy, much more so than mine). Regular copies of Women’s Weekly and the local newspaper. Prolific knitting and sewing.

My mum worked full time as a social worker. Not sure what she did in her down time. Tv maybe? She's 75 now and I'm still not sure. She's never really seemed to have many hobbies.

I'm mid 60s so probably the age of a lot of posters mothers, I used to frequent the local video shop loads in the 80s and early 90s, read a lot of books and magazines. DS was born in 1992 and I got a lot of information from library books, we got our first computer in 1997 but didn't spend long on it as you paid by the minute on dial up.

My DM (born 1933) used to watch TV much less than me, it wasn't allowed to be shown in the daytime before the 80s as only a certain amount could be broadcast so daytime telly was schools and a bit of children's tv. She used to knit and sew most of the clothes so that took a lot of time, read Womans Weekly and the odd library book. Housework took longer then anyway, she worked part time delivering for the council.

Social media though is probably no more time wasting than reading Mills and Boon type books which a lot of women did and the 80s version of Netflix was getting an armful of videos from the local rental place.

I’m sorry but that made me laugh

There was loads of knitting and sewing done, in the 60s and 70s DM always knitted in the evening while watching TV.

Oh don't worry, we pissed ourselves too. It certainly explained how she could consistently kick our asses on Streetfighter 2!

Knitting. Making rag rugs. Watching the TV.

She'd be 103 now.

Everything our family wore, she made. Mu dresses were smocked too...hours of work. She made little dolls for Harrods as a part time job and fitted them in evenings and early mornings. She was always busy.

My mother was a nurse and she did night shifts. So my overwhelming memory of her was that she was sleeping during the day.

She also had severe depression that was unmedicated until I was in my 20s so she was usually utterly debilitated by it. I mainly recall alot of yelling and hiding in my room. In her so called spare time (I am not sure she had any) she would garden. She was a gifted gardener.

She is happier now. retired at 55, medicated and defintiely living her best life. Which she deserves. Loads of travel and days out and friends.

My dm used to be friends with several of the neighbours and could often be found titting around at their kitchen table with a cup of tea.

She used to read woman/woman's own magazines, and watch tv.

Oh and she spent hours on the landline gassing to her friends!

My Mum was a single mother when I was growing up and met her now DH when I was 13, so my memories are of waiting for her to get home from work or her sitting watching Eastenders and making a big deal of grabbing the remote, pausing the show and saying “what?” with a big sigh if any of us DC tried to talk to her. Oh and going to sort her horses out. She got my DGM to do childcare and my main memory of childhood is still DGM sitting in the big armchair with a cup of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She died fairly young from COPD to nobody’s surprise.

Now my mum is retired and living her best life, her version of MN is all these rubbish games like League of Legends (I think it’s called)…sits on the couch for hours with the tv on in the background and many cups of coffee. Still has horses and now has time for gardening and long walks too. I don’t begrudge her one bit because she worked insanely hard to give us a good life, but she herself has also admitted she could have worked slightly less and spent more time with us, which looking back would have been nice. Trying now to balance everything with my own DC and it is hard!

I'm 54 and my mum is 84. She hasn't worked since she had me.

She had a leisurely breakfast and got me off to school before getting ready herself.

She did the housework and cooked the dinner. Cleared up snd sat down for the evening about 5pm.

Mine used to smoke or trad a book/magazine

It’s fascinating reading back through all these.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Like one of the other posters, my mum was a teacher. After school she would stay back working till about six. My dad then picked her up, she came back, cooked us something simple like pizza. The pizza would be one shared between four with veg making up the rest of the plate!

She would then watch tv while doing more work - marking and lesson prep. She made beautiful wall displays from her class’s work, which she changed each term. These would be made at home.

Friday nights she would allow herself a break to drink red wine on the sofa while watching tv. Saturday daytimes would be shopping, a library visit and then more school work in the evenings.

Sundays she made a big roast or something like shepherd’s pie. Sometimes we visited family, who were all about a 2-3 hour drive away. My dad always drove, she could drive but was not very confident. Sunday evenings would be more work! I don’t remember her doing much cleaning, think my dad mainly did that and my mum would do all the cooking. My dad was totally clueless about how to cook anything.

My mum gave up work the day she got engaged and had a much easier time than many on here - especially in later years when I was at boarding school and she was a full time housewife! She didn’t particularly have hobbies but used to read and play endless games of patience. She did a fair bit of volunteering but I think had a fairly quiet (and to me a bit dull) life. Not that much baking or fancy cooking but a full roast every Sunday and the house was always immaculate - my aunt always called it an oasis of calm (not at all like my house!)

I kind of envy her contentedness, but want more from life myself!

Mine ran things. Local Guides group, Rangers, amateur dramatics, that sort of thing.

She worked full time and then came home and tutored the neighbours’ kids in exchange for housework and gardening help.

She knitted in a distracted way: ‘The cabling went a bit wonky on the back but I’m sure nobody will notice once it’s on.’

My mum: mainly TV, also baking, knitting, embroidery but less of those when we children were young as I guess she was knackered.

My grandmother though was born in the 20s and didn't have any sitting down hobbies. She basically did walking and volunteering, was active in politics and campaigning. She was an amazing woman but was miserable in old age because she just couldn't enjoy anything once her mobility was reduced. She hated TV and fiction of any kind. I think a love of TV leads to a happier old age, based on the people I know.

Reading newspapers, magazines and books. The latter 2 would be passed around between friends and family members. Lots more spontaneous casual chatting, on the phone and with neighbours. It was much more common for unplanned visitors to pop round. Watching soaps, though there obviously weren't as many episodes per week so it wasn't as time consuming as it is now.

Lol mine could do a book a day

My mum was always on the go, she did knitting, dressmaking, decorating, gardening too.

My my read and gardened. She was a great one for digging new flower beds, planting them up and not weeding them properly bless her. She cooked savoury stuff but rarely baked. Our home was an open house and generally had her friends and dad's friends round most weekends.