Evening star., 1931-11-29

often? What is the chief form of en-
tertainment at these parties? n
A NY woman who wants to see how
y she compares with this average
mother can answer those questions
herself and compare the results with Il
!. ! . !. !. ! " . |. : ! :! (:
DR.. Bomar's averages, ~
compiled above. ~
Miss Fisher, mean
while, has gone ~
through her list of ~
material to find out ~
just how mother puts E@
in her day. Here is
the typical schedule,
as she found it, for ERS =
an average American fLkG: AsNseesaal1
mother: AE88ck2 - ~
Seven o'clock-Rise ~
help younger children ET~
to dress, get breakfast
Eight to Get ~A
children off to school, wash dishes. ZMM
Nine to 11-Make beds, go to mar
ket, tidy up the house
Eleven-Cook children's lunch set
table, etc
Twelve to Give children lunch.
see that they are tidy for the after
noon school session.
One to 2-Wash up after luncheon.
Two to Sew, darn, take the baby
out in his carriage for an airing, go
shopping, VlSlJ SCNOOl, go 10 MOVIES NJ
Q party, receive callers-and so on.
Five-Prepare supper or dinner.
Six-Serve evening meal to family, wash
dishes
Seven to 9-Put children to bed, listen to
radio, call on neighborS or receive calls, help
youngsters with lessons, read paper or maga-
zine.
Nine to 11-Set bread lock up house, retire.
That is the average mothers day, as Miss
Fisher has it pictured. She found, also, that
the average mother sets apart special days for
special tasks, follows:
Monday or Tuesday-Family washing.
Tuesday or Weanesday-Fa rily ironing.
Wednesday Thursday-Window washing,
odd jobs and sometimes my day for taking it
easy"
Friday or Saturday-Regular weekly cleaning.
Saturday-EXtra cooking.
Sunday-Preparing the most elaborate din
ner of the week.
Now DR.. Bomar discovered that community
activities" co not take up a great deal of the
average mothers attention When mother plays
bridge and goes to the movies, she says, she
doesn't bother with community activities at
ALL Incidentally DR.. Bomar has tabulated the
figures about playing and movie-going
in an interesting Kramer.
CELECTING various widely separated cities at
y random. DR.. Bcmar found that the average
number of hours mother devotes to bridge each
week is about as follows:
In San Francisco hours; in Lincoln, Nebr,
2 hours and 81 minutes; in Atlanta, 3 hours
and SO minutes; in Spokane, l hour and 30
minutes; in Cranston, r. L. hours and 10
minutes.
Figures on movie attendance in those cities
run as follows
In San Francisco 81 per cent of the mothers
go to the movies In Lincoln, the percentage
is II; in Atlanta, 65; in Spokane, 81, and in
Grams ton, 80
And so it goes. DR.. Bomar found that few
of these mothers cared greatly about commu-
nifty activities, or about lectures and concerts.
Most of them, she adds, explained that house.
work took up much time that they had little
left for community work.
Now Miss Fisher, scanning these figures,
doesn't believe that there is anything in the
least dismaying about them.
Il cannot feel she says, that the fact
that SO per cent of American mothers seem to
prefer the movies to committee work is par
ticularly alarming. In fact, believe that the
movies or bridge may be better recreation for
mother, in her 10 important chd-bearing years
than the best-run club or community activity
Il once knew young mother whose story is
apropos. She belonged to all the clubs she
could There good deed done in her
town but what her busy hands helped it on.
But when they inaugurated medical nSpec-
ton of school children the report went home
to this Young mother that all three of her own
children were suffering from malnutrition. And
If they had been children from the tenements,
it was said, the report might have called
1t plain starvation.
Because this is true story I have ALWAYS