S/O midwinter. Overwhelmed mothers

amother

↑ Razzmatazz ↓

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 10:54 am

amother Peony wrote:

You are missing the key point. Salaries haven't kept pace with inflation. The average persons salary isn't 3 times as much as back in the 80s.

So what we have now is cost of living has tripled, and salaries aren't keeping up. That leads to unsustainable living. Which is the point here.

The cost of living has certainly gone up. The question is why?

Some things were cheaper, some things were more expensive. It seems to me that all the things that are frum specific - tuition, camp, seminary - have gone up more than inflation.

OTOH, I don't think food has gone up as much. I paid $80 a month electricity in the early 1990s for a 600 square foot apartment. I am paying less than double, now, for a house that is many times that size.

Taxes have gone up. Clothing not as much, utilities not as much. Insurance has gone up.

My mother spent $1000 on her plane ticket to Israel in the 1960s, there are tickets available for similar amounts now.

amother

↑ Razzmatazz

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 10:59 am

amother Peony wrote:

I think society as a whole, especially in the Jewish community, will beg to differ. That's one thing few people will dispute. Salaries have NOT kept pace with inflation.

Anyone can find a random chart to explain their perspective and personal anecdotes doesn't speak too much. The one thing that most people agree with is that inflation has dramatically outpaced salary increases.

I showed you a data chart. Feelings, anecdotes, are not data.

Yes there's been killer inflation in the past few years. We are in the midst of an economic downturn, even if the powers that be are not specifically calling it a depression, that's what it feels like. We are all hurting. This is specific to 2024, it was not this way five years ago, and hopefully still not be this way in five years either.

There is a different problem that is affecting specifically the frum community, and it's not going away even if the economy gets better. We need to take our heads out of the sand and address it.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 11:06 am

Im a child of the 80s.
Exactly 1 kid in my class had a speech therapist, and 1 kid got pulled out for kriah.

Nowadays, as a mother I'm getting calls constantly. EI appointments, scheduling therapists and kriah and tutors and psychologists.

Yes, we probably really needed a lot more of this stuff in the 80s. But the pressure on the mother to juggle everything.

Most of our houses were cluttered, not filthy, but definitely not clean.
The pressure on the mother to have a spotless house, take cleaning help.

White bread was standard. Formula was standard.

We know better.

But serving lunch of white bread, American cheese and potato chips (like my mother and friends mothers used to do) is really not acceptable anymore. Now it's whole grain, with a veggie, or sourdough, or skip the gluten all together.
All of that is even more pressure on the mother.

amother

↑ Ultramarine

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 11:55 am

amother Peony wrote:

In the last several years salaries have not kept up with inflation but it definitely has compared to 30 years ago.

amother

↑ Forestgreen

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 1:40 pm

amother NeonYellow wrote:

It’s not me! I’m the OP of the original thread. I did not make thes others. Why can’t more than one person feel the same way 🤔

I’m sorry then.

amother

↑ Plum

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 1:52 pm

amother NeonYellow wrote:

But that’s the issue. We aren’t buying into anything just have an entire week off with bored kids. How do we navigate that without stressing ourselves more and spending money? It’s not easy

So maybe you can't avoid a week off. But other pressures can not be bought into. For us midwinter vacation is a trip to the ice cream store. I'm a child of the 80s and my aim was always to keep things simple. To differentiate between necessities and non-necessities. Kids can entertain themselves with enough creativity.

amother

↑ NeonYellow

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 1:59 pm

amother Plum wrote:

A trip to an ice cream store is great but what are teens realistically doing for an entire week?

amother

↑ Blue

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 3:02 pm

amother NeonYellow wrote:

A trip to an ice cream store is great but what are teens realistically doing for an entire week?

Realistically?
Sleeping late, reading, watching movies, maybe going on an outing or two with friends. Some use the opportunity to babysit for families with working mom/younger kids and earn money. For most of the teens I know, they'd rather spend a week doing this than a week of school.