our fellow middle class neighbors (1800 sf houses with 10%+ mortgages) had both spouses working with kids. The women's movement was in full swing 30 years ago and working moms were the norm. Maybe stay-at-home moms were still standard practice in the Intermountain west 30 years ago, but it wasn't in the East & Midwest in the 80s
I lived it, and see my sons in their 30s struggling with the same income and time issues as I experienced. My kids have the benefit of very low mortgage rates and are only now just dealing with inflation and can work from home. It seems about the same degree of difficulty today based on my experience living in Ohio.