I was lucky enough to be a stay at home Mom only because we pinched pennies, used coupons to shop, shopped at thrift stores etc. My husband got health insurance where he worked. With having 4 children I didn't feel I would ever be able earn enough to pay for child care and didn't want someone else raising my children. We ate healthy from scratch meals, I baked all of our bread and baked goods, sewed, canned, kept a vegetable garden and even watched someones child to help make ends meet. After they were all in school I worked in the school cafeteria so that my schedule and theirs would sync up and we would have the same days off. When I was 40 I finally had the time to go to college and get my nursing degree. Unfortunately I don't think that many young people today will ever be able to be without employment while raising a family. Our children have to pay for day care that costs them $1000.00 a month per child in addition to extended day for their school children. Mortgage/rent payments are right at $1000.00 also. Their employers don't offer health insurance and they can't afford to purchase it after all the bills are paid. We won't even mention the cost of transportation or purchasing meat to feed their families. When they get home from work around 7:30 PM their isn't time or energy enough to think about fixing healthy meals, all they want to do is eat, clean up, and get some sleep.
All that being said I think we are in a much better place today not having to live up to the expectations that society placed on women of that time simply because they were female. Although I do think we could do without people wearing their PJ's out in public! Ann in TN

Don't think I could stand to revert to that lifestyle! Either the stay-at-home mom, which I was when the boys were little, or the super-mom when they were older and involved in everything under the sun. Never did focus unduly on either my own appearance or the appearance of my house (unless company was coming). If my mom had not let the kids go to her house after school I would not have been able to work while my hubby was overseas and it was necessary to keep all the bills paid. Retirement, such as it is (I'm now a volunteer helper at a friend's business) is so much more fun. Still don't have time to do all of the things I'd like to do, but I'm doing what I WANT to, so that's OK.