To ask if my situation was unusual?

[TestMatch]

I was born in 1972 (probably with Gilbert O’ Sullivan gently playing in the background)

My mum went back to work full time less than a month after I was born. She was a determined career woman and pushed hard for promotion etc.

When I told my colleague this, she said how unusual this was. She was born in 1980 and said that my situation was so unusual in that her own mother and mothers of the 1980 born kids she was in school with either didn’t work at all or only went back to work - full time at least - when their kids were around 12 - secondary school age.

Gosh car ownership - really surprised by your statistic there !

my parents had a car each - I guess that was unusual for my time - 72 born ?!

My husband was born in 60s and his mum went back to work as a cleaner/ housekeeper and would take him with her.
I was born in 70s and mum went back to work in various roles over the years, nurse, cleaner, school cook.
It was very much 'needs must' rather than having the luxury of choice.

@TestMatch The only person I know who went back to work so quickly after having a baby is American (no where near as good mat leave!) and also in a very fast-paced career.

We had two cars!!
Pretty unusual then, we had also been to not only London but abroad!!!
Rural(ish) Yorkshire

I think it was probably more usual in the 70's. My mum worked full time before and after both her 80's pregnancies. She returned to work, full time 3 months after I was born as she was head of nursing, and did a masters. She worked full time until she retired in the 2000's.

That would have been very unusual - I think my mum learned to drive when I was about about 8, so similarly, certainly by 73/74 we were a two car family, which was almost unheard of then.

You had a pretty radical dad, I think lots of women would have been up for having big careers, but their conventionally minded husbands expected meals on tables, kids cared for, shirts ironed etc

Agree with PPs re the class issue, plus rural / urban divide. My family were working class (well dad wasn’t but that’s a whole different story, no money anyway!) so my mum went back to work when I was a few months old (1970s). It wasn’t ’career’ work though, it was things like cleaning. We couldn’t have afforded for her NOT to work. Same for my grandma in the 1950s, and her mother in the 1920s. Again none of it was ‘career woman’ stuff. It was cleaning and cooking and laundry etc.

I suppose it's understandable in a rural area that a car is pretty essential, but yes, going to London and travelling abroad (if you're talking about late 60's early 70's) was definitely not the norm.

That was totally normal. My mum had been a nurse, but wasn’t allowed to continue after she married and had me, which is why she had to take cleaning jobs etc.

As soon as my mother got married to my father, she was required to give up work, there were no married women in the company that she worked in and I think it was fairly standard in those days. They went from being employees to being housewives in the length of time it take to say "I Do".

I would have gone stir crazy if the same rules were in place when I got married, let alone had children.

Born in 1971. My mum was a doctor. I would say at my school 2/3 mums didn’t work.

It's interesting, thinking about it now I can see that we were quite middle class. My parents were both civil servants and my nana owned a business, so my mum going back to work wasn't really from necessity, she could have been a stay-at-home mother but chose not to. I think my relationship with her did suffer as a result, certainly when I was young I longed for a normal house with a normal mummy like most of my friends had.

I was born in 1969, DM found a job in office admin when I was 3. DB and me spent lots of time at neighbours after school and had au pairs. Zero family nearby.

I think she wanted the money but also to get out of the house a bit. Never really thought that it was unusual she went back so soon.

I was born in 1973 and my mum went back to work as a teacher about 3 months later. She also went back to work shortly after my dsis was born in 1969. Out of her crowd of friends she was the only one that returned to work, but her friends were all relatively wealthy. It did mean though that we were lucky enough that her friends looked after us until she finished work and we'd a great time with them!

Yes see what you mean - my Dad had a v passive personality, my mum dominant

I was born at the end of the 70s and my mum went back to work a few months after having me and my sister. My nan looked after us. At school there were some mums that worked and some that didn't...it wasn't that unusual.

Similar to Waving I liked being a latch-key kid.

Then a sibling did something dramatically stupid and we got a-woman-who-does in to supervise.

I had to wait until secondary to get the house to myself again by mitching

It never occurred to me that women wouldn’t be working, all the ones I saw growing up were constantly on the go at home, at church, in the community, outside the home and even at offices in management.

I grew up with the notion that women were simply expected to do everything, be laughed at or berated for anything less than perfection in any arena, and never have any positive recognition for their efforts.

It was very much ‘balls or it didn’t happen/matter’

My Mum was a single Mum to 3 kids in the 80's working full time.

Ah born just a year after you and my mum also - doctor!

I was born in 1984 and my sister in 1986, mum had a good job when she fell pregnant but wasn't allowed to work past 6 months and there was no maternity leave or part time available.

She did odd cleaning jobs, temp work for Christmas etc. Didnt get a full time, permanent role until we were well into our teens.

That would have been very unusual, I grew up on a council estate where working mums with a career were nearly unheard of

My mum (nurse) got sacked when she was pregnant in the 60s

1982, mum back to work within three months, senior nurse. Dad stayed at home, unheard of then.

He was childcare for everyone, then got job as school janitor.

I never met anyone else with a stay at home dad as a child.

Not unusual at all. I was a childminder at a time when they were just starting to need to be registered. This was in 1971. In that time I was never without work for 12 years. There was no maternity leave. Many women bottle fed. The mother would take about three weeks off work then possibly dad or grandma would step in for a week or two.

It was not unusual to have babies from 6 weeks old. My fist child 10 months came when my baby was two weeks and my son 2. I had started minding him while I was pregnant. Mum was a student so I had school holidays off. You were allowed three children under 5. This included babies. I lived in a 2 bedroom flat on the 5th floor. There were no restrictions on school age children.

I am very proud of the work I did. I got the children to the park almost About half a mile away almost every day. I fed them really well and entertained them, I always had a waiting list. As well as my two I always had two babies and two school age. They came at 8 am and left at 6. I could write a book on my experiences.

The Best summer I ever had was when I moved to my house with a garden. I had children of my own 9, 11 and 2. Two brothers 6 months and 2. Two brothers 8 and 9 and a little girl 9. Th mum of the two brothers had an older daughter and she was fostering. Her niece. She was desperate for child care so I took all 4 kids for 6 weeks summer holiday. It was lovely.

it had its heartbreak too. I reported one step dad to Social Services. As the child was terrified of him. The upshot too involved to get into here meant the couple coming to see me asking me to foster him. Sadly Social Services said he was too close to me and they were worried about separation later. They were working to get her away from him.

When I heard the Queen give her speech about domestic violence not being. Confined to the lower classes. The step father was a ranking Police Officer.

Blimey!!