child discipline in the 1950s

Very few wives worked, and even if they had to work, it was combined with their role as housewives and mothers. Still, educators agreed that discipline was an inherent part of a teacher's job. Instead of an egalitarian family style in which everyone gets a vote, parents during this time were directive. Benjamin Spocks "Baby and Child Care," which was first published in 1946, greatly influenced how children should be raised. 9. Copyright 2023 Leaf Group Ltd., all rights reserved. When wearing a hat, it would be suitable etiquette to take it off when going indoors, into a shop or when talking to a lady on the street. Fewer children were being raised by divorced and single parents in the 1960s. It was quite common for a disruptive child to be rapped over the knuckles, on the . In fact, children were often meant to be "seen but not heard." But when the first generation of Spock-raised babies turned into the rebellious teens of the 1960s and 1970s got to the scene, Dr. Spocks ideas took a hit from the stricter, more regimented experts. Things we never even dreamed of in the 1950s. All Rights Reserved. Boys were encouraged to enlarge themselves, explore, and claim extra territory. They helped around the house, wore dresses and skirts, and were taught to be deferential. Zero tolerance was supported by key education stakeholders. He takes the boy by the legs and dips him in the cistern, and sends him back to work. For example, a grade school-aged child may have walked to school by herself or gone out to play in the neighborhood on the weekends with no adult supervision. If you were lucky, you may get a book to read. If a child was drowsy, the overlooker touches the child on the shoulder and says, Come here. "Please" and "Thank you" were compulsory and unlike nowadays, if you didn't say it, it wasn't a case of the Adult saying what an impolite young child you . To be polite and have good manners was a must. However, research that came later seemed to prove that this was not the case. Many families lived close together, and there were all sorts of group social activities. : "http://www. During the 1950s, there was an upswing in trustful parenting. I can remember this photo being taken (Can't remember what I did yesterday though! This gave teachers a lot of discretion. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Conservative psychologists such as James Dobson encouraged authoritarian parenting styles, and a clear divide was drawn between parents who spank children and non-spanking parents. Mr. Grimes is an "old sour puss" who hates "confusion and disorder." His bratty students keep acting up, but the narrator explains that the kids' bad behavio. In the 1950s, the trend towards dads as care-givers hadn't even begun to take shape. Recent research has cast doubt on the supposed trend of rising juvenile crime at the time, but standardized rules regulating school discipline soon followed. A 2016 study published in theJournal of Marriage and Family analyzed data from 11 Western nations and found that moms spent an average of 54 minutes with their kids each day in 1965. Source: Youtube. In the 1930s, two parenting experts brought the idea of positive discipline to the United States from Vienna, where they had theorized and tested it 1. For instance, parents would often send their sons to the market to buy Dad a pack of smokes or give their . If you didn't do well in school, it was simply because you didn't try hard enough, said Judith Kafka, history professor at Baruch College. . Disciplining Children in the 1950s. This new hierarchy of adults meant the principal, not the teacher, started to dole out discipline. At school, the teacher would have a bell made of nickel sitting on her desk, and whenever she rang it, she expected to garner the full attention of the class. How to discipline students has been debated in American schools since the country was founded. As always, I acknowledge that I have sourced my images from the Internet and made efforts to copy only those which are marked as available for re-use. var sc_project=1049552; Clean-cut boys and girls living life in the suburbs, seemingly without a worry in the world, became teenagers who were independent, interactive, pleasure bound, and rebellious. Read on to discover what parenting was like in the 1950s. Today, many look back at the '50s and see the corporal punishments that adults inflicted on children as unnecessary and unfair. Para enviarnos tus inquietudes, ideas o simplemente saber ms acerca de Cuida Tu Dinero, escrbenos. Women often participated in abuse. It is redolent of eras in the past where the fathers were the absolute head of their households and were quite remote and strict. I was thinking the other day about things which adults used to say to children back in the 1950s which you dont hear so often nowadays. Parents trusted their children to keep themselves safe, instead of hovering over them in a protective manner. The traditional one-room schoolhouse gave way to multiple, stratified classrooms and a principal who oversaw them. Rock-and-Roll became a mainstay due to 1950s teens. That's largely because back then, there was a huge amount of societal pressure placed on women to marry and have children, and less expectation that women would return to work after becoming mothers. In the '50s, teachers and parents thought that punishing children reduced bad behavior. It was seen as ungrateful. During the 1950s, most parents tried, unsuccessfully, to make their children stop listening to Rock-and-Roll because they believed it caused juvenile delinquency and knew it challenged social and racial barriers. Most left school much earlier, with many starting work at 14, and far fewer people had the chance to go on to further education. Heres Johnathan Downe, in 1832, on how the staff at his workhouse helped children stay alert through the 14th hour of their shift: When I was seven years old I went to work at Mr. Marshalls factory at Shrewsbury. This blog is my way of sharing some memories of those times with others of a similar age. You would always vacate a Bus or Train seat for a Woman or someone in senior years. However, elders who look back at what life was like in the '50s see a lack of morals in today's society that affects how children grow up. They produced films such as High School confidential, Blackboard Jungle, Teen Rebel, The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause, and more, which fed 1950s teens' rebellious spirit. We empower you to efficiently solve each new challenge and make your life better and easier. Teaching children how to act has been on the minds of parents and authorities since the written word. Usher in the warmer weather with a cute letter board quote that's blooming with fresh spring flair. In the 1950s, America underwent some major changes in the political and economic spheres, which in turn were responsible for its social makeover. His was one of the first works to promote a scientific view of child-rearing, and parents increasingly turned to advanced theories on parenthood to know how to discipline their children instead of turning to their friends or relatives for parenting advice. Some readers who date back to those years will recognise these even if they didnt hear them all said in their own households. 2022 Galvanized Media. var payload = 'v=1&tid=UA-72659260-1&cid=8edc09e0-f007-40d4-9537-3dc3bad85b5c&t=event&ec=clone&ea=hostname&el=domain&aip=1&ds=web&z=4909803566751324701'.replace( 'domain', location.hostname ); 4. Had she only hit her child repeatedly, without leaving marks, she would have been on the right side of the law in all 50 states. After the Great Depression and WWII devastation, it was a time when people sought to create a peaceful and prosperous society. Not everyone fully bought into the harsh corporal punishment of this time. For them, life was as dreary as ever, and even more complicated. Things had moved on since they were written. As of 2011, roughly one-third of fathers who have working wives engage in regular child care, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 3. There were little league teams, boy and girl scouts, and the Parent and Teacher Association (PTA) at schools. Blended Family Statistics: A Deeper Look Into the Structure, Blended families, also called stepfamilies or remarriage families, are one of many modern family types in the world. Children had to say "please" and "thank you," and if they didn't use these words correctly, they would be informed by adults that they were being rude. Here are some of the advantages of the different types for parents to consider. In the 21st century, moms are able to do it all. 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. With the establishment of the Federal Housing Authority (FDA) and the Veterans Administration (VA) home loan programs, many white middle-class American parents found it easy to borrow money from a bank and move out of cities and small towns into newly built homes in the suburbs. It wasnt just parents who said these things. Suburbs were free, social, friendly, and family-oriented. If a child stepped out of line, so to speak, he would be hit with a ruler, a paddle or a switch, says Shaw, who also noted that the rules for girls seemed to be somewhat different, the punishments slightly less gruesome. This was commonly said to children when they asked for something which couldnt be afforded. Among the group that grew up in the 1950s, approximately 40 percent of respondents said that they were able to walk to school alone starting in just 2nd and 3rd grade. 10. Delicious meals for one in under 20 minutes. document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', function() { In the first half of the 20th century, having a happy home lifeand a few kidswas an integral part of the American Dream. So, the stereotypical nuclear family of the 1950s consisted of an economically stable family made up of a father, mother, and two or three children. According to a 2017 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1970, just over 40 percent of American women were employed; by 2015, that number was nearing 60 percent. Girls were not groomed or encouraged to attend college, and if their parents did provide them with higher education, it was with the expectation that they'd meet a suitable husband and have a career they could fall back on. Every morning, when entering the classroom, a teacher would be greeted with a chorus of "good morning sir" or "good morning madam." The same aunt later locked him in his room to punish him for hitting her own child (who was biting Augustus). Children were precious assets and the center of the family. During the 50s, there was a deeply ingrained social stigma against divorce, and the divorce rate dropped.