An actual 1955 Good Housekeeping article

nurse4theplanet, RN · Oct 6, 2006

I've heard that potty training can be completed by 15-20 months
http://www.timl.com/ipt/

Please be aware that the spinal cord's myelin sheath is not completely formed until usually around 24 months of age. I learned that in A&P. Therefore, the child may not feel the sensation of bladder fullness but will realize that they have wet themselves afterwards...confusing most parents into believing that their child 'knows better' and is just being 'difficult'. Each child will vary, but generally it is best to train after 2 years of age. :nurse:

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Oct 6, 2006

I was trying to look up more on that "no marriage" policy (it hung in there for quite some time!). But anyway - I found this site instead that was interesting, on wartime nursing (around the time of Pearl Harbor)...
http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/1198web/nurses.html

If you enjoyed that, may I suggest "We, Band of Angels" about the nurses as POWs in Santo Tomas internment camp - WWII.

There is a discussion in the Book Club on it - alas, I cannot join as I am not "premium".

I visited Arlington a few days ago, and saw the nurse's memorial there, along with the graves of some of the women from that war.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Oct 6, 2006

OTOH - I think of all the divorces and failed relationships, the casual nature of relationships, the breakdown of the family - perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing. I think of course the main thing is that we are ALL (m + F) working too much, so the kids don't get as much of our attention and energy, and neither do our marriages.
So I think there is something to be said for traditional roles to some extent. Our families are in deep trouble and it's only going to get worse.
Don't nobody kill me, k? But after two failed marriages, I would be happy to be married in an "old school" way - (so I think...)

Let's see ......the "good old days" fantasy.

Women were not permitted to vote, and even after given the "right" to vote, many were too scared of their spouses to do so, or weren't "allowed by their spouse to do so. They had no right to their children in case of divorce, no matter the cause. They had no right to make decisions on raising children. There was no such thing as domestic violence laws or marital rape lawss. Your spouse could nearly kill you and have nothing done by law enforcement about, because, it's his right as your husband.

"Good women" didn't raped - if a woman was raped, it was her fault, she was marked and humiliated for life. Female children "lied" about being molested because they "fantasized" about sex with their male relatives. Women could be sterilized without their consent (up until the 1970's), if they were sexually free).

Into the 1920s-1940's, genital surgery/mutilation was considered an acceptable treatment for masturbation, and female insanity. Women could also be locked up in a mental hospital on the mere sayso of her spouse.

My mother, the good navy wife, developed repeated ectopic pregnancies. Yet, MDs refused to do an oopherectomy, even when she was bleeding profusely until they got permission from her husband (married women do not have full rights over their bodies) who was deployed in Iceland (1960s). Even better, the reason for the repeated ectopics was PID (second to an STD her military spouse gave her). She was never told about the cause of the PID, but found out by accident ten years later. Despite health regulations that all partners of someone with an STD be notified, and my father was treated repeatedly, said same MDs did not tell my Mom but treated her with ABX. She had her health harmed, fertility destroyed by that man that "loved" her, "put her on a pedestal".

Sorry, to burst a bubble of yours, but the "good old days" were not all that good.

allnurses Guide · Oct 6, 2006

There are certain parts of the "older style marriage" I like, like the man who worships his bride. However, I could not live completely like that. If we won the lottery tomorrow I would cut back on my schedule but I wouldn't quit....I love my job too much and need the break from my family too much to do that. I love my husband and kids, but being a type of wife from this article's era would drive me to family-cide!

I just sat down to read this entire thread and on the first page I went to "Snopes" . . . it just didn't look real to me either.

If we won the lottery I definitely WOULD quit my job and stay home. I am having a blast with my son, who is 5 now.

Of course we don't play the lottery so that will never happen. I do work part-time though, so that is better than nothing.

steph

TazziRN, RN · Oct 6, 2006

I just sat down to read this entire thread and on the first page I went to "Snopes" . . . it just didn't look real to me either.
If we won the lottery I definitely WOULD quit my job and stay home. I am having a blast with my son, who is 5 now.
Of course we don't play the lottery so that will never happen. I do work part-time though, so that is better than nothing.
steph

Oh, I knew the article wasn't true, but it's fairly accurate for the times. As for living like that, my mouth would get me in deep doo-doo by the end of the first day.....subserviant and quiet I am NOT!

I work full time but since I do 12's and my shifts are in 2-day stretches, I have a lot of free time...more than other full timers. I am grateful for the extra time at home with my children, especially since the little one is still a baby, but I am also grateful for the chances to save my sanity!!!

allnurses Guide · Oct 6, 2006

Oh, I knew the article wasn't true, but it's fairly accurate for the times. As for living like that, my mouth would get me in deep doo-doo by the end of the first day.....subserviant and quiet I am NOT!

No, I wouldn't like to live like the article . . . .I just want to stay home full time. I enjoy being here with my son, I like taking walks, going to the museum, strolling over the Sundial Bridge and tossing rocks in the Sacramento River, going out to lunch, spending hours at the library, making cookies and homemade popcorn, digging fossils from my son's dinosaur kit, riding bikes, taking a nap with him or spending that hour reading. I dunno, I truly dislike working . . .. I've gotten a second chance in my "old age" to enjoy a child again and I know how fast it goes by and I want to enjoy it. My oldest son will be 24 in March.

Enough whining . . .

steph

Liddle Noodnik · Oct 7, 2006

If you enjoyed that, may I suggest "We, Band of Angels" about the nurses as POWs in Santo Tomas internment camp - WWII.
There is a discussion in the Book Club on it - alas, I cannot join as I am not "premium".
I visited Arlington a few days ago, and saw the nurse's memorial there, along with the graves of some of the women from that war.

Great! Thank you very much! I never was much of a history buff - till I got OLD!~ ha ha!

Leselberry · Oct 7, 2006

Actually, we've had that one posted up on the bulletin board at work for a couple of years. We find it hilarious. Well, I do, anyway. But then again I'm blonde (mostly) and love dumb blonde jokes.

Liddle Noodnik · Oct 7, 2006

...Sorry, to burst a bubble of yours, but the "good old days" were not all that good.

Well, hence my quote, "... after two failed marriages, I would be happy to be married in an "old school" way - (so I think...)"

"So I think..." means that I am aware of the OTHER other hand... :)

nurseguy55 · Dec 7, 2006

Wow!

Well stated. Thanks for putting it all together like that. I won't bother telling you how radically different things are for my companion and I (2 1/2 yr old twin boys) We both work, and the division of labor at home is in her favor. No complaints here, but I sometimes toy with the thought that I would have liked to have been born a bit earlier in history. Your description summed it up. For the man, it sounds like a good deal, but the resentment and unspoken hostility destoyed a lot of intimacy. As Martin Luther King is supposed to have said "You cant keep a black man (woman) in the gutter unless a white man (any man) is willing to stay in the gutter to keep him there." Loose paraphrase I'm sure. But a damn profound truth.

thank you

You said it well.

DBlack1 · Dec 7, 2006

Times have changed.

If things were still this way the divorce rate wouldn't be so high.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Dec 7, 2006

I remember reading a "hint" that said Never sneeze in the butter dish you may make your loved ones sick.

Not that I ever considered sneezing there, but for the past 40 years, when I go for the butter, I think about that "hint."

If you can find an early Hints from Heloise book, there are several similarities there. (That's the original Heloise not the daughter who does it now.)