"Schneider" ("One Day at a Time")... One Little Girl's Idol

Growing up as the youngest child, with the next oldest seven years my senior, I spent a lot of time changing my mind about whom and what I wanted to be or be like, when I grew up.  Nope.  Still kind of stuck on that one.

When I was short and skinny, I dreamed of being a jockey for the derby; the jockeys were all slight-built, so I figured I could do it, and I would get to be around horses...who wouldn't want that?!

Of course, growing up during the 70s, how could any little girl NOT want to be The Bionic Woman?  I had her tin lunch box, and I used to jump off the couch (while making that bionic sound); this and of course Wonder Woman!  I can think of many a bad guy I'd now like to 'magically' lasso.

Being the annoying, bratty little suster, walking around with folded arms, sharply (almost causing whiplash!) and blinking my eyes as hard as I could, but my big sister never turned into a hamster.  No matter how tightly I blinked...she was still my big sis. 😉 I Dream of Jeannie. Had that metal lunch box too.  Yep.

I never went through a princess phase.  I went through a 'royalty' phase.  I absolutely adored anything I could have that made me look like a royal queen...though, I ended being a royal pain in the ass to my parents.

Eventually, my Mom finally caved, and gave me one of her bathrobes that was some combination of crushed red velvet and satin (I think??).  It took a couple years of begging for a beautiful, velvety, shiny (but of course, cardboard) crown sold at a King Norman's Toys.  I eventually realized I was, but a peasant, and moved on.

Then, there was a phase I went through that was not so gender-accepted.  To give you a quick background, I used to watch a lot of television...too much.  It was, as I only realized decades later, my way of coping with our family's brand of dysfunction.  No one was yelling and fighting while we watched TV; everyone got along then.

One Day at a Time was an American sitcom about a divorcee raising two daughters (teen and pre-teen) on her own. It was ground-breaking in that divorce was not often shown on TV.  This family lived in an apartment building, and had a cast of characters, but I really seemed to admire the character called "Schneider" (aka, "Dwayne Schneider" portrayed by Pat Harrington, Jr.), the building's superintendent; he visited regularly and kind of watched over Ms. Romano (Bonnie Franklin), and her two daughters (McKenzie Phillips "Julie" and Valerie Bertinelli "Barbara").

He always (seemed) to wear the same outfit: white t-shirt underneath a casual, leather vest, painter's blue jeans and, the piece de resistance....THE TOOL BELT!  This was necessary, regulation equipment you see, for his chosen profession as a superintendent.  This may be a thing of the 70s, but he was always chewing gum.  I also noticed this with a lot of the male cast members, and some of the women.

WARNING!  TANGENT: Now that I think about it, the 70s and 80s was a gum-chewing time.  There was even a cute, but pointless little invention called a 'Gum Parker'...you guessed it! It was for placing your ABC (Already Been Chewed) gum in case you needed a break to eat or something, then you could get the air-solidified gum out of the holder and continue chewing it.

Now, back to "Schneider".  I thought he was the coolest grown-up ever!  He could fix anything just by walking around, using tools from he belt!  He chewed gum.  And, he was protective, (but never in a creepy way) of a single mother and her two kids...what's not to like?  He really was like a foreshadowing, in a cooler, unintentional sense, of a Dr. Phil...with hair!

One day, I remember my brother was probably passed out cold asleep, and my Mom was visiting the next door neighbor...at a safe distance away, and I doubt I was 10 yet, but not too young to be unsupervised for a short amount of time.

I snuck into my parent's room, and borrowed one of my Dad's white t-shirts (looked like a nightgown on my tiny frame). Then, I created a makeshift tool belt with a regular, brown belt, and used some tools from my Mom's tool box....yes, my Mom had/has a tool box...you gotta love a woman who has these items of self-sufficiency!

After popping a piece or two, of Fruit Stripe chewing gum into my mouth, I went about my way, attempting to fix things, tinkering around; maybe there was symbolism that I was unaware of...trying to fix my family?? Who knows?  I did enjoy attempting (pretending?) to repair things, whether they needed it or not.  It was just a lot of fun to emulate "Schneider"...for some reason?

A kudos for my sister for letting my niece (this was years later) dress as Superman for Halloween!  I remember her parents asked her if she wanted to be Supergirl or Wonder Woman....NOPE!  She insisted on SuperMAN!  (By the way, I am a huge Superman fan, so I was so proud of her!).  They let her do it, and it was adorable.

I think it's been shown to be easier for girls regarding the non-traditional stereo-types, whether for Halloween costumes or just wanting to dress a certain way or liking certain toys.  Unfortunately, boys seem to be often chided for making non-traditional gender choices. My hope is that people are realizing, and accepting that both boys and girls should be allowed to just be who they are (inside), without fear of what society would say.  People are going to judge no matter what we do so we might as well enjoy life regardless of the judges, as long as we do not intentionally set out to harm anyone, and know we are being true to ourselves and our children.

I would love to hear your anecdotes on people (real or celebrities) whom you may have idolized when you were a child; gender not important!