A few years ago, I wrote a column about my life growing up during the Great Depression and World War II. I talked about the “good ole days” and compared home-making and child rearing practices with this present generation.

At the time, I did not know that journalist Tom Brokaw had written a book called, “The Greatest Generation.” But it makes me wonder when we produced the “Baby Boomers” with their rebellious attitudes and their flower children. Hippies; the sexual revolution!

My generation began to think, “Where did we go wrong when we thought we were doing everything the right way?” We had peace of mind... or maybe we wore rose colored glasses.

Just recently I was looking on London Topix to see if I could find out some information about a recent wreck. Much to my surprise there was a post on there that said, “Shirley Caudill thinks she is the perfect wife and mother.” I was shocked... but then had to chuckle, since that is the farthest thing from the truth. I am afraid I fall short on both fronts.

On the other hand, there are about 16 Shirley Caudills listed on the Internet and about 10 Jeff Caudills. I don’t know whether they write or not. But the perfect wife and mother is not ME.

When I write about the depression and war years, I am attempting to share our lifestyle, our point-of-view, and comparing it with the way things are today and how much times have changed over the years. We were a kind of “Leave it to Beaver” generation and just knew that we could raise the ideal children.

After all, it was during WWII that women first went into the workforce as our young men went off to war. But we had never heard of daycare. We heard talk about the Kubbutz (daycare) in Russia, and we thought it was ridiculous to leave the child-rearing to total strangers.

The grandparents and extended family babysat for the working women here in America. And everyone pitched in to help with the war effort... what a war it was... all over the world. We lost 400,000 men, according to the Internet... and other countries lost a couple of million men and women.

Before the war, the women in America were housewives... an honorable position indeed! We believed in the old adage, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

In fact, we thought it was the MOST honorable position... and we tried to be the best. Many of us were in competition to see who could do the better job of parenting and homemaking. We wanted the whitest clothes hanging on the clothesline and we did not want our husband to have ‘ring around the collar.’ We wanted the cleanest windows, the shiniest floors, the prettiest lawns and flower beds.

We believed in having a routine and sticking to it to the letter, a set bedtime, meals on time, togetherness time, prayer time, housework time, spring cleaning time, fall cleaning time, shoe polishing time, ironing time, and playtime. With our self-assigned jobs, we had no time to be involved in things that were questionable.

The husband was the bread-winner, as well as the head of the house, and he was treated with utmost respect. After all, he WAS the bread-winner, as my grandfather said, and it was important to respect the one who put a roof over our heads and food on the table. Papa used to say, “When you fail to respect the one who puts a roof over your head, it is time to get your OWN roof!” He also said, “Nobody in this house sleeps all day; get up and make yourself useful and pay for your bed!” In other words, he expected those who put their feet under his table to help with all the chores... and I think that is a good thing. That is what I taught my children. Not so today!

My grandfather also set aside time to help neighbors with their gardens and barn-building. He shod horses for his neighbors and shared the bounty of his grape arbors.

Papa taught his grand children to do a good deed EVERY day. He was a perfect gentleman with a work ethic second to none. He was a builder and an architect, brick mason, and farmer. He was also a writer and had beautiful penmanship.

Papa would be proud today to see that his grandchildren, on down to his great-great-grandchildren, also have his work ethic and helpful attitude.

We have lost many of our old-fashioned ways since World War II when so many of our young men died on the battlefields all around the world. We had a set of values and a set of standards by which we lived... and we were shocked when the baby boomers lived by “antidisestablishmentarianism” and could even spell it. Look it up.

Wives and mothers sewed for their children and knitted sweaters and caps, as well as socks and mittens. We took pride in our quilt-making and our cooking style. And we taught it to our sons, as well as our daughters. My husband Jeff said he has tacked many quilts for his mother and the family.

Wives and mothers never went to bed on Monday nights until all the laundry was done. We never went to bed on Tuesday nights until all the laundry was starched, ironed and put away in the closets and drawers. All the socks and underwear were folded and put away, the shoes were polished and sitting in a row in the closet. The hairbrushes and the combs were washed and ready to use the next day. Nowadays, they would call us “obsessive/compulsive.” We called it being a dutiful housewife and a good mother.

I never saw my grandmother’s bed unmade. She swept all the floors every day and dusted all the furniture. She had three balanced meals a day on the table with a dessert and home-churned butter. She took her job very seriously. And taught her children to be good homemakers.

But most of the baby boomers did not cotton to our compulsive ways... and set out to go beyond all boundaries and “do their own thing;” whatever that thing happened to be... and no matter who was hurt by it. As Papa said, “Someone will pay the piper... someone will suffer the consequences...” but, I will leave that conclusion to the reader.

It dampens my spirits when I see some of the young folks being so thoughtless and rude to their elders today... (Not all).

There was a time when a person checked out at the grocery store and there was someone to help put the groceries in the basket and get them to the car. I was in a store yesterday and they did not put my groceries in the basket for me until I asked them to do it. Then I had to ask them to get someone to take them to the car. That is just good business. Good public relations, courtesy, appreciation for my business, and yours. I said, “If I can spend $200 to $400 dollars a week in this store, the least you can do is help me get it to the car... and smile once in awhile.” And I don’t think that is too blunt... it is just obvious to me. And good business!

If we were the “Greatest Generation,” where did we go wrong in passing it down to the next generation? Beats me!

Shirley Caudill of London is a former newspaper editor/publisher and longtime freelance columnist. She is a Nashville native who has lived in Kentucky 40 years. She has six children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and is married to a retired Army First Sergeant. She can be reached at gunnstar4912@gmail.com