ReTRo HouSeWiFe

SURVEY OF THE DECADES - CHILDREN & FAMILY

Raising Children in the 1960s

What was it like to have children in the 1960s? I was born in the latter part of the decade, so I can't really testify. But my mother can, and maybe so can yours! Ask her. I guarantee you will come away with new found respect and admiration for her, and will also learn a thing or two! Not that the 1960s was especially tough, I will say the same thing as I research other decades. Still, the mothers and wives of the 1960s faced a different set of challenges than we do today, and some things may even have been better. Let's take a look at the evidence before we decide!

Gadgets Will Halt Bathroom Jam

Do you ever feel more like traffic cop than a homemaker during the early morning rush for the bathroom? Any aid to help unsnarl the conflict between school bound youngsters and office bound adults, both on uncompromising schedules, is thankfully received.

Restricted floor space in most bathrooms doesn't permit too many fancy accessories. As traffic manager, you might try analyzing the bottleneck.

• Are junior and Jane trying to brush teeth at the same time that dad trying to shave?
• Is Sally enjoying a nice bath while the line queues up outside?

In our house, some mysterious signal impels all three children want to wash, brush and groom themselves simultaneously. Because the bathroom has two doors, this often leads to a noisy argument on precedence.

A sense of time is important to smooth bathroom operations, so the addition of a clock with a timer and a sweep second hand can be of help on more than one count. During the rush hours, either morning or evening, a time allotment on the timer will prod the dawdler into speedy action. This won't do for dad, but the children will abide by the non-discriminating buzzer.

Besides its usefulness in timing some permanents, hair rinses or similar cosmetic routines, a clock can be a real aid to building good dental habits in the children. Sometime, just for fun, try this experiment: time the number of seconds your kids spend brushing their teeth after meals or at bedtime. You may be surprised to find the time not more than 30 or 40 seconds.

This isn't long enough to do the thorough job that will help protect their teeth from decay, says the American Dental Association. It won't specify the length of time one should brush but I was told, that two to three minutes is close to the mark. 1960