If June did everything for the boys (which was typical for that time period), do you think that they would have been good spouses in the 70's and 80's when women were working out of the home?

Do you think that they would have just expected their spouses to cater to them like their mother did?

I know there was a sequel and or other programs after the original, but I am not counting them as they seem so different than the originals.

I think the boys would start off being lousy spouses until they learned how to make toast and pouring milk on their own cereal. Wally was pretty good helping Margie doing chores so Wally learned quick. I think they both would learn fast.

If June did everything for the boys (which was typical for that time period), do you think that they would have been good spouses in the 70's and 80's when women were working out of the home?

Do you think that they would have just expected their spouses to cater to them like their mother did?

I know there was a sequel and or other programs after the original, but I am not counting them as they seem so different than the originals.


June didn't do everything for the boys. They did their chores, they studied, went to school and they were kids. And June did hers, part of which was being a mother and a wife. So, maybe your question really is "would they have successfully tolerated marriages to women who failed to be wives and mothers, especially after having been raised by a woman who was excellent at both?"

I know I wouldn't. My wife works because these days you have to, but she is an excellent wife and mother, as I am a husband and father... and we have great kids. I don't think you have these successes if you get married, start a family, and still pretend that you are single, or think that your roles in the family are demeaning. That's the recipe for a failed marriage, a failed family, and misery.

Ward didn't seem to be a willing worker, but you did see him helping June do the dishes, since they obviously didn't have a dishwasher.

I agree, the boys seemed pretty acclimated to chores. Beaver memorably did not like going to the store for June, particularly when he had something else he wanted to do instead of "goofing around."

I remember June lecturing one of them about doing chores "for the good of the family." So it would seem to me that both of them would be more or less ready to become contributing members of their own families.

In one episode June describes the perfect wife for Wally. “Someone who keeps a nice house, a good cook and makes Wally happy.” Ward says he got the last one of those.

Ward wasn’t too good in the kitchen but would step in when needed like broiling steaks that burned up.

And seasoning them, using June's bottle brush. He was a willing worker-sometimes-but lacked the skills, sometimes. "Soup's on!"

That’s right. He was the BBQ guy and said cooking outside goes back to the cavemen. “Wally hand me those asbestos gloves.”

Yes, there were other references to asbestos in these old shows. Along with paint, which undoubtedly was lead-based. Along with all the other life-threatening things our parents did (like thawing meat on the counter), it's absolutely amazing any of us baby boomers are still alive.

on the new leave it to beaver wich aired in the 80s both wally and the beav were show to be good fathers but as far as being good husbands wally was a good husband to mary ellen but the adult beaver had turned into a bit of a lazy slacker wich was the reason that his wife kimberly kicked him to the curb

We also didn’t lock the house when we went out or the car. We did leave meat out to thaw, put clothes on the line to dry and the milk man delivered milk. Kids went out to play and we climbed trees and never fell out.

One of my fondest memories as a kid (I grew up in the 70's and 80's) was all of the neighborhood kids getting together to play hide and go seek, hiding anywhere in the neighborhood, and no one cared or got mad if you went on their property.

We still put clothes, sheets, towels on the line to dry, didn't know that was just a baby boomer thing.

Yes. Playing tag, hide and go seek, climbing trees--and many times when your parent called you in at dusk, they didn't know exactly where you were--and it wasn't a problem. And we had a healthy respect for other kids' parents.

And we went to school and heard Bible verses, and said the Lord's Prayer, and the Pledge, and didn't take a knee. Now they go to school and have to be afraid of perverted teachers--and this is supposed to be better than what we had. In high school it was 30 seconds of silence (I suppose even this would now be a problem). (I led those on the P.A. system--quite a feeling of power, silencing hundreds of teenagers!)

Oh yes when we got older we had the moment of silence. There was a Jehovah’s Witness student who wasn’t allowed to stand during the pledge of allegiance and my 6th grade teacher made her stand. No one came to school and complained and she wasn’t on the news. She just stood and didn’t tell her parents.

We sang religious Christmas songs and had a Christmas tree in each room. We had a few Jewish kids who probably felt left out but one year they got to tell us about Chanukah.

Oh yeah, singing religious songs. I remember singing something like "He's got the whole world in his hands." Today, somebody would be running for a safe space. Or running to court.

I remember feeling a little odd when the school's version of the Lord's Prayer wasn't exactly the same as our church's. I guess I should have have suggested to my parents that they file a lawsuit.

I do think some of this stuff kind of crossed a line. But I think we've gone way too far, the other way.

Just like all the sexual misconduct which has resulted in firings, apologies and arrests. I think they should have done something at the time the incident was reported and not go back to 1987, 30 years ago. It was a different world. I was sometimes uncomfortable when guys spoke explicitly at work but I just said, Cut the crap. Didn't go running to personnel (Human Resources). However getting with a teenager when you're 32 years old is illegal so why didn't they tell someone...?..I know it was a different world and he was a district attorney.