Ma Ingalls, supermom

How did she do it? I read Little House in the Big Woods last week, partly to Owen and partly for comfort reading, and for Chrissakes, I want to know Ma Ingalls’ secret. How did she take care of a baby and churn her own butter? How did she get all that shit done by herself in a log cabin and parent three kids? How can you nurse a baby and cure smoked hickory venison at the same time? I realize that venison does a lot of sitting by itself but the baby? I don’t understand.

It’s not like she had a babysitter or Baby Einstein. Husband’s away all day fighting black bears and catching otters. Daughters Laura and Mary are admittedly satisfied by playing with corncobs but still, they are only 5 and 7, there’s only so much they can do to help with the cheesemaking and the hog-butchering.

I want to know the precises details. Did Baby Carrie cry it out at night? Did they co-sleep? Did Ma Ingalls nurse on demand or according to a schedule? Did she carry the baby in a sling or leave her in her cradle? WHAT IS THE ANSWER, Ma Ingalls?

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under motherhood

Comments

12 Responses to “Ma Ingalls, supermom”

Dani on November 30th, 2007 3:22 pm

I figure there was a lot of whiskey involved, either for Ma or the babies.

All joking aside, I could never have been a pioneer woman. No Aleve, no air-conditioning, riding in carriages in blizzards, NO WAY.

But I adore the Little House books. And I adore that you’re reading them to Owen. My mom read them to me when I was little.
otter on November 30th, 2007 5:03 pm

Oh my stars, I loved those books. So much that one of my dad’s hippie friends sewed me a bonnet, which I wore everywhere. Because nothing says cool like a bonnet.
Matt on November 30th, 2007 5:46 pm

1. No wage-slave job.
2. (Therefore,) no commute, unless you count “to the restroom.”
3. Husband Michael Landon summoned God at his leisure when he needed a hand with something, and Victor French when he needed to kick some ass. Wait, wrong show.
4. “Clean” is relative.
5. Did you see all those kids? She was getting crazy action. And later, helpers.
6. Even the blind girl could probably make a quilt one-handed. See helpers.
7. Was not expected to remember who Steve Buscemi is, whether or not to believe in cloth diapers, or how to send a TXT message.
8. Does not run (absolutely bitchin’) blog.

Supermom or not, give Ma Ingalls a toddler in IKEA and she would’ve pulled out a musket and gone to TOWN.
Elizabeth on November 30th, 2007 7:42 pm

I was going to say something, but got distracted by Matt and Ma’s musket.

That being said, I have to agree, Ma Ingalls did not have to haul to the grocery store to buy milk and butter, it was all right there (sure she had to make it, but if you’re not spending 2 hours trying to get yourself and your three children out the door, you have plenty of time).
apples on a stick on December 1st, 2007 12:32 am

ya, I’m with Dani. Ma Ingall’s was a closet drinker.
pea on December 1st, 2007 1:10 am

I didn’t read the Little House books until I was in high school and read them with my younger sister. We both fell in love with the books and one of my favorite moments even in a book happens when Almanzo proposes to Laura. “You may kiss me now” she says only after they’re engaged. All to say, simpler times. Rougher, perhaps, but simpler. Gotta say though, I don’t really see me being much of frontier woman either. No Food Network and Project Runway? I’ll pass, thanks.
LetterB on December 1st, 2007 11:22 am

A drinker? Whiskey? Can you imagine churning butter while hungover?
katie on December 1st, 2007 4:05 pm

oh my god i remember on sunday mornings when kelly and emily would sit there and watch that stupid shoe for hours and i hated it.
katie on December 1st, 2007 4:05 pm

oh my god i remember on sunday mornings when kelly and emily would sit there and watch that stupid show for hours and i hated it.
Bad Hippie on December 3rd, 2007 8:24 am

I’m pretty sure Laura and Mary worked as slave labor from about 3 years old on. You can probably teach a young ‘un to haul wood in for the fireplace, or rock the baby in its cradle so you can get those chores done! And, hey - what five year old can’t do dishes? Or sweep.

Dirt floors are easy to maintain! Quilts - don’t wash ‘em, air ‘em out! And hey - outhouses mean no bathrooms to clean! Rock on!

That being said, I can’t imagine it. The dirt, the bugs, the ick…I couldn’t do it. Not to mention getting up at 4 a.m. to milk the damn cows. No way. Not for all the organic, locally produced milk in the world.
juliloquy on December 5th, 2007 1:52 pm

I think about this stuff all the time. Also, how to survive the isolation with no internet?
supa on December 5th, 2007 9:55 pm

Ma Ingalls, closet drinker. You guys are so good.

It is obvious to me that me + pioneer days = FAIL. I would perish in a log cabin with no internet. I ask again, HOW DID SHE DO IT. How did she google Mary’s scarlet fever symptoms? How did she blog about the wheat-threshing? Man. Supermom, I am telling you.