Yep, just like that. When I hear the term "play date", I think of toddlers whom obviously could not be wandering the neighborhood for hours.

That's the way I remember it too.. I just played with the kids i the neighborhood. When I got a little older I could walk to friend's houses several blocks away Then we would play games, do homework or sometimes have sleepovers.

I can't remember when we got sorta free rein to wander the neighborhood. This was back in "Leave it to Beaver" days. Thinking by about 10, we would totally disappear until "the street lights come on" during the summer. We'd play in "the woods"... big area that wouldn't have houses in it for years. Somebody would hear their name being YELLED out from home... that meant come home... usually cue to all of us to head home. And RARELY inside at anyone's house.

In a, what was then, small town in north east Ohio, we were not even considered suburban. No gutters along the edge of the street. The only other kids that were appropriate for the three of us lived about 7 houses away, which was just loud enough for us to hear whenever my mother would bellow our names. We were Sally, Tommy and Jimmy. From that distance, we could not hear a difference, so we all went to answer the call.

Same here, such a good memory. My children grew up like that too, and I seldom gave any thought to life being otherwise.....however, they did live on military bases as did some of my grands. We have also been blessed to have been able to live in small towns and neighborhoods where kids can have some of that sense of freedom....but much less than years ago. Here, our neighbor kids walk to school for some distances, ride their bikes and play basket ball on our street. I like that.

Here, if you let your kids roam far or walk some distance to school, you get labeled a "Free Range Parent", get accused of neglect and cops are involved.

Seriously.

Alina was my best friend down the street and I'd knock on her door to play. We made mud pies, and played barbies or jacks a lot. My sister played with us some. Or we'd play indoors, making up skits, dancing, making tunnels with the couch pillows for the hamster to go through, run cars down the hotwheel tracks on the living room shelves. We also spent a lot of time in the backyard. My sister would ride her rocking horse, my brother shot his bb gun, and I'd climb whatever sat still long enough, typically the chimney or fence. I also climbed Alina's fence. We had friends who'd come down the coast and we go camping with them and spent a lot of time hiking at Big Sur or Yosemite, or ride our bikes there. A lot of time at the beach and exploring tide pools or standing on the wharf watching the kelp sway and the jellyfish, otters, seals, whales, you name it, swim by. Back on our street, we all rode our bikes. We lived on a huge hill. You'd walk your bike up the hill and coast down it. One year, I skidded along our neighbor's fence. Their white picket, wooden splintery, covered in rose thorn fence. I spent the fourth of July being embarrassed my leg was so ugly. We also skated. A lot.

Then, we moved to Tennessee. We had a HUGE neighborhood filled with kids our age. We played it all! Baseball, football, tag, throwing fruit wars. You name it. We stayed out all hours, even after dark since it was a small enclave.

While my son plays outside, there are no kids his age! He'll ride his bike, and stop in to check with me or call me and let me know where he is (probably at our neighborhood marina a half mile away, or the banks of the river along the way). He used to climb all the trees on our property. Ed made him a tree house that connected to the flat garage roof. Some things were good about that, some bad. Nowadays, studies are fairly intense and he can't play like you and I did growing up. He's been at this school for six years now, so it's been intense for awhile. His social hours are spent at church youth group activities (playing capture the flag, touch football, camping, death ball, trampoline play, hanging out and eating pizza, etc.) or marching band (loads of time before it starts. They do homework, but they also talk, laugh, and play nintendo 3DS, sitting in a circle, playing the same game at the same time). He's never gotten to play with neighborhood kids. I don't know why we don't have any? Weird! He would if he could, and I'd let him. He just doesn't have the time to go next door to the non-existent kid next door and play. Shoot!

As kids, we played outside in our yard or other kids' yards. Mom was inside probably mangling or something like that.

My own kids were not "free range" until they got themselves to school on their bikes. By the time they were on bikes, I let them go places like the baseball card shop. We have a lot of baseball cards! They played in the back yard a lot. Had a lot of play dates.

I'm glad so many here had this opportunity for *free play*. We made our own 'rules'. (A group of kids is usually pretty certain about what's FAIR.) Our son, now 45, had the same upbringing.

When our DS was a newborn we bought a house in a 1950's subdivision set on three cul de sacs. It was rare to see anyone who didn't live there or have business there. There were some retirees. Few mothers worked full time, or at all. There were 'eyes' on the street from one end to the other.

There were eight kids within a year of our DS's age, plus their older and younger siblings. They all rambled pretty freely, usually riding Big Wheels, and later bikes. Kids were in and out of all our homes most days, going home briefly for lunch. A mother from the first circle would call to say her son and his older sister were coming to our (middle) circle, and I'd look out for them there. Soon they'd all pedal off to the third circle, where another mom had her eye on the 'gang'. We all fed them, gave out popsicles and water, had sand boxes and slippery slides, swings, slides, pets. Kids knew the location of the toilet in every home. Rarely did an adult have to intervene in the children's play. (No climbing to the top of the pines until you're older. No fighting. Give the little one a turn.)

I never imagined this kind of growing up would end. Now I never see kids making their own fun, on their own, outdoors.

When I grew up there was no one close to play with, when I was probably around 12 or so a girl did move into the neighborhood and I would ride my horse or pony to her house and we would both go riding in her woods down to her creek. That was a lot of fun, or we would go upstairs and play with paper dolls. When our first 3 were little we lived at the edge of town. The neighborhood was full of kids and they all mostly seemed to come to our place. One time I counted 15 other kids in our back yard playing away, had swings and a whirlybird to play on. That is how it usually was although our 3 would wander down the street to others places but I about always knew where they were. When we moved out here in the country and Amber was born, there was no one for her to play with.

Sue

Chisue, I love your "call." I grew up in two typical suburbs and was able to roam. My younger sister and I would ring the bell of a friend's house and then as the door was answered would ask, "Can so-and-so come out to play?" We lost track of my sister once and I arrived home without her for lunch. I only learned much later how worried my mom was. She finally wandered back home (4 years old!) and told Mom she had been a little girl's house she'd just met, a couple of blocks away.

My kids were young when there was a string of kidnappings in the Bay Area, so I always had that on my mind. They had the run of the block as we were so very lucky to have many kids on the block, but I always made sure I knew where they were. Gone are the days....

We lived in an apartment building in Queens, so I just had to go up one flight to find Pat, or down one flight to find Carolyn, or stay on the same floor to find Howie. Outside, we gathered on the sidewalk with kids from the neighborhood to ride our bikes, play hopscotch, or jump rope. When my dad wanted me to come in he'd stick his head out the window and whistle his special whistle. I can hear it still.

PS: I stayed in close touch with Pat and Carolyn, and I'm having lunch with Pat next week. Howie died several years ago, but when I scan old pictures of him I always send them to his son, a lawyer like his dad.

The neighborhood I lived on in the 50's was safe, I stayed on the same street but we would go to a friends house and call their name...somehow knocking on the door was for the grown ups...looking back it seems odd that I stood outside calling "Patty" loudly until Patty either came out or some other family member would call back that she couldn't. (Youngstown, Ohio)

Alisande, I have a whistle for my son. You made smile, and tear up. I feel connected to your father. My son hears it at home, school, or church. No matter where we are! I can whistle so loud, I have to warn people before I do it.

I grew up in a big house in a medium sized Midwestern town. Big houses on the street meant kids there who were playmates. I knocked at the door and asked the mother if my friend could play. We were not allowed to go to the park which was a mile or more away; there had been kidnappings. Sometimes I walked home with a classmate and played at her house with permission. Then I walked home from there. No one I knew had another car at home for the mother; the family car went to work with the father. We rode bikes, played games, hide and seek, Mother May I, flashlight tag, and kick the can. The empty lot was next to our house, so lots of baseball games and duck, duck, goose were played there as well as mumbly peg.

I grew up in a town of about 4000 people. As kids we basically played with everyone on the street. Every house had several kids of all ages so it was easy to have friends your own age. We rode our bikes in the street, played tennis in the street, played tag and red light and skipping rope and hopscotch in our driveways and back yards. We played house and dolls and restaurant, you name it we made it up and played. In the winter we went sliding on the hill behind our house or made snowmen. We rarely ventured outside our own street, in fact I didn't know the kids from the nearby streets until we met in junior high (I went to a different elementary school than most of them).
I guess it was the same everywhere, mothers or older sisters calling our names in the evening, time to go home when it got dark.

And if I didn't come home for lunch my mom knew that someone was feeding me. If there were extra kids at our place at lunch they would get a peanut butter and jam sandwich and an apple. That was lunch and out we would go again.

Our kids were given pretty free rein during the summer but not so much when school was in. We live in a pretty small neighbourhood, one road in and out and no busy streets. They would play street hockey, kick the can, cricket with all the neighbourhood kids.

Fun to be reminded! Hopscotch, roller skating, jump rope. Paper Dolls! Endless games of Monopoly on someone's back porch on a rainy day. Old Maid. Go Fish. I had an Irish Mail until I outgrew it.

And mangling, socks! My mom had a mangle. Remember the smell? Of course everything had to be ironed in those days.

While I'm all for women having careers if they want them -- or need them -- we would never have had this freedom without having adults at home. My friends and I would not have walked to grammar school, eight blocks, four times a day -- or gone home for lunch at all -- if there had not been people at home and in the houses along our route. (Almost nobody was overweight!)

I pretty much roamed the neighborhood when I was a kid. I always had to be home by 5:00, but otherwise stayed out all day. Sometimes I would play with friends, and sometimes wander around on my own. I wish my daughter had been able to grow up that way.

I'd forgotten playing Spades on snow days. And sledding. Such great memories.

chi, you changed my entire view of childhood. I thought times changed because of the Zodiac, or Jeffrey Dahmer. We had our moms at home. Oh. That is a much better reason. Makes a lot of sense. I'm a big dummy!

We had a rowdy bunch of kids on our street and we ran together like a band of meercats all day. My mom had....wait for it......a noisy, clanging dinner bell hung on the back porch!

It could be heard throughout the neighborhood and we scattered in all directions when we heard it, each running to his or her home for lunch or supper.

After supper, there was often a game of kick the can or a scavenger hunt, sometimes with a dad or two joining in.

Learned to ride and rode our bikes in the STREET. Roller skated in the street... skates with the key someone had to have around their neck... on a shoe lace. When one street was repaved it became a skating rink, it was so SMOOTH.

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

We had a rowdy bunch of kids on our street and we ran together like a band of meercats all day. My mom had....wait for it......a noisy, clanging dinner bell hung on the back porch!

********

Mine, too!! We got no end of guff from the kids in the neighborhood about that damn bell!

Used to embarrass the sh*t out of me, but my mother couldn't give a hoot what anyone said about her bell, or anything else, pretty much.

I just remembered something. My mother let me and the neighbor boy David walk to school in kindergarten. She said the first few times the two mom's followed us at a distance. My mother always told the story that one time David and I found dead cat. I took the front half home to show Mom, and he took home the back half to show his mother.

These are all wonderful memories.

Anyone remember hanging out at a friends house and being invited to stay for dinner only to find out it was liver? We then went to my house and we were having liver too!

We just spent our summers out door, going home for dinner, then back out until the lights came on. I am an only child but 4 doors down were the Kennedy's, with 8 kids, across the street were the Kasper's with 4 and the Corcoran's with 5 kids. The Boccios had 3, the Castiles also had 3 kids. Never a shortage of playmates on this block.

The call to come home was Mom yelling my name or Dad whistling. And heaven help you if you didn't come right away.

We grew up in a very small town, where everyone knew everyone. We were out the door as soon as we were up, dressed and ate some cereal. Gone all day. Ran all over this town, to all our friends houses. Came home when it got dark.

Same games as everyone else has mentions. Tag, Mother May I, Simon Says. Tennis, bikes, roller skates, sled riding on the big hill at the cemetery. I can remember when it would rain really hard, and the storm drains along the side walks couldn't handle that amount of water, there would be little mini floods along the sidewalks. We would sit in the water, push our butts up off the ground and we would get washed down the sidewalk.

I love all these memories......sigh

Such good memories everyone here shared...no "play dates". I never imagined the future would be so different.

I live in a quiet town and walk three miles a day and never hardly see children at play. One family moved in two blocks away and their kids are on their bikes or on the trampoline but they're pretty much it. I was out the door in the morning and rarely came home till supper. My mother didn't know where I was. My best friend, who was my doctor's daughter, and I used to play Nancy Drew We invented murders and followed people(suspects) around all day. That was put to a stop when the person being followed called the doctor. At six we walked to school every day. I stopped at her house and then we decided to go to the park and play for awhile. Soon our first grade teacher started sending notes home that we were tardy every day. So we were followed and the jig was up. Rode our bikes all day , out to the country, picnics by the creek, fixing up a club house for "our gang". My kids had a pretty free range life too. The only difference was I grew up in a town of 15,000, and they lived in a large development three miles from the town there they went to school.

Chiuse, I can't believe you gave out that call. We got transferred a lot and in Cleveland that was what we did in elementary school. OH KATHYYY I yelled standing on their lawn. No other town. My mom whistled a certain tune and I went home just l like the other kids did. This makes me cry but all the comments are wonderful. I can't tell you how I came here at the right time. I fit in. Thank you.

If you lived in a small town where occupation density was at least 5 kids per one side of a city block, playtime was as described above. However, out on the farm, it was more lonely. there might be 6 house in a square mile and in 1940, 4 of those houses may have contained young children. After WW2 was in progress, the children density fell to about 2 families per square mile. The other 4 houses were childless. Under those conditions, many days in summer was spent with your own immediate family. Play dates and parties were arranged during weekends at various gatherings such as church, reunions, and other community gatherings. I recall playing at a neighbor's house (1/4 mile distant) maybe once in 2 weeks. By 1946, I had saved enough to buy a bicycle and that permitted me to go as far as 3 miles for some play time. Not a lot of time was allotted to play for farm children during summer. There were plenty of other activities to do related to food production and storage for the coming winter or for sale. We farm children looked forward to the start of school in September because it meant a break of our isolation. We would see other children for 5 days a week and there would be play as well as studies.

School was held for 8 months with 4 months off in summer. School began near Sept 1 and finished by April 30.

We moved to the suburbs when I was 5. Kids played in the street and other than knocking first to see if anyone was home we entered each others yards and homes at will. If it was too early to knock on the door we would tap on each others bedroom window instead.Parents kept an eye on each others kids and weren't afraid to reprimand them. You listened to all adults as if they were your parents. If it was lunch time most parents simply fed whatever kids happened to be around. Nobody worried about what was eaten. no bad foods no "unhealthy" foods. Koolaid and a bologna sandwich was fine. We did have one mother on the block who had "issues" when I was older. She wouldn't allow her children to play or mingle. It was said she feared "germs". The other parents considered just a neighborhood crackpot.

We roller skated, formed clubs that only lasted a day, played cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. We pretended to be Superman or Mighty Mouse etc. Ran through sprinklers in the summer and played in the mud. We had spud guns and pea shooters. We setup Koolaid and lemon aid stands and spent any money we made on penny candy. We had fist fights and made up minutes later. On Saturdays we would go to the kiddy matinee at the local theater. Two movies, cartoons and a stage show with games and contests winning one a snack bar drink or treat and a raffle for prizes donated by local businesses. If we got a scrape the nearest mom would give dab on Mercurochrome or give us a bandaid. Later it was Bactine spray.

Anyone remember hanging out at a friends house and being invited to stay for dinner only to find out it was liver? We then went to my house and we were having liver too!

I would have happily eaten twice. I loved liver as a child and still do to this day. I was a very picky eater as a child. If we were having something I didn't like liver was often an option because they knew it was always something I would eat.

LOL Mine never did have play dates! We happened to buy a home in a subdivision where all the homes have two-three acre lots. Not huge but far enough apart there are woods to explore and fun to be had and mine did!! Their friend choices were limited so they learned to play with each other and now when I hear what "town" kids got into I am glad it happened that way. Most kids were in day care while mine honed their imaginations in the woods and riding bikes hunting snakes and frogs etc. We put a LOUD bell on the outside of the garage. They knew to come when they heard it ringing. They knew to be with in earshot of it. We resisted the lure of the newest games (game boy, Nintendo) and instead did trips to the library and Science and Children's museums. Mine did not quite have the freedom I did but I grew up on an military base and I too wonder now what my mom did all day. I gardened so I would be outside and aware of where my kids were and were not. I don't ever remember my mom even asking what I had done all day.

All the mothers outside calling their kids into dinner. I still and do my mothers's whistle.

My mother was an 'only'. I am one, and my DS is too. Mom was born in NYC, but her parents rented a small farm in rural Rhode Island when she was a toddler. Her mother's two sisters had died of TB in the city; Mom's grandmother and uncle died of it at the farm. There was a pump in the front yard; an outhouse in back. Times were very lean.

My mother's playmates were her Collie, "Beauty", and the farm animals...and the seven kids from the big family down the road. She went to a one-room school -- where she got an astounding education! She told me of trading her school lunches with poorer kids, claiming she just loved their lard sandwiches. Life on the farm provided many a bedtime story for me. It also gave me a wider perspective of life in general; I took less 'for granted'.

Good memories. We did most of these things in my Chicago suburb in the 50s-60s. Played endless hours in the sandbox and on the swing set. Delighted in the huge piles of burning leaves (smoldering for hours) that all parents burned in the streets in fall--the air was all smoke for days. Rode our bikes like crazy. Mom too had the big bell on the back porch--I can still remember its sound. We could hear it for many blocks away. Walked to school each day about 3/4 mile and back; moms carpooled to pick us up and deliver us back for lunch which was often canned soup and grilled cheese. Lots of snow forts in the winter.

My childhood was pretty much like all of yours in that we were outside all the time and we played all the same games. Got me to wondering why it was safe then and now it's not...what changed?

I think the biggest change is working moms and two income families. My children were born in the mid 70s. They still played outside and we had quite a few stay at home moms here still. I'm still in the same neighborhood. The streets are silent. Everyone works, commutes are long and kids are either in school. extended school or childcare. Parents are no longer raising their own children. The government and schools are.

There are stay at home parents but they have to find each other. DD stays at home and her kids have an excellent social life and play like kids used to except its under the watchful eyes of the parents since it is generally in public spaces like parks. She connects with other families through mommy's groups and homeschooling groups. One of her friends has elected to send their DD to transitional kindergarten at a public school. The child is not yet 5. She is in school from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. One 45 minute lunch break that is broken into 25 minutes for eating and 20 minutes to play. One 15 minute recess. There is homework, meals bath time and bedtime. We've stolen childhood away from children. No wonder they are growing up with so many issues.

Seems to be many more child predators now also. My parents always talked to us about "stranger danger" but that type of encounter was never heard of. Wondering why that has changed.

pipsmom -- That's a myth. Very few children are molested by strangers; it's usually a family member or someone else trusted by the family.

I was safe and our DS was safe because so many mothers were *at home*. Many two-income families are in debt in order to own more things, while their children are 'in care' from cradle to college. (I'm not talking about parents working to *survive*, nor do I think every woman has to be a SAHM 24/7.)

There's something wrong when 75% of an economy depends on consumer spending. Kids don't need more 'stuff'.

We had no iPads, computers, cell phones or video games. There were few TV shows. We had to use our imaginations a lot. Our kids, born in the early 70's had more options but not as many as our grandkids, born in the early 2000's. They would find the childhood I lived as boring, but it was much more physical (bikes, roller skates, outdoor games etc.) and I enjoyed it.

Kids today still love the so called old fashioned boring things. They are just not given the opportunity. I remember the same argument in the 70s when was raising my own. The keep up with the latest neighbors bought whatever the toy of the year was. My kids got skates, balls, blocks. building toys and pretend play sets. Guess what the kids in the neighborhood liked to play with?

The Cabbage Patch dolls were a great intervention. Suddenly for a while kids were using their imaginations instead of playing with dolls that spoke, ate and pooped.

Too many parents today don't want to stop to play with their kids. They give them an interactive toy or sit them at the TV. Many parents don't even like kids things and they pass it on to their own children by not playing Candyland for the upteenth time etc.

My GKs lives are very physical. They go to the park and run and play in their yard. Water, sand, chalk, bubbles and paint are a part of their daily lives. They both have scooters and DGD is learning to ride a bike and roller skate. Birthday parties are a blast. Old fashioned fun and even the older kids have a great time. Water guns are a given. So are chasing, pushing and shoving. Yesterday at the park 2 year old GS took a hard fall. He got up, looked at his knees, shrugged and dusted his hands together and was off to play. DGD had not one but 2 black eyes this month. Same eye. LOL One when her brother hit with an object ( not a motorcycle) during play and another from a fall. She lived to tell tall tales about the injuries. Her favorite is, my brother hit me with his motorcycle. :-D

We are raising a bunch of over protected sissies. Being taught to sit still for hours and placed in a bubble so as not to get feelings hurt or skinned knees. Everyone gets a prize for breathing.

My grandsons and family have just moved to a new state. They don't have any playmates who live in their neighborhood. I assume the families are older.So they will rely on play dates.

There is a lot of that with today's family neighborhoods. We forget how many families were started when the GIs came home from WWII and the Korean War. Baby boomer members were born about the same time in large numbers in the neighborhoods in the late 40s and early 50s. The pill did not exist yet, and so many families had surprise babies too.

Today, young marrieds have debt burden galore with school loans and housing costs that have sky rocketed. Couples in this area marry later than we did too. So many parents both work that life is quite different for today's kids and their parents too. I do not think we are raising over protected sissies at all. The family situation has changed and community safety issues have changed too. Even technology has presented parents with more concerns for their children's safety, and right in their own homes.

Moreover, school demands have changed. Reading is taught earlier and so are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Homework can be time demanding, even for primary grades. All this affects how much free time kids have and how much freedom to roam. Little towns when we were kids are big towns now, and riding a bike on those streets today would mean asking for trouble in many cases.

I've been reading this thread since it was posted with trepidation, waiting for the "good ole days" comments and general bashing of current parenting methods; guess I didn't have to wait too long.

My early childhood, we played outside all the time, including with the neighborhood kids, or at least I did as much as I was able too. All the kids in our 2-3 block radius were boys my brothers age or older. While I wanted to play, I was seen as the annoying kid sister so I was frequently left playing by myself.

When I was 9 we moved into the "country", an established neighborhood 30 minutes outside of town. Everyone lived on a few acres and there were only 2 other "kids" in the entire neighborhood, 2 teenage boys who would hang out with my brother on occasion, but I was still mostly left in the lurch.

We were allowed to ride our bikes to the general store a few miles away or go hiking in the canyon, but only together, we didn't really have other playmates.

Now, as a mom of 4 kids living in the same neighborhood, I eschew "play dates" but encourage my kids to be active and outdoors.

The neighborhood has 2 other families that have children close in age to ours but both parents work and the kids are in daycare/babysitters.

My kids playmates are, by and large, each other.

Chisue brings up a good point about stay at home moms and sheilajoice added important points as well.

Women's lib movement made it possible for ANY woman to accomplish ANYTHING she wanted and I am eternally grateful for that BUT....with it came a flooding of the market with both men AND women capable of doing the jobs. Supply of qualified workers increased and demand didn't follow suit which basically means you've got 200 people qualified to fill these 100 positions.

Basic rules of supply and demand means that more workers than jobs drives wages down which means everyone has to work twice as hard.

Most families these days don't have much of a choice. Both parents must work to meet ends meet. If the mom stops working to be a SAHM she loses her career advancement.

If she (or he) becomes a stay at home parent and the marriage dissolves, they can't just jump back into their career. It isn't about material goods, its about being able to support yourself. I'm taking a "huge risk" in my friends eyes by relying on my husband and believing our marriage will continue to work because, "what if?". How will you support yourselves and the kids?!?

Also, my parents, your parents and I suspect most of you when you were parenting young children, did not have to deal with social media, the internet, etc. Very real issues that almost all parents must deal with these days.

I'm the "curse" on our elementary school because, as far as I'm aware, I'm the only parent who has said "no, I do not authorize my child or their works to be displayed on the internet."

There are different challenges presented to today's parents, and we are doing the best we can in an ever changing world.

Here in 20 or 30 years we will get to listen to our kids complain and/or we ourselves will opine for the "good ole days" the same way every other generation has but the bottom line is, we are just like you. Doing the best we can with what we have.

Gem -- I hear you about the decline in wages -- and some of that is because employers have been able to get away with paying women less. There are also more single-parent (usually Mom) families. I still think the two-parent family often mistakes providing 'things' with hands-on parenting. (Or maybe that's because some jobs are easier than parenting? LOL)

I'm not convinced that so many parents *need* two incomes. Could your neighbors live decently on the salary of just one parent? Of the things they could no longer afford, which would adversely affect their children?

SAHM's mean a whole 'village' is different, not only the immediate family of those moms.

As people are living longer, we might see more extended families -- grandparents caring for children -- eventually, families caring for Seniors. My mother worked to support us after my father left us when I was a toddler. Her widowed mother came to live with us, minding me and allowing my mother to work.