child discipline in the 1950s

There was one collection of stories written in the 19th century which contained a dozen or so such stories. Benjamin Spock's "Baby and Child Care," which was first published in 1946, greatly influenced how children should be raised. 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. When it comes to a child, abuse is something that cannot be taken lightly. No More Perfect Kids: Love Your Kids for Who They Are. 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. Parenting isn't the same now as it was for your parents or grandparents. Going back to Buses and Trains and even walking down the Street, if you saw a Lady struggling with her Shopping, you would offer to help, even if that meant going out of your way to take them to he home. The mother was arrested for this, but whats really remarkable is how many people see her on her way out and do nothing to stop her. They were also wildly popular and considered just one of those things, which makes you wonder what sort of things were doing to kids today that will horrify those kids grandchildren. There again, discipline goes back centuries before that even. Even though the parents of the 50s were trustful when it came to providing independence-oriented freedoms, they were more likely than modern moms and dads to dictate and maintain the rules. In fact, children were often meant to be "seen but not heard." However, the suburbs also reflected socioeconomic and racial homogeneity. If a child was drowsy, the overlooker touches the child on the shoulder and says, Come here. Schools increasingly deployed police officers to monitor their halls. var sc_security="b44d1fc3"; var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? Every morning, when entering the classroom, a teacher would be greeted with a chorus of "good morning sir" or "good morning madam." You could never leave the table at dinner time without asking permission first. His father was a Yale graduate and a successful railroad attorney. Some of the awful things we used to do to kids include: Hitting kids is in the same category as doing drugstechnically illegal, but widely practiced and tolerated up to a point. Here's how to flirt with and eventually capture the heart of each astrological sign. john's musings and reflections and things that confuse him, Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998. She uses this experience in her articles for LoveToKnow Family. // Leaf Group Lifestyle, The Disadvantages of Physical Punishment for Children, How to Argue Fairly With Your Adult Children, Down the Lane: Childrens Manners and Etiquette in the 1950s, Internet FAQ Archives: Scientific Child Rearing. Because of their small size and lack of development, children are uniquely vulnerable to mistreatment at the hands of the larger, allegedly more sophisticated, grown-ups. Parents wanted their children to have better lives than they had had and did everything possible to make life "good" for their kids and grow them into successful adults. Of course, Augustus Hare was a privileged lad from a good family. We tend to draw the line at junkies shooting up in the park, but take a look at this: That video shows a mother dragging her child through a Verizon store on a leash. This hub allows you to take a peek at how one working class mum did it. Though the fundamentals are still the same, parenting has changed quite a bit in the past 70 or so years. Parents trusted their children to keep themselves safe, instead of hovering over them in a protective manner. They just might not realize they do. Matters such as rights of children were never considered, states research from the Journal of Child and Family Studies. You would never leave the Table without seeking permission first. Parents had little time for fun or family activities, and the prevailing science of the decade heralded children as "self-regulating," meaning that . As children, their proliferation drove the construction of new schools and suburbs. Some methods offered strict regiments to form eating habits, social tendencies, and sleeping habits; others pointed to gentler means of discipline, granting children more freedom. This was commonly said to children when they asked for something which couldnt be afforded. Beatings like these were part of the background noise of a 19th-century childhood. It was quite common for a disruptive child to be rapped over the knuckles, on the . We actually had to learn a whole list of them for the 11+ exam! Some people are all business or just a little more buttoned-up. Whether you need to fix, build, create or learn, eHow gives you practical solutions to the problems life throws at you. Most states dont even define what parental physical abuse consists of, and Delawares rule against closed-fist punchesinflicted, youll remember, by an adult on a childis actually unusual. Take it from the Old Testament, strict corporal punishment has been a popular form of discipline for a long time. This left the domestic tasks to the wife-mother. Teachers wanted to focus on teaching, not behavior problems. Some schools even issued dog tags to students so that families could identify their child's body in the event of an attack. Sadly, due to legal discrimination, this was not yet possible for people of color who were restricted to less desirable neighborhoods even when they had the where-with-all to relocate to better surroundings. So, the phrase "when your father gets home" was used by housewives frequently across the country when they tried to discipline their child. With prodding from the federal government, many schools have more recently turned to approaches that de-emphasize suspensions and expulsions and instead focus on relationships within the school and harm done by bad behavior, approaches often referred to as restorative practices. Teachers commonly used corporal punishment in the form of a switch, cowhide or ruler, Kafka has written. Most left school much earlier, with many starting work at 14, and far fewer people had the chance to go on to further education. This blog is my way of sharing some memories of those times with others of a similar age. Locke encouraged 17th-century parents to have children learn about consequences naturally, so that self-control and a desire to be accountable for their own actions is a by-product of guidance, not harsh discipline. It wasnt just parents who said these things. Discipline was strict in schools, as boys got a caning and girls got slapped on the knuckles with a ruler. Simmering beneath the image of the "perfect family" was discontent with the status quo that led to the tumultuous family life of 1960s. try { All rights reserved. But in most cases it's true what we say, you would never answer back, you would do as you were told because that's how it worked. Not only do they spend more time with their kids than ever before, they're able to do so while simultaneously working outside the home. From Puritanical subjugation to laissez-faire families, physical punishment to positive discipline, the best method of parenting has long been a debate. Dad's role was to be the breadwinner, advice giver, and family disciplinarian. You would take it off if you met or you were talking to a Lady. In 1690, Locke published the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and presented the idea that children resemble a blank tablet (tabula rasa) at birth, and they are not predisposed to sin. In the first half of the 20th century, having a happy home lifeand a few kidswas an integral part of the American Dream. Usher in the warmer weather with a cute letter board quote that's blooming with fresh spring flair. } ); After World War II, teachers began to unionize. Somewhat paradoxically, it involved a high level of trust granted from parent to child along with the simultaneous enforcement of a rigid, top down rule structure. If you didn't you'd get ticked off for sure. The same aunt later locked him in his room to punish him for hitting her own child (who was biting Augustus). At School, every Teacher was referred to as 'Sir' or 'Madam' and upon entry into the Classroom, everyone would stand and unanimously say "Good morning Sir". The 1950s were boomer years. Parents tried to build their son's ego. "The truth of the matter is that none of these changes will achieve what we want unless schools are safe and ordely places where teachers can teach and students can learn," he wrote. In the '50s, teachers and parents thought that punishing children reduced bad behavior. Vintage Spain: Remarkable Photographs from the Early 20th Century, 7 Brilliant Female Aviators Besides Amelia Earhart, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Cars provided a teenager with independence and a teen couple with a place to spend time alone away from parents' prying eyes. Darlena Cunha has been a writer and editor since 2003. This Is How Parenting Has Changed Since the 1950s, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), People Who Use These Words May Suffer From Depression. You would always vacate a Bus or Train seat for a Woman or someone in senior years. Not only were there were no video games, even children's television programming operated at a bare minimum, with the medium still in its infancy at that time. "); Due to what's called the "Cold War," children of the 50s also lived in an atmosphere of fear. "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 were after you'd left, they would tell you face to face. During the 17th-century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body were two entities that interact to form the human experience. I grew up in the countryside in the 1950's and 1960's. google_ad_width = 160; // Leaf Group Lifestyle, Child Rearing Beliefs & Practices in Indian Culture, Beliefs, Values and Customs of Chinese Parents, How Parents Discipline Their Children in Africa, The Effects of Parents Being Absent From the Home, Child-Rearing Practices in Different Cultures, The Parental Influences on Children's Identity. Este artculo fue escrito, editado y revisado exhaustivamente por el equipo de Cuida Tu Dinero con la finalidad de asegurar que los lectores reciban la mejor y ms detallada informacin posible. The 1950s Family: Structure, Values and Everyday Life. This gave teachers a lot of discretion.