Fathers Then and Now

Back when I was a kid, in the 1940s and 50s, most kids had stay-at-home moms. Even if their fathers had been killed in WWII their mothers had remarried if they possibly could.

It was difficult for women to find jobs back then. They might be school teachers, clerks, do laundry or housecleaning, or be in the entertainment industry, but there weren’t many other options and women got paid less than men for the same jobs.

Everyone ’knew’ “a woman’s place is in the home,” and it was the fathers’ responsibility to provide for their families.

In some families it was also the father’s responsibility to spank their kids when they had misbehaved.

Back then nearly all men smoked cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or any combination of those (women just smoked cigarettes) so in grade school kids made ash trays for Fathers’ Day gifts.  Since my father had died of polio, I gave those ashtrays to my grandfather, who didn’t smoke and didn’t like the gifts.

Today it’s unusual for kids to have both birth parents living with them. 

Couples get divorced, sometimes just because they feel like it. Marriage vows aren’t taken seriously. (Of course some divorces are for valid reasons, such as abuse.)

Lots of kids have stepfathers and/or get shuffled back and forth between both birth parents.

Quite a few kids today have never even met their birth fathers. And many fathers rarely or never get to see their own children.

Fathers’ Day just ain’t what it used to be.