Is There Such a Thing as a Desperate Househusband?

As I was scrubbing the liquified cookie crumbs out of Boy #1's lunchbox yesterday afternoon, I had another one of those "I went to college for this?" moments. We have successful lawyers, bankers, doctors, businesspeople. How come nobody says, "She is a successful housewife?" You can come over to my house any time and I will always have a clean towel for you if needed. I will whip you up a snack or a meal that will bring a tear to your eye. I will wrap a present for you, sew a button on, do your laundry while you are enjoying that snack. I will let you sit on my couch and relax while I bring you a selection of magazines. I will even help you with your homework if you want. If that's not successful I don't know what is. Let's not even bring up the fact that in my line of work there are no annual reviews, raises, or expense accounts. I don't even like the term "housewife." It is so 50's, so retro, so June Cleaver. I was talking about this with a friend and she brought up the fact that so many other occupations are genderless, like actor, doctor, banker. But not housewife. So what would a genderless title be, "houser?" "house manager?" Any ideas? On forms that ask for my occupation I usually put "mom," which I guess is more important than "housewife." Jackie Kennedy once said something to the effect of "If you mess up raising your children, whatever else you do in life doesn't matter much." No matter how clean your towels are.

The Way We Were

In my day....

1. We took bologna with mayo and tuna salad sandwiches to school and they sat in our lockers for hours before lunch. With NO ice pack!!

2. My brothers took turns trying to lie on that ledge between the rear seat and the rear window of our big boaty Caprice Classic.

3. I don't remember my parents helping me with any school projects.

4. We used suntan lotion, not sunscreen.

5. My mother made dinner EVERY night. Going out to a restaurant was a rare treat.

6. We walked to school and came home for lunch in elementary school.

7. My parents had only one car until I was in high school.

8. I made $1 per hour at the peak of my babysitting career.

9. Kids played with their friends after school. Nobody really had a schedule. As long as you got your homework done things were good.

10. "Time out" was a sporting term, not a parenting technique.

11. Phones didn't go in your purse. Cash didn't come out of a metal machine.

12. My dad was the lawn service. My brothers were the driveway-shovelers.

I'm sure there are many more, but as you know they say the memory is the second thing to go....
How else were things different in your day?