Ways That Parenting Has Changed in the United States - Paper Example

From The 20th to The 21st Century There Are Myriad Ways That Parenting Has Changed In The United States. In other words, the landscape of the American family has taken another turn ie changed a great deal in the over the decades that have defined the end of the 20th century. In the wake of the above mentioned changes, mothers are facing brand new challenges when it comes to raising their children. This paper is going to give invaluable insights regarding the various ways in which motherhood and childcare has changed in the United States across the different demographics in the country.

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Today in the United States mothers have found themselves raising and taking care of their children alone more in comparison with the past; this is to say that a reducing share of children live in two-parent households. Today 70% of children of an age that is less than 18 years of age are being raised with a mother that has the support of a father; this figure has droped from 90-% in the year 1960. This is to mean that most American mothers have found themselves with a responsibility of taking care of children. As at 2017 the number of children living with single mums increased from 9% to 26% in 2017.

These mothers have been affected a great deal by the rising rates of divorce in the county; the issue of divorce has compromised the family unit.

The prevalence of remarriage, divorce, and cohabitation has affected mothers greatly and even though a half of American single moms are saying that they are doing a good job the absence of father figures in said childrens lives has taken a toll on these children and mothers. Mothers, especially those in younger generations regard themselves highly with respect to the manner in which they are raising their children. Mothers of today care a great deal regarding how other people in their nuclear family and beyond regard their skills of parenting. Roughly nine in ten mothers; be they married or single are of the opinion that it matters a great deal that their spouse or immediate partner regards them as a good parent. Besides, 72% of the mothers that live with their parents are concerned and want their parents to think that they are doing a splendid job when it comes to raising their kids. Much smaller but a significant number of mums also care a great deal that their close circle of friends and the entirety of the community regard them as good parents.

Today more than in the past the mothers to American children have faced a challenge of their children being bullied and others have faced the challenge of mental health; these challenges that mothers face differ in terms of race, ethnicity, and mental health. Six out of ten mothers in the United States can attest to the fact that they have been worried that their children may have been subjected to bulling at some point. In addition to that, half of these mother have also had worries that their children may at some point have to struggle with depression or anxiety or that their children could be kidnapped.

The concerns of mothers, over the course of time have come to vary a great deal across income groups. In particular, mothers with a low income have always been concerned about the personal safety of their children and teenage pregnancy as opposed to parents with higher incomes. For the most part motherhood concerns do not vary greatly between African American and white parents but there are reasonable differences depending on individual perceptions.

With respect to the fact that the concerns of mothers have shifted, the attitudes regarding how to deal with motherhood challenges have shifted too. In the very late 1800s and early 1900s, mothers cared and advised each other on matters of hygiene. Infant mortality was also rife back then and mothers did their level best on their own and with doctors to see to it that their children were protected from communicable diseases. It is worth considering that by that time scientists did not know that it was microorganisms that caused disease to children and even adults. In fact during that era mothers welcomed government officials into their homes warmly.

The bestselling United States federal health booklet ever was a pamphlet initially published in 1914 known as infant care. This particular book covered everything from how to change a diaper to the best recipes for baby food. Considering the way mothers treat their babies today, the rule in this very book that mothers ought not to play with their children is definitely very dated as of today but is definitely a safe one. This rule was stated in a subtopic titled playing with the baby.

In the course an towards the end of the 20th century mothers used to write to the childrens bureau just so they could know how to take care of their young ones in the best way possible. This is very much different from today where mothers never write the bureau to seek for advice regarding methods of how to raise their children This is due to the fact that the advent of the internet and the social medias has made it such that mothers can Google ways and methods of taking care of children. In fact today, the internet of things and technology has redefined parenting from the methods of care accorded to children up to the type of toys that parent buy for their children. For instance in the past mothers of infants, toddlers, ands school going children alike would for a couple of times look at folklore and oral tradition to make a prediction of the future of their children but as of the generation of today mothers are very much engaged in the attempt to bring into good shape the intellectual capacity and development of their young ones and happen to be very much worried of the future careers of their children. In fact, interviews held with parents of generations in the past show that mothers were much less probable to have read to kids or assisted them with school assignments in the 20th century in comparison with the 21st century.

In essence, there is a paradigm shift regarding how mothers of the past and mothers of today raise their children. Todays mothers raise their children with a lot of competence; one would think that they are in competition with each other. In a nutshell both epochs (the 19th century and 21st century) have their differences when it comes to matters of motherhood and childcare.

Bibliography

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Hockenberry, Marilyn J., and David Wilson. Wong's nursing care of infants and children. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2014.

Lamb, Michael E., Kathleen J. Sternberg, Carl-Philip Hwang, and Anders G. Broberg. Child care in context: Cross-cultural perspectives. Psychology Press, 2014.

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. "Early child care and childrens development prior to school entry: Results from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care." American Educational Research Journal (2016).