Comments on: A different kind of parenting

By: Matt Maul

Matt Maul — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:22:09 +0000

I was about 6 or 7 (1967 or 68) when my dad got pulled over by the po-po for letting me sit on his lap and steer the car as drove home one evening. I remember my mom firing off an "I told you so" afterward.

So Gene letting Sally drive didn't strike me as all THAT odd.

By: Lord Bottletop

Lord Bottletop — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:12:44 +0000

I totally stand corrected on Betty's mother's approach to parenting. Somehow I got it twisted up–all I really remember is that Gene's opinion was that his late wife had rendered Betty unfit for anything but the pedestal and the nursery, and I filled in the blanks. No quarter here among the devotees, that's for sure!

By: Deborah Lipp

Deborah Lipp — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:06:42 +0000

For the wrecord, I rote that at 7 am over my first cuppa.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:38:32 +0000

Maybe the contrast between Betty (model & housewife) & her mother (professional) is intended to mirror the move of women back to the home in the late 40s/early 50s. The 20s and 30s were a period of greater openness towards women and working – after WW2, for various reasons, there was a trend in the opposite direction, with the housewife and mother being viewed as the perfect woman. It's interesting that Peggy mentions earlier on in the series (season 1?) that she's the first female copywriter in Sterling Cooper since the war.

By: Big S Ranch

Big S Ranch — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:11:18 +0000

Just as a point of reference…
In 1965 I was 6 yrs old and driving my grandpa's 8N tractor on the highway. He also let me sit on the fender of the tractor while pulling a mower.

I was probably 10 before I drove his 1961 Ford Falcon ("3-on-the-tree" manual transmission)

For Christmas when I was 8, I received a single shot .22 rifle

It was a different time.

By: a_mob_hit

a_mob_hit — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:16:16 +0000

Well, Sally was wreck-less, that is , without an accident. Was Gene reckless? I didn't think so.

By: brenda

brenda — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:36:57 +0000

Sally driving the car was akin to Sally playing inside the dry cleaning bag — such a shocker that it was meant to draw gasps and then laughs. I know people who learned to drive trucks on a farm when they were 10 or 11, but agree that a 9 year old driving on a city street was asking for trouble.

Here's a revelation that today would seem incorrect: when I was about 9, we were allowed to have juice glasses of beer at family events. I had my first public beer (shared with my aunt) at a major league baseball game when I was 11. A few years later, we were allowed a glass of wine or champagne at family dinners.

Did it make me a drinker? Nope. I have one glass of wine or beer and call it a night. But I never became a binge drinker because it was no big deal, and also drinks in college were expensive. I'd rather go shopping.

By: not Bridget.

not Bridget. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:59:20 +0000

Yes. Betty wasn't coddled–but her mother didn't bring her up to be anything but a beautiful wife & a mother. Perhaps "sheltered" is a better word. It seemed that Betty never even knew her mother had worked & she never considered that she might need to hold a job. Except for modeling–which her mother didn't like. Perhaps because Betty's beauty was her means to catch a husband, not something to flaunt.

Betty's shrink caught on that she was angry at her mother–causing a serious mental conflict because she was also mourning her. Then Betty found out he was reporting to Don & used the therapy to send him a message. Rather than send him a message by talking to him & continuing to discuss painful & difficult matters with the not-very-good shrink. (And we learned later in the series just how some MD's decided to enter Psychiatry.)

Gene had played his part in the family, as it was defined back in the day. He earned the money & disciplined the kids. He regretted it later & tried to expand Sally's mind. (Did he ever show his son how to handle a knife?) But time ran out.

My mother learned to drive in the country–by driving all over the acreage. Starting at a very young age. Gene's method was riskier, although I got the impression his feet were on the pedals.

–The reference to "kids today" is a great way to bring up Bye Bye Birdy. It's an old complaint.

By: gypsy howell

gypsy howell — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:29:27 +0000

I donâ€™t recall Gene mentioning that his wife had coddled Betty.

I agree. As I recall, Betty's mother made her walk home from the store (?) because she was "stout." Not much coddling going on there. What I thought Gene regretted was raising Betty to have such a limited outlook on what her options were in life. That's different than being coddled.

Sally driving the car (especially with Bobby in the back) was over the line – driving a car is dangerous business for a 9 year old, especially on a public street. Could she even reach the pedals? I could see doing that around an empty parking lot. Plenty of country kids learn to drive machinery and vehicles when they're quite young. But not in traffic!

The knife episode with Bobby was perfectly appropriate, I thought. He was being supervised and directed on how to use it. I imagine it didn't faze Don too much either, given his upbringing.

By: DRush76

DRush76 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:57:08 +0000

Betty was not raised that way. Gene mentioned at least a time or two that Betty was coddled and protected by her mother, and it made her less self-reliant, to his regret.

I don't recall Gene mentioning that his wife had coddled Betty. Any woman who calls her daughter a "whore" for becoming a model, doesn't strike me as a coddler. In fact, I got the impression that she was distant toward Betty and raised the latter to be a "house cat" or the perfect mother/hostess. Rather odd for a woman who was a professional.