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Father & Mother Really Did Know Best
By: Vicki Wentz / Vicki’s Voice
Yep, it was definitely a different time...a MUCH
better time, and I will debate that with anyone
who accepts the challenge!
Father actually did “know best” and 19 families
out of 20 had their fathers permanently
at home. Actually, Dad left every
morning for work and came home
every evening, normally to a wife, some
kids, and a homemade dinner - maybe
tuna-noodle casserole, with frozen peas
and some lemon meringue pie.
But first, USUALLY the boy met the
girl, the boy asked the girl out, the
boy and girl dated until they were out
of college (and by “dated”, I mean
USUALLY some kissing and light
“making out...no, USUALLY nothing further, believe it or not!).
Then, the boy called the girl’s parents and asked for her hand in
marriage, and then he proposed, and they planned a wedding, which
was USUALLY paid for by the bride’s parents, except for the rehearsal
dinner, which was USUALLY paid for by the groom’s family. Then, they
got married and THEN they indulged in a tad more than light “making
out...USUALLY.
Then, along came the children, one by one...whom they welcomed
with great joy, and love, and excitement.
A man normally taught his son lots of things in the 1950s: how to
catch a fish; how to save money; how to speak to their mothers; how
to shoot a foul shot; how to do algebra...sort of. He taught him how
to defend his sisters, girls in general...and his country; how to respect
his elders; how to build a birdhouse or a
model car; how to play Yahtzee with the
family, because family comes FIRST
and always will.
A father taught a son how to work
for a living, take responsibility for his
actions, and love his future children by,
first, loving their mother.
A woman and mother of the ‘50s
taught her daughters important things
as well: how to wear a cardigan with
a butterfly collar; how to apply makeup...very
lightly; how to speak to her
elders - and to everyone - with respect and a smile; how to work hard
at whatever they did, and not to accept less than the best from anyone
- especially themselves.
A mother taught a daughter how to play the piano; how to beat a boy
at ping-pong or golf...or running for Student Council President; how to
make a fabulous tuna-noodle casserole; how to cherish her children,
and how to make a house a home.
We played tag and hide-n-seek and kick-the-can. We played if-bikeswere-horses,
baseball and red-light-green-light...and lots of other
hyphenated games.
We loved lawn darts, we climbed trees, we scrambled all over
mountains of gravel and halfway-built houses. We ran lemonade
stands, we built forts, and we raced hard to the driveway when we heard
the popsicle boy come pedaling down the street.
We walked four blocks to school, unless it was raining. We spoke
respectfully to our teachers, we did our work...and we learned. We
learned that 4+3=7 (not 4+3=possibly 5, or 9, or whatever your
fragile psyche needs it to equal); we learned that “Columbus sailed the
ocean blue in fourteen-hundred-ninety-two” (and that he was a great
Italian explorer, navigator and colonizer; that he fought stubbornly for
the chance to find a “new world” and that if he hadn’t we might all still
live in Italy...not that I’d mind that).
We learned that Who is a subject, and Whom is a direct object or
an object of a preposition (and that Whattsup would be a totally
inappropriate - and punishable - offense when addressing a teacher.
OK, to us kids, maybe it didn’t always SEEM like a wonderful time,
but looking at our kids today, all on couches staring at phones - well,
there’s no question it was.
36
September 2023
Vicki Wentz is a writer, teacher and speaker living in North
Carolina. Readers may contact her - and order her new children’s
book! - by visiting her website at www.vickiwentz.com.