Was it easier being a mother in 1908

Was it easier being a mother in 1908
This Sunday, May 11, as families shower mothers with cards,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], gifts,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and superlatives, they will be part of an observance that had its humble beginnings 100 years ago. A bill introduced in the US Senate that year failed to establish an official Mother's Day, but it set the stage for a successful measure in 1914.
With their tightly laced corsets,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], long skirts,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], heavy shoes, and upswept hair,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the mothers of 1908 bear little physical resemblance to their counterparts in 2008, dressed in shorts,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Spandex, and sneakers. But as today's busy mothers savor their holiday,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], some might think longingly of simpler times, before women spoke of "juggling" or "balancing" work and family. They might even be tempted to idealize mothers of a century ago, whose serene images grace family photo albums.
But wait. Even in the middle classes,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], they spent much less time with their kids than we would have imagined."
One reason for this time deficit involves work. "Most families needed several wage earners,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Ms. Coontz says. "Women took in boarders,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], did sewing at home,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], cleaning, and all sorts of jobs that weren't counted as jobs on the Census but were time-consuming."
A photo from that era shows a mother balancing a baby on her lap while she assembles cigarettes at her kitchen table,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]. Two other children stand nearby,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
Even mothers without paid employment labored endlessly doing housework. In 1908,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a New York settlement worker estimated that the average woman, even in middle-class families,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], spent 40 hours a week just cleaning and shopping. Laundry was an arduous, two-day task, washing one day and ironing the next. Wood and coal stoves required tending and cleaning.
In 1908, Hoover introduced the electric suction sweeper, revolutionizing housecleaning. "It'll sell itself if we can get the ladies to try it,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," Mr. Hoover said. Assuming, of course,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], that the ladies had electricity. A majority of women still lived on farms. Until the New Deal Rural Electrification program was implemented in the 1930s, electricity was unavailable to huge sections of the country.
Although the birthrate was falling in the early 1900s,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], women still bore an average of 3.5 children. Farm women averaged closer to five.
The mothers of 1908, like their counterparts today, received advice from pediatricians. Spock of his era,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Coontz says. His advice to women: Don't pick babies up when they cry, and do not breast-feed. And a noted psychologist, Dr. Watson, cautioned against using pacifiers or indulging in displays of affection. He wrote,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], "When you are tempted to pet your child, remember that mother love is a dangerous instrument."
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