June Cleaver is often exemplified as the suburban middle-class “ideal” 1950s woman – wife, mother, homemaker. Beyond having an immaculately clean and stylish home, providing nutritious meals, and raising two boys (all the while looking fabulous may I add), she is also surprisingly modern for her time; she not only has a college education, but she kept her maiden name (June Evelyn Bronson Cleaver – no hyphen).
How has this ideal changed? As a stay-at-home-mother of today, what expectations/pressures do you feel? And also, what do you call yourself? (Stay-at-home mom, homemaker, etc.)
I am gathering this information as research, so please be as honest and thorough as possible. Please also include the demographic information below. If you would like to provide your name and contact information as well, or do not want to post, please email me (jjhs@cox.net). Your help is greatly appreciated!
-Jennifer
Age
Annual household income
Rent or own your home
Number of children and ages
Married, single, divorced
Race/Ethnicity
Religion
Your topic is interesting,
Your topic is interesting, but I'd like to know what kind of research before I respond. Thanks!
Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.
It's a social experiment.
It's a social experiment. No matter how much we (women) tell ourselves it's OK not to be perfect - we still try. Take one look at the ever-so-popular self-help shows say on TLC or HGTV. There is an ideal out there, and I believe it is even harder to obtain than that of years past - your June Cleaver. But we still try, and why? My theory is that we believe it will make our lives easier. So, I would like to gather the opinions of women like yourself on what you believe society expects of you, what you expect of yourself, and that "ideal;" over the next six months I will do everything in my power to obtain that ideal, and write about the trials and tribulations, as well as the successes and failures and most of all, what I learn about myself.
My husband thinks that I'm
My husband thinks that I'm nuts, but I LOVE watching those old re-runs. I have two boys too. The show makes me feel like a BETTER mom, than June! She NEVER plays with her kids. She's patient and sweet and offers advice while whipping up dinner, or sitting pretty on the edge of the kid's bed, but she is never doing homework with the kids, chasing them around the house, building something with them, or even joking around with them. My boys would hate her as a mom! And I'm certain that she never threw a birthday party, like I do! LOL. If she was "perfect", than I'm off the charts! LOL....
"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein