By Dick Brooks
For Capital Region Independent Media
Recently I had the pleasure of talking to a group of young folks and the subject of parental jobs came up and the generational gap hit me—all 12 of the kids had working moms.
I hadn’t given it much thought but when I was their age, nobody I knew had a mom who worked outside the home.
Being a mom, no matter which generation you’re in, is and always has been a full-time job.
My mom didn’t have time for a job. She was the first one up and the last one to go to bed at night and rarely was seen sitting anytime during the day.
The classic mom job hasn’t changed—moms still have to feed their families, do laundry, clean the house and be the counselor, referee and nurse for her family members.
How do the moms of today handle two full-time jobs? This struck me as an excellent ponder topic so after supper when The Queen and Telly, our faithful canine companion, went for an evening stroll, I retired to my trusty recliner and had a lovely ponder.
I decided that the time gap between my mom and today’s moms was the reason. The technology available to the moms of today and all the labor-saving devices that appeared in the 60 or so years separating the moms of my generation and the moms of today are the reason.
The supper we had just finished was a good example. I do a lot of the cooking because I like doing it. The menu tonight was chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. I stopped at the market and picked up a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. This took about five minutes. At home I whacked them with my trusty wooden mallet to flatten them and onto the grill for about 10 minutes.
Mashed potatoes next—two cups of water into the microwave for three minutes, tear open the package of instant spuds, pour it into the hot water, stir, and mashed potatoes appear.
When I picked up the chicken, I also grabbed a bag of frozen green beans, which I tossed into the microwave for five minutes and our bountiful repast was prepared.
The same chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans was a whole different time frame for my mother. Before he went to work, Mom would have my father kill a chicken. I, being the oldest child, was the assistant hit man. It was my job to go to the chicken coop and capture supper. I handed the bird off to the executioner who waited, hatchet in hand, near the chopping block. The deed done, I was given the corpse to carry to my mom, who dunked it in a pot of hot water and plucked it. It then had to have the innards removed, head and feet chopped and then cut into cooking-size pieces.
The mashed potatoes meant peeling the potatoes, cutting them into pieces, boiling them for 20 minutes, then smashing them as you added butter and milk. Green beans meant going to the garden and picking a colander full, washing and tipping them, then boiling for 10 minutes or so.
Microwaves, frozen veggies, instant potatoes all save time and help today’s moms handle a career and a family and God bless them.
I wonder what tales my little group of students will be telling children 60 years from now about the good old days they grew up in.
Thought for the week—“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” ~ Mark Twain
Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well
Reach columnist Dick Brooks at Whittle12124@yahoo.com.
