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PeterHolzwarth ◴[] No.46179223[source]
"A woman's work is never done."

In our agrarian past, the cultural division of labor at the time said that men worked the field, women ran the home. And that later job was brutal, never-ending, and consumed all waking hours until the day she died.

Men broke their backs in the field, women consumed their lives doing the ceaseless work that never ended, every waking moment. (And occasionally helped out in the field, too).

Running a family was a brutal two-person job -- and the kids had to dive in to help out the second they could lift something heavier than a couple pounds.

We forget so easily that for the entire history of our species - up until just recently - simply staying alive and somewhat warm and minimally fed was a hundred-hour-a-week job for mom and dad.

There are important downsides, but the Green Revolution - and dare I say it, the industrial revolution - was truly transformative for our species.

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1. KineticLensman ◴[] No.46181950[source]
> Running a family was a brutal two-person job -- and the kids had to dive in to help

In many societies before (say) the 18th/19th Century, extended families would have been the norm, e.g. with elderly relatives living in the same household, helping with food preparation and clothes making. Harvests may have been community-wide affairs. Children would have had to dive in, as you say, but they wouldn't have had school to go to, and there would have been a wide age spread. Maternal mortality (death due to childbirth) was high, and many widowed fathers would have remarried, extending the family further (incidentally this is partly why there are so many step-sisters and step-mothers in folk stories).

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2. mbajkowski ◴[] No.46182494[source]
Agreed, but I don't think you need to go as far back as the 19th century, even early 20th century it was the same in some places in eastern Europe. Out of 7 siblings in my Dad's family only one went to college. The spread between oldest and youngest was about 12 years. All went to school which was dismissed much earlier, after which children were expected to help in the fields with animals, house work, etc. before doing homework. The one pause, and really only time they wore nicer clothes, was on Sundays for church. The person who went to college would be back each summer to help with the grain and potato harvests. My life by comparison is a life of luxury.
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3. gessha ◴[] No.46183098[source]
I recognize a Hegel vs. Schopenhauer comment chain.
4. rwyinuse ◴[] No.46183709[source]
Yep, for most of human history taking care of children has been way more communal than in modern era.
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5. WalterBright ◴[] No.46184843[source]
The kids went to school in the winter, where there wasn't so much to do on the farm. That's why we still have summer "vacation", a holdover from needing the kids to work on the farm in the summer.
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6. MichaelRo ◴[] No.46185281[source]
As kids in a rural area in Eastern Europe, summer "vacation" was sure to be filled with "fun" farm work. I recall being amused at hearing one of my friends towards the end of the summer say: "man, I can't wait for school to begin, so I can get some rest".
7. 9rx ◴[] No.46185582[source]
It used to be way more informal and less institutional, but I'm skeptical that it was more communal. We're still heavily dependent on community to raise our children (e.g. school, spots, etc). Sometimes to the point of absurdity.
8. fsckboy ◴[] No.46213537[source]
Out of 10 siblings in my grandfather's family, only 5 lived.

the eldest, my grandfather, was sent to America on his own at age 14 to work and send money home. college? who's got time to finish high school?

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9. mbajkowski ◴[] No.46231788{3}[source]
Yup. Also elementary school was often fewer grades than it is today. It was the norm to finish your education after elementary school to help the farm/household. Individuals, especially from the country side, were an exception to finish secondary education and go on to college.