If you could live during any decade as an adult

[Marisa6826]

Which would it be and why?

Discuss amongst yourselves. :P

-m

[gatorsmom]

Hmm, interesting question. As an white adult woman, THIS is the decade I would want to be in. Anything before the Women's Lib movement would seem like slavery to me. With all the social pressures to conform to a certain ideal type of wife and mother and no real support if you wanted to leave your husband/get divorced, not to mention the stigma attached to women that tried to buck the norm-that seems awfully restrictive and stifling.

However, I would love to be a teenager in the 50's. Because of the victory in Europe after WW2 and the positive image the world had of Americans there was such a happy vibe going on. New technology was booming. Women had been recognized for their acheivements during the war. The country came out of a depression and was prosperous. Society still was blissfully and ignorantly trusting of the government. It just seems like a positive, hopeful time to be alive for a teenager. And I'd love to wear a poodle skirt with lots of crinoline...:)

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

[Marisa6826]

I was thinking the 50s-60s. For a lot of the reasons you listed - blissful ignorance, the simplicity, a sense of propriety.

We watched this new show on AMC last week about ad agencies back in the 60s. Everybody had a certain amount of, well, elegance about them. Manners, a nice appearance, and a certain joie de vivre were all par for the course, kwim? "Kennedy Optimism", in a nut shell.

I think that all the technological advances we have now are great, but sometimes, it would be nice to just 'be'. It just seems that the rat race is getting faster, more competitive and more complex. The sense of entitlement that seems so pervasive in today's society is pretty disgusting. I think it's gone a bit far when it's common to see people out and about in their PAJAMAS. How freaking hard it is to put on a pair of pants? It brings to mind that controversy about the group of girls that wore flip flops to the White House. Politics aside, how about a little respect? My grandmother must have been rolling in her grave over that. It's one thing to blow off wearing hose, but another to not bother wearing shoes from someplace other than the dollar store. ;) Jeez, I must be getting old...

It will be interesting to see what *our* children have to say about the decades they experience.

-m

[punkrockmama]

>Just watching how everybody had a certain
>amount of, well, elegance about them. Just about everybody
>had manners, looked nice, and had a certain joie de vivre,
>kwim?

It's funny you say this. I was talking to a friend about some old pictures I have of my family (I love old B&W photos). I put a bunch of them on top of my entertainment center.

Anway, one of them is my grandpa's high school graduation picture, he was born in '34. I was telling my friend how handsome he was and stuff. Then I said how I was looking thru his yearbook and how all of them were just kids but they look *so* much older than teenagers today. I say that because they just have such a maturity and dignity about them.

[elephantmeg]

I would want to be a pioneer woman. And the local midwife. Have a huge garden, raise a ton of kids, cook for threshers, help deliver babies.... there you have my secret desire. Which is really ironice because after my c-section the midwife told me that back in the pioneer days they probably would have lost me and the baby (he wasn't about to come out!). So I guess it's good that I'm not from then!

[gatorsmom]

I think you are so right about kids back then being more mature and taking better care of themselves. But I think they actually WERE more mature, because they had to be. I know that my dad had to help his parents on the farm because they needed every pair of hands they had. He was 12 and riding a tractor in the fields!! I'm sure that feeling of knowing-you-are-crucial-to-the-survival-of-your-family played a large role in his developing a strong sense of self-worth. And most girls over the age of 12 helped with babies and babysitting. Especially since birth control wasn't around and families were so much bigger than today.

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!