Hattip to Instapundit. I grew up in an era when car seats and seat belts were as likely to be used as mouthwash on a skunk. I was an infant and toddler in the late fifties and a kid in the sixties. My brother and I were raised in what would be called free range style today, the way almost all kids were raised. As soon as we could pull ourselves erect we were walking to grocery stores to pick up items for our parents and we went on more errands after we learned to ride bikes. In the summer we spent almost all days outside playing with the neighborhood kids. Once kids entered their teen years most got part time jobs after school. Unless you were going to college you were expected to be employed and out the door soon after high school graduation. For the vast majority of kids the system worked pretty well as a steady track to adulthood.
The times were not golden. The phrase “going to Hell in a handbasket” was often on the lips of the older generation. We had our full quota of bullies, sneaks, creeps and grifters. However, I am so glad I grew up then, rather than a time when rules and regulations have placed intolerable burdens on parents and kids, and before so many fathers and mothers found it socially acceptable to end families on whims and to bring endless opposite sex partners into the lives of their kids.
The most obeyed law in the Chronicle of Man is the law of unintended consequences.
I think that applies to so many things. For instance, running outside to play. When I was young (70s), it was up out of bed, quick breakfast, and out the door to play (weather permitting). Back at lunch, see you at dinner. My Mom noticed years ago as we drove around our neighborhood on one summer day that there were no kids out playing.
That was true. The streets were, as they have been for most of my kids’ lives, rather empty. But here’s the thing. When my Mom opened the door for me to run out and play, she knew there would be other kids to play with. More to the point, she new the vast majority of houses had a stay at home parent – 90% of the time a mom – who was also there, working in the yard, tending the flowers, keeping one eye on their kids and hence all the other kids.
Today, you let your kid out the door and he’s running into the middle of a great big empty. The vast majority of homes are empty through most days. No kids, and no parents. Just empty. I asked my mom if she would have let us out to play in an environment like that? My Mom thought and said probably not. Again, unintended consequences.
More to the point, she new the vast majority of houses had a stay at home parent – 90% of the time a mom – who was also there, working in the yard, tending the flowers, keeping one eye on their kids and hence all the other kids.
The share of women over 20 with wage or salaried employment was 31% in 1948, 42% in 1975, and 57% in 2019. (The ratio of family farm workers to those with wage and salaried employment was about 0.133 in 1948 and 0.05 in 1975, but < 0.02 today). A majority, but not really a vast majority.
I’m curious. Is that women who have children pre-teen? For instance, my Mom worked for the first 8 years of their marriage (and before) until my sister was born. Then once I (the youngest) was in middle school, she went back to work. In both cases that would put her in the ‘women over 20 with wage or salaried employment). But she was home during those crucial little kids years, as were most in our neighborhoods who had kids our age. Do those numbers break it down among those who were home with children, pre-school, grammar school and such?
Ca 1964, the median age for a mother giving birth for the first time was about 23.0 years for white women in this country.
OK. But what was the percentage of mothers with pre-teen children working, that’s what I’m curious about. And what is it today (or for that matter, a stay at home parent in general). I just know growing up were typically more houses in the neighborhoods than not that had at least someone home. For example, on our street, out of 12 houses, only four (including ours, and one that is a daycare) has anyone home during the day – pre-Covid I mean. Likewise, the street I lived on when I began school had 10 houses, and there were only three that were empty during daylight playtime hours. That isn’t too far from your numbers to be sure. But in terms of people with kiddy feet on the ground, a street with only three empty houses is a world of difference from a street with all but four houses being empty.
Only cucks use car seat past two.
Cars getting more expensive per seat is a problem, too– one of the big selling points for Kias is that they are affordable and you can put three car seats across the back seat, without losing an arm. Even in the Soul.
Being explicitly taught since at least the mid-75s that there are too many people and we’re all going to die horribly because of that, along with women being informed we are traitors to our sex if we do something besides an advanced degree, and treated progressively dumber by the number of children around us… yeah, it does wear folks down.
Even people who are supportive of children will act shocked that a stay at home mother of six is able to speak intelligently about electronics, mechanical issues, current science, biology….most of that stuff was covered in high school, although of course I don’t know how well most teachers taught it!
Dave G-
My grandmothers were both employed for salary, their time their children were in the home.
One cared for the local graveyard, the other was a newspaper reporter. Graveyard granny went back to work as a stenographer during school hours once the kids were in school.
People being home to watch the children during those times (1960s, 1970s, & 1980s) did not include just strictly their biological mothers. My grandmother watched 7 of us, my sister and I, and 5 first cousins, from birth to 1st grade and then during the summers for years at her house where we were well cared for and watched over. Even one of our great aunts watch some of us while our parents worked. We were either kin to or nearly kin to (as in went to church with, etc.) everyone for miles around. We knew there was nothing that could happen that would not get back to the people who would spank our butt if we acted up. I still do not know what would have happened if any of us had walked into my grandmother’s living room with mud on our bare feet or dirty shoes. I NEVER saw it happen, even once. We could have eaten off of my grandmother’s floor. Now that is taught respect that no longer exists in most households, sadly.
My mother worked as a substitute teacher the hours were same as when we were in school and she was off when we were. When we got to JR high all the kids told us we had the meanest mother in town, not really she thjought as sub was teacher not a babysitter.
I grew up in an era when car seats and seat belts were as likely to be used as mouthwash on a skunk.
I remember watching Broadrick Crawford on Highway Patrol. The suspect realized it was a cop car because it had seat belts.
FOXFIER, Oh, we knew some who worked. I know there were kids in our school where both of their parents worked. It happened. Again, in our street there were a couple homes where the parents worked (no clue who took care of the kids, but someone did). It just wasn’t the majority. I can’t help but feel that has some impact somehow.
Dave G-
Sorry, wasn’t clear enough.
They were at home any time the kids were, with very rare exceptions.
Mom grew up at the graveyard it sometimes seems like, and dad did a lot of going with his mom to stuff she was reporting on.
FOXFIER, got it. That is also a big difference. Again, we knew kids whose parents worked. And even in our neighborhood it happened. But among them it must have been some family watching them, simply because there weren’t many ‘nursery schools’ (as they were called) in those days. Today, the majority of kids, from almost the start of life, are raised in preschool and daycare settings. Since the 90s, when this trend begins, the wellbeing stats for kids has been less than stellar. Mental health issues, drug dependency, drug abuse, depression, even suicide have all been on the rise. I’m sure we could never prove there is a connection, but we certainly can prove it hasn’t helped.