Title Anxious parents : a history of modern childrearing in America / Peter N. Stearns

Published New York : New York University Press, ©2003

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xi, 251 pages) Contents Anxious parents : a 20th-century history -- The vulnerable child -- Discipline -- All are above average : children at school -- Work and chores : do I have to? -- I'm bored : the two faces of entertainment -- Conclusion : the impact of anxiety Summary The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a dramatic shift in the role of children in American society and families. No longer necessary for labor, children became economic liabilities and twentieth-century parents exhibited a new level of anxiety concerning the welfare of their children and their own ability to parent effectively. What caused this shift in the ways parenting and childhood were experienced and perceived? Why, at a time of relative ease and prosperity, do parents continue to grapple with uncertainty and with unreasonable expectations of both themselves and their children? Peter N. Stearns explains this phenomenon by examining the new issues the twentieth century brought to bear on families. Surveying popular media, "expert" childrearing manuals, and newspapers and journals published throughout the century, Stearns shows how schooling, physical and emotional vulnerability and the rise in influence of commercialism became primary concerns for parents. The result, Stearns shows, is that contemporary parents have come to believe that they are participating in a culture of neglect and diminishing standards. Anxious parents: a modern history of childrearing in America shows the reasons for this belief through an historic examination of modern parenting Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Child rearing -- United States -- History -- 20th century Parenting -- United States -- History -- 20th century Parent and child -- United States -- History -- 20th century Child development -- United States -- History -- 20th century FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS -- Parenting -- Child Rearing. FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS -- Parenting -- General. Child development Child rearing Parent and child Parenting United States Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 1417588381 9781417588381 9781429415040 1429415045 0814798292 9780814798294 9780814786987 0814786987

  Permalink