For those born between 1930 and 1979

[BusynMember]

I love where I live now. There are smaller divides, friendly people, very few snobs, people you don't know wave at you, etc. Most of us are middle class/working class/scraping to get by. It is amazing to me how much kinder people are to one another here than in the suburbs of Illinois. There is a small town feel. I just love it. Never liked city/suburb life. I hope Princess moves up here one day. At this time she feels she needs to be near my ailing ex. I get that.

I think she would like it here plus most of her family is here. But ex needs her.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I love where I live now. There are smaller divides, friendly people, very few snobs, people you don't know wave at you, etc. Most of us are middle class/working class/scraping to get by. It is amazing to me how much kinder people are to one another here than in the suburbs of Illinois. There is a small town feel. I just love it. Never liked city/suburb life. I hope Princess moves up here one day. At this time she feels she needs to be near my ailing ex. I get that.

I think she would like it here plus most of her family is here. But ex needs her.

We've always resided in a small community, and really, I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure, there will always be snobs everywhere, but the benefits of low crime, low population, and being able to get wherever you want to in just minutes, makes for the best place in world for me. I wouldn't give it up for anything. Less stress, too.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Since most women worked jobs outside the home where I grew up, I think most women used disposable diapers when they became available. I sure don’t remember anything to do with cloth diapers when I had younger siblings in the 70s. I will have to ask my mom about that sometime.

Please do, Apple. I'm curious.

 

[AppleCori]

Please do, Apple. I'm curious.

I will, but I’m betting on disposable. We were all babysat by older relatives. I stayed with my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother (her mom) and I’m sure they would make things as easy as possible for them.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I will, but I’m betting on disposable. We were all babysat by older relatives. I stayed with my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother (her mom) and I’m sure they would make things as easy as possible for them.

Totally understandable, especially if babysat in the homes of relatives, etc.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Lol...no, no, and no. About the diapers. In my son's year of birth 1977 cloth diapers were done. Nobody in my area used them. You saw none.

Seriously, why use them when paper diapers stopped diaper rash, were comfortable and cleaner? I don't get why anyone would use cloth diapers. What are the advantages to your child??? I wanted my babies to be as comfortable as possible.

Was just giving a little more thought to this, and aside from finances, I loved the convenience of cloth diapers... always having a supply on-hand, around the clock. No running out (ever).

Also loved the cloth for when my kids trained during the day but still had to wear diapers at night. Never a worry over having to buy diapers. When bedtime rolled around, it was into the crib for the tot, pluck a diaper from the stack, and pad the kids bottom for the night. Kid was good until morning.

Additionally, there were a few times I remember when we had company (with little ones) that stayed with us, and rather than have the moms expend their supply of disposable diapers, I'd breakout my kids old diapers and put them to use while the company was here to save on Pampers.

Not as if it was anything new for the kids to have to wear cloth at our house, as all wore cloth at home fulltime, however, for travel and away from home, Pampers were often used.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Oops... double post.

 

[BusynMember]

We never ran out. Diapers were one of those things we always had. Other moms brought their own. It wasn't a problem.

I love smaller towns.

 

[Pink Elephant]

We never ran out. Diapers were one of those things we always had. Other moms brought their own. It wasn't a problem.

I love smaller towns.

Never running out is what I call being a sensible mother.

You have always struck me as being all of that, SOT.

 

[BusynMember]

Naw, I'm a space cadet. Disorganized. Forget if I'm washing clothes. Run out of laundry soap. Head in the clouds. A writer type. Not sensible...sensitive. too soft hearted. Not strict on rules. Unless you broke the law. That was my breaking point. And even then...second chances but not forever chances.

Diapers we always had. Both of my husband's always bought diapers. Nobody wanted to run out of THAT! No kudos to me!

 

[Pink Elephant]

Naw, I'm a space cadet. Disorganized. Forget if I'm washing clothes. Run out of laundry soap. Head in the clouds. A writer type. Not sensible...sensitive. too soft hearted. Not strict on rules. Unless you broke the law. That was my breaking point. And even then...second chances but not forever chances.

Diapers we always had. Both of my husband's always bought diapers. Nobody wanted to run out of THAT! No kudos to me!

LOL! I couldn't get my husband to fetch me a clean diaper at change-time!

 

[Pink Elephant]

Just seen that I forgot to answer my own questions (taken from page 3).

Were cloth diapers still popular in your area in the 70's? 100% yes. There wasn't a mother around that I knew that used disposable diapers in the 70's.

How about line-drying? Were mothers in your area still hanging their children's diapers on clotheslines to dry in the 70's? 100% yes. Line-drying diapers (and everything else under the sun) was still as popular as ever in our area in the 70's, just as it was in the 50's.

How about family? Did you have immediate or extended family that were still using cloth diapers in the 70's? 100% yes. Cloth diapers in the homes of both immediate and extended family in the 70's, all through the 80's, and even into the early part of the 90's, and even though a few modern options related to cloth diapering had made their way to the market by the early part of the 90's, not a-one used anything other than standard old-fashioned cloth diapers with pins and pull-on rubber pants.

 

[BusynMember]

Pink you know my answers. Nobody used cloth, very few hung up any laundry and my family didn't when they had kids. My area was not old fashion and most mothers worked. Day care centers only used paper diapers. But you never saw cloth around me and that was the 70s. And beyond.

 

[AppleCori]

I honestly don’t remember what kind of diapers were used in the 70s.

I wasn’t old enough to have kids in the seventies, and I didn’t think about diapers at all. If you had asked me, diapers didn’t exist in the 70s, for all I knew or cared.

My grandmother line-dried sheets in the summer, I remember that because we would play games where we would run through them and stuff.

My great-grandmother had a bag with clothespins (I think she wore it around her waist, if I remember right) and she hung clothes and sheets and stuff out on the line. She had a trailer on my grandmother’s farm (her daughter) and they used the same clothes line.

I have known a fair number of women who use/used cloth diapers in this millennium. They are mostly homeschooling, home-birthing, natural foods, back-to-nature, do-it-yourself, large close-knit families.

 

[BusynMember]

That makes sense, Apple. They are being environmentally conscious and loving trees! I love animals and am not quite a vegetarian but close. A person I know who is one told me she tastes death in meat! That affected me!

I also remember my grandma hanging clothes with clothes pins. Not my mother though. If you could afford a dryer and the cost of electricity of a washer/dryer (and in my world people could) that's what was used. I also think working mother's make most women do the best, easiest housework they can and men too as father's help these days. We live in a fast world now with no time to fuss. Very few stay at home moms. Even I worked part time most of my mother years and that could be 20 evening hours a week....tiring. the cost of a house and raising kids isn't friendly to one income families. And there are so many single.mothers who do it all. Kudos to them. Mostly are awesome. But with no help and full time jobs I don't know if washing diapers and hanging clothes sounds too enticing on top of cooking, helping with homework, bathing, drying tears etc. AFTER a demanding day of work.

Homeschool mom's don't work.

 

[AppleCori]

LOL! I couldn't get my husband to fetch me a clean diaper at change-time!

What.....

 

[AppleCori]

That makes sense, Apple. They are being environmentally conscious and loving trees! I love animals and am not quite a vegetarian but close. A person I know who is one told me she tastes death in meat! That affected me!

I also remember my grandma hanging clothes with clothes pins. Not my mother though. If you could afford a dryer and the cost of electricity of a washer/dryer (and in my world people could) that's what was used. I also think working mother's make most women do the best, easiest housework they can and men too as father's help these days. We live in a fast world now with no time to fuss. Very few stay at home moms. Even I worked part time most of my mother years and that could be 20 evening hours a week....tiring.

Homeschool mom's don't work.

My grandmother worked full time. She didn’t when my mom and her sister were little, but she got a job at some point thereafter, and worked when her youngest was born (he is only six months older than me). I believe she hung sheets on the line, though. We did run through them and had a lot of fun. I doubt she hung out a lot of laundry, though.

My grandmother hung out laundry, though. I remember her wooden clothes pins.

I would estimate about 30% of homeschool moms work. Most part-time, but some full-time. I often had some type of job or work that I did on the side, and still do.

Quite a few of them work second-shift while the hubby works 1st (especially if full-time) or visa-versa, and they share the schooling and housework equally.

Many work part-time or have home businesses. The older kids often help with the home businesses.

Many people homeschool by choice, but some because their child didn’t do well in the school system for a variety of reasons.

 

[BusynMember]

Pink, your husband would have been gone in my house I expect dad to at least help me out. That was very selfish of him if true. Even my grandpa that many years ago fussed over my grandma. . He loved her and would have gladly gotten her a diaper. Or a cup of tea. Or anything she asked of him.

 

[AppleCori]

Pink, your husband would have been gone in my house I expect dad to at least help me out. That was very selfish of him if true. Even my grandpa that many years ago fussed over my grandma. . He loved her and would have gladly gotten her a diaper. Or a cup of tea. Or anything she asked of him.

I said something similar but erased it.

I don’t want to say too many provocative things in one session, and the day is young.....

 

[BusynMember]

Apple, I believe you. I homeschooled for a year and none of the mother's I met worked, but I believe you. We did not have many homeschoolers around here. I'm sure you are right.