I talked in an earlier post about the difference between how my mother raised me and my husband and I raised our children.
I wanted to add a few other thoughts to this subject. I was in my teens during the 60's. I am a Christian, conservative woman who has a mind of her own. My marriage with my husband is wonderful and for many years I was a SAHM that was homeschooling her teens through high school. (I'm a glutton for punishment...laughing...I think teens should be frozen at age 14 and thawed out at age 21 when they finally regain their sanity.) ;)
The good things about today versus the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's is that each person, whether they are male or female, can become what they want without someone trying to mold them into some little robot. I started being a SAHM in the 80's and I have to admit that it was pretty lonely. All of my friends had careers and very few stayed home to raise their kids. The world really encouraged women to get out and have a career. I read magazine articles about how it was hurtful for the mother to not have a job or a career because that wasn't training the children for a new world. It was the "career" generation and many felt that if the mother didn't have a career outside of the home, that she wasn't a successful woman. If she wasn't a successful woman, she could not raise her children to be successful. It was all a bunch of bologny of course but many people felt that way.
With only 1 income coming in, my husband and I had to watch out money like a hawk but it was something that both of us worked at as a team. During that time, my husband was gone long hours (firefighter) and I took care of the home. I did make things enjoyable for when he came home, but he also made things enjoyable for me when he came home.
Now my husband is retired, we live on the farm and I do a lot of the housework, but he comes in and does a lot too. (He cooks most of the meals, does laundry (never learned to fold clothes... :lol: ) vacuums when asked, does dishes when absolutely necessary :roll: but then goes out and chops wood for the woodstove, keeps our vehicles working, brings home the hay for the animals and mends fences.)
We work as a team. That is the secret...finding someone who understands teamwork and then each of us giving at least 80% to the team. The second part of the secret to a good life is to marry someone who encourages you to continue to grow as a person and doesn't try to make you into something he/she wants you to be. I love today's thinking a lot more than I liked the 50-80's.